Anticlimax

So I haven't written in a while. I'll tell you later why.
But for now, I just need to say how disappointing the Ladie's final at the Australian Open has been. It's just finished, and barely lasted an hour. Even less, I think. The first set was over in 18 minutes for God's sake!
How sad for Safina, who struggled and worked really hard to get to the final, only to be completely wiped by Williams, who beat her 6-0, 6-3. It was borderline humiliating. Safina actually missed the ball completely at one point, swigning her racket really hard and hitting nothing. I was feeling bad for her.

So this whole thing was quite boring. Especially after staying glued to the tv until 1 am this morning watching the men's semi final. Nadal against Verdasco. One of, or I might jus say, the best tennis match I have ever ever seen. And god knows I've seen a lot of them. It was breathtaking, and lasted 5 hours and 14 minutes. Fabulous.

Oh well. Congratulations Serena.

Let's hope that tomorrow's final will have a bit more bite to it...

Australia Day

Yep, here it is again.
The day when Aussies get drunk, stay in the sun too long, go to the beach, watch the cricket game and listen to the Hot 100 on the Triple J radio station.

And me? I work. Because Jolleys is right next to the cricket ground, where the national team plays every year, we are open even though it's a public holiday. We are open for the nice people of Channel 9, who have a box at the grounds, and who need a place to eat during the break, or to drink and drink and drink while sitting comfortably in an air conditionned restaurant in front of the game being shown on a big screen. So there we were, all 6 of us, working from noon to eleven pm. Cause that's how long a bloody cricket game goes for.

I always laugh when people realize I am Canadian and ask me what we do on Canada day.

- We move house. Canada day is like annual moving house day. Everybody moves.

And they look at me with a weird look.

- Everybody?
- Yes. All the leases finish june 30, and so, july 1st, public holiday, you see the streets lined with moving trucks and people carrying stuff in and out of their appartments.

- Hun!
- Yep.
- So, no cricket?
- Nope.
- No boose?
- Well, at the end of the day, it's pizza and beer for everyone and we eat and drink it sitting on boxes. It's cool, cause you realize on that day who your real friends are; the people who came to help you move.
- oh....


Yeah, can't expect them to understand.
What can I say? I much rather help a friend move house than watch a game of cricket.
To each their own.

Yeah, yeah, Mr. Bush. BAH BYE.

Oh yes. The day has finally come. Big O is president.
It's real now. There is no turning back.

Again, his writers gave him a beautiful speech to deliver. And as he was doing it, we could sometimes catch a glimpse of George Bush sitting somewhere behind him, and the difference of the two men was unbelievably tangible. Obama is fantastic. What a speaker. And Bush, well... everything but.

We did have lots of fun laughing at all the Bushisms through the years. But I think it's better to smile because we are proud and inspired by the president of the US than to grin with disbelief because he is such an idiot.

Those two are black and white, literally.

Can't wait to see our man in action.
Whether you think it's korny to say so or not, we DID witness history today.

This week.

The one and only thing we herd about the Golden Globes is that Heath Ledger won.

The forecast for this week has been: 37 degrees, 39, 42, 38.

There's been three shark attacks in the last two days.
Two survived, one died.

I am truly back in Australia.

Les pieds dans le sable.

Je suis arrivée.
En 38 heures, trente minutes.

Je suis fatiguée.

Il fait beau aujourd'hui, comme il le prédisait.
28 degrés, brise, soleil.

Allen a congé toute la fin de semaine.
Pas d'engagements, pas d'obligations.

Après avoir été faire une épicerie, nous sommes allés marcher au bord de la mer.
Le vent sentait bon.
Le sable était chaud.

J'ai pensé à vous, chers lecteurs enneigés.
Et je me suis rendue compte que vous me manquiez déjà.
J'ai passé un superbe voyage.
Beaucoup de soupers, beaucoup de rires, beaucoup de plaisirs.
Merci. Merci mille fois.

Même en six semaines, je n'ai pas eu la chance de voir tout le monde.
Je me reprendrai cet été, lorsque ça ne sera pas le temps des fêtes. C'est difficile essayer de rejoindre tout le monde quand tout le monde a des soupers, des partys, des voyages, des congés dispersés. Ça sera plus facile dans quelques mois.
Je fais tout mon possible pour revenir à Montréal en mai-juin.

D'ici là, ne gelez pas trop. x

Vancouver

I have officially left Montréal and it's crazy blizzard today. It took forever for the plane to get defrosted. But I had a very very comfortable seat... (love you mom!)

I am in Vancouver. It's raining, and I have to waste another 5 hours until my 16h flight to Sydney, only to wait another 4h30 to grab my 2h30 hour flight to Adelaide.
Oh yeah. It's great.

Here are some of my options to spend the time in the Vancouver International Airport.

Option one.
Surf the net for a really really long time. Oh yes, they finally have free wifi!

Option two.
Go down to the Fairmount hotel in the airport and pay 15$ for a pass to the pool, sauna, gym and showers and go for a swim.

Option three.
Have an obcenely long dinner at the Hoko Restaurant and bar where there is a hockey game being shown on a big screen.

Option four.
Go and get a coffee at Starbucks and read the book my dad gave me for christmas.

Option five.
All of the above.

I think I might have to do option five. I have heaps of time to do all of that.
Even more so if I don't make the flight tonight. In that case, my 5 hour layover will turn into 29. Can you say yuk.

So think happy plane thoughts everybody!
In 48 hours, I should have my two feet in the white sand, in front of the clear blue ocean, with my husband and dogs. Oh, and it will be 27 degrees. And sunny.

Who hates me yet?