Merci - Paris

Must...get...to...Paris...

Gorgeous retail store Merci found in the archives of the WGSN blog.

May 12 2010... My bad for not updating sooner.

Wow so time kind of got away on me...

What's new? Hmmm... Where do I start?

Employment:

Well I can't remember if I told you but I left the steakhouse (cunts) and now i'm a manager at a coffee store earning more than I did at Ogilvy. It's pretty weird, over here people make a big deal if you can make patterns in coffee, i've had people take photos of my coffee, ask what days i'm working so they can bring their friends, ask to sign their chests, throw bras and panties at me. All this over coffee... What else is cool is I have my locals that come in a couple of times a day. They are ( Not in order of popularity):

Larry: The 60 something year-old bus driver. He keeps shit real and wants to get on the piss sometime. HEZ MY FREN!

Shaun: Shaun is the local homeless man who has major beef with one park warden. He lives in the hills and is a cherry dude in his 40s. Always has a story, normally when you don't want to hear one. He's extremely well spoken and has been clean for 8 years. He doesn't smell too bad for a homeless chap.

Derek: The security guard up at the Fairmont Hotel, for a man of his size he's a bit of a softy, don't really know to much about him except he lives a pretty simple life.

Scott: He is one of those dudes who knows way to much shit about everything. Sarcastic as hell and works at the museum. He's also the union leader for parks canada. I'm not sure how much work he really does because he sits around at the cafe for a couple of hours every day. He's cool though, he buys coffee for everyone.

Banjo Guy: As his name suggests this dude just plays the banjo. He's the busker who I have never seen not smiling. He plays a banjo in a poncho and is a happy chap. Pays for everything in coins which is annoying when I'm busy.

Snowboarding:

Well it was 23 degrees one week and minus something the next snowing like it was going out of fashion. I loved it and had some of the best days riding of my life, words can not describe how epic they were. If only Muz was there to shred em.

Other shit:

Check out the photos. We went dog sledding which was pretty fucking cool!

This place is pretty amazing. Sure NZ has some amazing scenery but here everything is so epic and gigantic.

Husky puppies

Me patting husky puppy

Cool dog named Tango

Think this dog was called Mordor.

So they roll around in the snow to lower their body temp.

This dog was called Whisky, she was my friend. They mainly use female dogs for sledding as apparently they listen better.

Whisky liked Annabel too.

More dogs

So thee dogs are all business when they are in their harnesses. I was pretty skeptical about whether they actually enjoyed pulling people around but they actually did, they moan and cry if they don't get to work.

The scenery isn't to shabby around here, we sledded across a thawing lake.

I want to up load some more photos but blogspot wont let me. Dicks.

The third post Jan 3rd 2010.

Wassup folks, hope you all had a pleasant new years and christmas. So what new things have I learnt? Well turns out there is an under belly to this country or maybe just Banff? I'm not sure, i'll let you know when i know but the locals can be pretty fucking weird, they close all the bars at 2am because these people can't be trusted drinking later then that. How is a well mannered, social drinker like myself meant to be well mannered and social if the bars close this early? Also it turns out living the dream comes at a cost and it's expensive- a working holiday means more work than holiday.

At least the place is pretty. More photos?

I got lost and found these train tracks. Had two options walk the way shown and hope for the best or walk the opposite direction. I went with the opposite direction because I was cold and it turned out I was near town...

Route B on my walk. Glad I didn't take this one, it's the 4 hour walk back to town.

Just a rusty truck.

Frozen river. The ice is about 50cm thick. This is a deep part of the river so it has wicked colouring, Banff is perdy.

Half way through my walk i de-iced this sign to see where I was. I like the element of danger that comes with Banff.

Big ass snow shovels, apparently also used to clear stubborn animals that don't listen to the train horns.

Pervert local.

Frozen solid. It's a trip standing in the middle of a deep ass river when it's frozen solid.

Till next time keep it real.

Second post 22nd December 2009

OK, so there is this candy store here in banff that is fucking amazing! yes these lego lollies fit together! Isn't it amazing?!

Beaver breath, LOL!

World's biggest gobstopper.

NOM NOM NOM

More NOMs

And more NOMs

ummm and more NOMs

New posse on our first (and to date only) time up at Sunshine. There are so many runs it's mindblowing!

Belz and I at the top. So this is meant to be icey. LOL, I wouldn't even call it hard pack. Those bandannas were frozen solid all day. I'm wearing thermal socks, poly gloves under my snowboarding gloves, two pairs of long johns, marino long sleeve base layer, singlet, XXL t-shirt, polar fleece lined 100% marino hoodie and then my pants and jacket. Oh also had boot warmers in. They said it was a warm day.

Canmore (20 min out of Banff).

On the way to Canmore.

On the way to Canmore.

Belz and I in Canmore (not the same day as above). Fucking cold day so we thought we'd take some photos outside.

This is the river without us blocking it.

Our new work. Seems to have many of the same flaws as Ogilvy. Gutted.

These deer are fucking AWESOME! They come down from the hills and eat people's plants. They are frickn'n smart too and actually cross as proper crossings after looking both ways! I still fail at that. One of them wasn't that smart actually and his remains were found in a playground last summer after he got to close to a cougar. True story.

The room window, yes that ice is on the inside. This was at midday and it was still -20 out side.

The Crib that is on top of my living space.

So this bear thing is actually an issue...

So those were the photos i've been meaning to upload, sorry for the delay, man I suck at this up dating thing. It's 2 something in the am and I can't sleep, i'm not sure if I can still blame jet lag...

Anyway i'll keep it short, so since the last posting:

1. Still haven't found a beer
2. I have a somewhere to sleep-it's the basement of a japanese lady's house. Her name is Moreko...
3. I have a job. Yay...
4. I don't have a season pass yet
5. I still haven't found a beer yet.

First Post 3rd december 2009

Yo!

I R in Banff. It's a wee bit nippy here, during the day it's -20, for the first time in my life i thought i was going to lose my ears. By the way i'm apologising in advance right now (this is the apology) for all the poor grammer ( see what I did there? LOL?) and spelling you will see here on this blog. I'm not really sorry but this way you should feel like a dick for pointing out my disregard for the english language.

Anyway like i was saying before I R in Banff. Stayed at the Rimrock hotel for the first 2 nights and it was awesome because everyone thought i was loaded! LOLOLOL! The view form the room was sick (i'll upload photos later). Now we're holed up in a cheap hotel on the main street.

What Do i think so far?

1. The toilets are really full! I'll post photos)

2. The beer sux! I've sampled a few ales and none of them stack up. This could be quite a problem. The beers I have wasted money on so far are:

Canadian-You would think as a nation if you were going to put your name on it you would atleast make it one of the best beers in the world? If I was Canada I would have called this beer America or Australia.

Honey Brown-Sounds like a 70s blaxploitation action movie as was about as good as one. As a sweet brown man I was offended.

Alexander or some shit-I wasted enough money on this beer i'm not about to waste time writing about it.

Kokanee Gold Amber Lager-The ingredients read: 40% Macs Gold, 40% Xport Gold, 10% Lion Red, 10% water. Sadly the best beer so far.

Ok so that's it the next post won't be so long. I promise. I'll also upload photos.