Vancouver

Well, I made it to Vancouver. And (A) was there to meet me, so things were looking good.
It was so good to see her again. After over a month apart, I was just about ready to swim to Canada if I had to. I really missed her. Skype helped, but it's not substitute for seeing and feeling. And I mean that in a non-creepy way. She's been wonderful while I've been here. It seems like every day, she goes out of her way to make sure we go somewhere or do something to make the most of my time here. My dear old gran made me promise not to walk on rocks or go in the sea. But after paying for travel insurance, that seems kinda silly? I mean, what's the point of having insurance, just to be careful about things? My policy refused to pay out if I injure myself jumping from a hotel balcony, OR if I commit suicide. That sounds fair. The hotel balcony one sounds kinda specific? And I can't help but wonder if they had to pay out one time to some idiot that cloud surfed off of a balcony?
Anyway, Vancouver is very big. Bigger than anything I'm used to. The college alone seems to be bigger than Stratford. It is a great place though. It has mountains, beaches, wildlife, rich people, homeless people, poor people, poor people pretending to be rich people, and even rich people that are soon to be homeless people!
The one thing that I loved though, was the "self flushing' toilets that can be found in most retaurants and public bathrooms. EVERYTHING is automatic. Which for a germaphobe like myself, is pretty damn cool. You don't have to touch anything to flush. You just stand up and walk away (after pulling up pants). It flushes automatically. How neat is that? In Britain, you have to go to the nearest well, fill a bucket with water, bring it back, throw a handful of straw down the loo, followed by the water, just to flush. Plus you routinely catch scurvey and the Plague from public toilets in Britain. Even if you survive going to the lav, you'll just be stabbed by a teenager as you leave. They don't even try to mug you anymore. Nobody has any money. So they just save themselves (and you) all that time and hassle, and just go for the stabbing right away. Plus it's bloody embarrassing when a mugger asks you to hand over all your money and all you have on you is 27 pence and a receipt from Starbucks. You deserve to get stabbed just for drinking in Starbucks. Not that I can afford to drink in Starbucks. I found the receipt. I just 'accidentally" whip it out now and then in socially awkward situations, so I look more "hip", "happening" and "one of the trendy crowd".
Starbucks IS still trendy, right?
Anyway, the toilets here are really neat. And the taps and soap dispensers are nearly all automatic too. I say nearly, because on some rare occasions, I find myself stunned and confused by taps that I actually have to turn on and off with my own hands. When I go back to England, I'm taking taps and toilets with me!