More Jobless Idling

So things have got a little more fun and a lot more expensive.

I have my Norquay pass.

So expect some ski pics soon

Oh Dear

So things have taken an unexpected turn.

I was fired from sunshine because of suspicious activity with the security cameras. I think it's just sunshine setting an example and letting everyone know they can just be fired and replaced in 30 seconds.

So inevitably i've been a bit less busy, I've been applying to jobs all across Banff but haven't had much luck just yet. It'll come though I just have to make sure I don't loose my mind waiting for it.

So i'm buying a Mt Norquay Ski pass and i'm gunna push my skiing until i'm kick-ass and then attack the big mountains come mid season when cheap passes come out.

Its the gap year party tonight so that should be cool.

I might have a mid-week-update just because I have the time.

Cold

So winter is really setting in.

Today it was -27 degrees out which makes for a really frosty day, and the nights are getting much colder. I think I might have to buy an extra blanket soon.

The saviour of the week however was the boot warmer who sits in the top of the wet cold ski boots and makes them toasty for the next day and asks for nothing in return. I think we could all learn something from him.

Christmas is in the air and Banff is starting to step up to one of the busiest times of the year. Christmas parties and events are planned up to the 15th where the black out period begins. I will likely work 6 days a week and be super busy for a couple of weeks where the whole of North America rushes to sunshine to get their own 'white Christmas'.

I'm still getting enough skiing in and even though it's super cold out it's still fantastic.

Luke

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Top Week

This week has been fantastic.

Started with inventory at work which was actually really good fun thanks to a 5 hour energy shot that left everyone reeling.

Worked a couple of days and them my 3 day break began.

Been skiing loads and I'm really coming on.

Loving every minute out here and even the bad parts seem to have brightened up.

I'm now on my third pair of headphones, they keep on breaking. :(

Still no sign of the goggles or the package from home, post must be even slower than usual.

First injury of the season yesterday, I came off in the park and did something to my right leg. Skied on it today and I didn't feel to great until the latter half of the day.

I'll be back there tomorrow so I hope thats the only injury this month.

Luke

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Hoarding Receipts and Snow Armada

So the snow keeps on coming at work, if a place isn't packed down i'll step up to my waist in snow.

Things over here are fantastic, payday came and went and i'm a jacket and a helmet less rich. i'm independent of my home money which is really nice so i'm properly surviving.

Work is really cool ride breaks have started and things are really hotting up. There's a sales promotion with some goggle companies at the moment so every receipt i rack up i have started to keep and horde obsessively. I have sold 12 pairs so i should get these in the post in 1/2 weeks.

Hell yeah!

Hiked off into the backcountry today with some mates, made quite a big kicker into a powder slope, it was pretty damn cool but we didn't really get it finished. They're going back tomorrow. I'm working.

Inventory at work on friday so i might not get home until 11 at night after getting up at 6.30.

Its all good here though.

Luke

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Finally it begins

Above is the best skiing i have ever done, powder up to my eyes and fantastic slopes.

What an opening day.

Working tomorrow so i'll be up to my eyes in customers not powder. This week has been fantastic and i'm sure the next week will be just as good.

I'm on track, skiing and happy as hell.

Luke

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First Slopes and work gets Easier

^ My favorite Canadian soda

So this week has been a bit of a blur, we went for a ski on Sunday at Norquay which was great fun. Apart from me sucking at skiing and the slope being only as long as a snowdome back home.

It was great to get a ski in though, I finally feel like I'm doing what I'm here to do.

The snow is piling up at work and we'll almost definitely have a good year for snow and a better year for skiing.

Work is still monotonous but getting better, today the whole team was in, all twelve of us 6 guys 6 girls. Training has started and tagging is slowing down as the shop starts to look less like a sweatshop and more like a pro retail shop.

The steak night has now become a permanent feature of tuesday. You get a steak on thick bread with sweet potato fries and salad for $8 + tax + tip. Tipping sucks dick here, its expected of everyone in everywhere.

:(

This week will be good as I settle into work and maybe get another ski this weekend.

Luke

On Track

So this week loads of new people arrived so things started out a little crazy and I think I called someone by another name for like 3 days.

We climbed sulphur mountain which is like a tougher more Mike Tyson kinda mountain than Tunnel. Got the gondola back down which didn't help the ski lust.

So on Monday of this week I started work at Sunshine Village (skibanff.com) in the retail section. I basically sell anything except skis and boots, right now though everything needs tagged displayed and the stocked so work is super-tedious and boring. The guys are really cool though and I get on well with them. So Monday through to today has gone like so.

6.25 alarm goes off

6.50 ready to walk out the door

7.10 get on bus

7.30 bus arrives at base station

7.40 get on bus to drive up mountain because gondola are too busy playing football to work

8.00 arrive at work

12.00 start lunch

12.20 continue work

4.30 bus back to base (gondola needs to be 'safety' tested)

6.00 home

12.00 sleep

hardcore eh?

no skiing just power work.

It'll get better when the snow is thick enough but right now there's just not enough to piste the mountain. As a national park we need 1m before cats can drive on the mountain.

I got my card and uniform today and I feel like a proper employee. The pass is worth over £2k because it works as a bus pass, a ski lift pass for 10 resorts and my clock in key.

