Depressingly, we have now reached the half-way point in our trip and are hurtling towards our return home all too quickly. With that in mind, we have had a pretty hectic couple of weeks, with Australia Day on January 26th a particular highlight. Australia Day coincided neatly with KK's birthday, so the whole house, as well as assorted house-guests, were determined to celebrate in style. We began the day with a champagne breakfast, with KK and Katie pulling out all the stops on the baking front - a pretty sophisticated way to start the day, and a far cry from the way it finished. After various people had hit the slopes for a few hours, we reconvened mid-afternoon to embrace Aussie culture - in the form of alcohol.
Most of the Aussies had packed their boardshorts, rugby shirts and blow-up kangaroos ready for the big day, and Whistler village was buzzing from late morning onwards. Unfortunately I was working in the evening, so had to take it comparatively easy; we bouncers need to have our wits about us. As I left for work, the rest of the house came home to carry on the celebrations with a house party chez nous - flagrantly disrespecting our landlords anti-party stance. My evening at work was surprisingly quiet - we had to throw out one extremely drunk chap (for headbutting his wife! Ha!), but otherwise my main duty was to stand at the back door, doing my best to look mean. Having finished work at 1.30, I was looking forward to getting home and re-joining the house party - only to receive a reasonably incomprehensible phone call from a heavily slurring Leo, which went a little something like this - "the police were here, but it's fine now. Can you bring me home a cheeseburger?". As it turned out, our house had got a little busier than expected, and the police had responded to a couple of noise complaints - fortunately Emily was on hand to turf out the remaining revelers. Needless to say, the Whistler shoe thief struck again; we are expecting a second hand shoe shop to begin trading any day soon...
We are also in the midst of the biggest animal welfare scandal to hit British Columbia in recent years. It's recently come out that one of the big outdoor adventure companies slaughtered 100 of their huskies following the Olympics last year due to a lack of business; having never been a dog-lover, I wasn't fully prepared for the strength of reaction this would provoke - however, it's certainly been poorly received, and some nutters have even been sending them death threats! Nothing like a good animal rights activist...
The last week has also seen the arrival of a rather different crowd in Whistler, due to the annual 'Winter Pride Festival'. The influx of benders has been both entertaining and good for our working lives, with most of the restaurants pretty busy at the moment. We were also amused when looking at the itinerary for Pride Week, which included a 'late night pool party' at the Sports Centre down the road (similar to Cheltenham Leisure Centre), costing a mere $50! Leo booked his ticket weeks in advance - better safe than sorry.
We've also been indulging in a bit of celebrity spotting, with Whistler proving a bit of a haven for A-listers. Stars spotted so far include Justin Timberlake, Will Ferrell, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Pegg. Poor old Simon was having a solitary dinner at the Keg on Tuesday night - lots of money but no mates! Unfortunately I haven't actually seen any of the above - my best spot being a man who looked a bit like Kevin Pietersen...
Over the last couple of days we've completed a 'deep clean' of our house, at the request of our landlord. What was a seemingly simple, if tedious, task became a little less appealing when we realised our toilet was resolutely blocked. Being the real man of the house, I took it to task with a bucket of water, and emerged triumphant, though with slightly less fragrant feet... It is quite nice having a clean house once more though, and we have resolved to keep our dungeon clean for the time being at least.
Skiing-wise, the disappointing snow conditions have largely continued, with it being a little too warm to have great snow. This has led us to embark on more ambitious hikes to access some decent snow - we've hiked for half an hour a couple of times over the last week to get to some fresh snow; rewarding, if pretty knackering. We've also managed to drag KK and Kara along with us on some of the shorter ones, which came as a shock to us and them. We're also trying to develop our jumping ability, something which has so far been on the back burner; the aim is to have a 360 nailed by the end of the season, but progress is a little slow. After a day of practicing, I've mastered an ungainly 90˚ airborn turn, Leo has completed a 180 with minimal style and Coote has won the competition for biggest air... and most spectacular crash. Watch this space.
As ever, the house parties have continued in style, with a thermal themed party at some friends up the road on Wednesday night. Not wanting to be spoilsports, we donned our finest undergarments, only to find, upon arrival, that most of the party had been less adventurous. Fortunately, our house-guest Rob and friend Ross took the attention away from my thermal clad lanky legs by repeatedly exposing their genitalia - see Facebook photos. Granny, look away. Again, we are all well, and leaving shortly for what is sure to be the highlight of the week, dinner with Emily's mum at the Brewhouse. Love to all, Josh, Leo and Sam. X
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