The nearest resort opens on the 1st of Nov so on sunday we're all going down to catch the first of the seasons skiing.

Sunshine still doesn't open until the 11th. :(

Hope you're all good

Luke

Third Week

Banff is beginning to feel like home and right now the weather is fairly warm so it's been a pretty good week.

After finding out the infamous Canmore was infact only a stones throw away from being a shit-hole we started to regret paying $16 to get there on the greyhound bus. As soon as we got there we had a $10 all day breakfast at a typically Canadian restaurant and then wandered around town.

After 3 hours of looking at stuff we got bored and had to wait in a pub for another hour or so until our return bus arrived.

There was a ski swap this week at Norquay, one of the nearby resorts, and I got a purple one-piece ski suit for $30, deal.

Everyone is pretty much set for the snow to fall and ready to start riding, thing is there's no snow and its too warm for the snow machines meaning the oct 31 opening date isn't looking so solid anymore.

Had a fair few good nights out in the last week in Hoodoo and Aurora, the two Banff clubs, town is a bit weird at the moment as people are leaving and arriving for the winter, it seems to be full of locals at the moment but come december the clubs should be packed with rich american and asian tourists.

The last couple of days I've been doing loads of long-boarding around town in an attempt to stop myself thinking about skiing.

Its really cool to just cruise around town but i've come off it a couple of times now, turns out I'm not God's gift to board sports.

Today i tried to rent some inline skates from a shop but they had no replacement brakes for the skates so they just gave me them! I think I'll spend tomorrow looking for a skate park i've heard of.

I finally seem to have confirmed my job, it looks like I'm going to work for Sunshine Village as a retail person, selling all the stuff you wish you'd brought with you on a ski holiday for a price you wish the exchange rate would make cheap.

Hope you're all having a great time doing stuff.

Luke

I am a jobless idler

So I'm still here.

The last week has been a pretty fun but idle week. I'm still unemployed and loving it, I avoid feeling too guilty about it by applying to jobs that i almost certainly don't want. For instance I'm going to be having a floor trial of Lush in the next couple of days to test my hand at rubbing lotions onto older people and asking if they know about the positive effects of ginger on circulation.

I should get a job at sunshine village; a nearby resort, as a retail assistant. Unfortunately its all out of my hands and I just have to wait to see if/when they want me.

Its a cold october so it's snowed a couple of times and the snow coverage on the mountains is building up, it's looking to be great ski conditions but it's still mostly dry in the town apart from the last couple of days where the town has been full of snow.

It hit 0 degrees today and it felt warm, that tells you something eh?

The lakes have frozen over so I've been skating on them yesterday and today. Vermillion lakes are really shallow and the water is so clear that when it freezes you can see the bottom of the lake.

So yesterday I was skating on glass and today on snow as it snowed last night, it really is the best ice skating I've ever done.

Tomorrow I'm planning on traveling to Canmore, the next town, to look at ice skates and see if I can get away from Banff prices.

Hope all is well

Luke

Crazy Indians, Ceder Party and Sliced Bagels

So I left for Canada on the morning of the 4th, the train was pretty normal but things perked up on the plane when an indian guy started being violent to a cabin crew guy. They jumped on him, wrestled him into a chair and then proceeded to strap him into the chair with ropes and belts. He sat for 6+ hours with his arms folded across his chest whilst the blood pooled in his neck making him bright red, all the time shouting in indian.

I arrived just in time for my bus transfer and drove through the best views of the national park in the dark arriving just after 10 to a house in a pretty urban area. There was no one outside so i just walked in, to the wrong house it turns out, a chinese guy told me to go next door.

So i sat outside next door ringing the bell for 5 mins whilst power rock raged inside. Finally an aussie name Dale answered the door and welcomed me in, mate. There were 3 guys in what looked like all the party scenes from all the american college films, red cups, fuck-loads of booze and 3 guys dancing around topless to mtv.

So why not I thought and partied for an hour and drunk a whole lot, then Nancy (the manager of all the chalets) walked in with Noel (her house maintaining husband) and told me I had been dropped in the wrong chalet. Apparently the Ceder chalet guys were in loads of trouble for the house and the crazy loud music and then Noel shouted at them until the vomit which belonged to 'some girl who came in who no one knew, who vomited and then left' was cleaned up.

So i walked an icy couple of blocks to Wolfpack chalet and walked in to a room full of people presenting me with a yager shot and a dirty pint. By about one in the morning I turned in absolutely hammered to a smallish room with 3 beds.

The next morning I woke up to a feeling that something had died inside my skull. Loads of people were coughing on the plane so I too had a cough, and a runny nose, and a headache and a hangover.

The next couple of days I have spent just surviving on my poor judgement of food supplies, pepernoni and sliced bagels washed down with orange juice.

All the pictures you have seen so far I have felt like I'm dying and finally this morning I feel kinda ok.

Two guys have arrived since me and they've moved into the 3 person room with me, everyone is cool and I'm having a great time.

Just exploring and getting SIN numbers and bank accounts and sorting out stuff. Making a stock tomorrow because the supermarket sells cheap udon noodles, go cheap ramen!

Also cheese is $10 (£6!!!) a block so im avoiding cheese meals.

Miss you all and hope you're all having a good time.

Luke 'Mc Canada' Holman