1st - 3rd June 1998

Monday 1st June
Slept in quite later and lay there thinking I should get up when there was a knock at the van.  It was a girl who was interested in buying Calvin.  I showed her around and we took him out for a spin, she seemed really interested.  When she left I went to the pod, read the paper, chatted to Claire and then Ilan showed up so I sat with him for a while.  Danielle, the girl who wants the van, found a friend who knows something about vans so we want back to the van for him to have a look.  He seemed quite positive, so fingers crossed!  She wants to take Calvin to a mechanic in Uclulet tomorrow but Claire's got the day off tomorrow so that won't work.  Scott arrived and he was at the van when I got there.  I packed my bag for tomorrow and then left to see Aaron at the laundromat to pay back his $10 that he didn't remember giving to me.  I also called Darren to get him to call me back at work which he did and we sorted out tomorrow.  It took him ages to get through because I had the ringer off for some reason.
$1.14 sausage roll, $2 ice-cream, $9 dinner

Tuesday 2nd June
I got up and dressed and went to the Coffee Pod for breakfast - I bought a magazine and gum and got on the bus.
When we got to Horseshoe Bay Darren wasn't there and a message on my Telekey said that Darren had hired a car and might be a bit late.  About 15 minutes later he arrived in a Ford Taurus wagon - quite nice! We had beer, pizza and watched "As Good As It Gets" - it was great!
$5 magazine, $1 gum, $16.80 bus, $40.10 bus, $8.50 Ferry, $3.50 taxi.

Wednesday 3rd June
We got up pretty late and went into town.  I picked up Claire's sunglasses and we took the hire car back.  We then just had a day wandering around the village.  I got an email address (kpickford@hotmail.com) and I bought a T-shirt "Canada Kicks Ass".  I saw Andy who said Ben was back and we ate out and had coffee and a really nice day.  Darren cooked Roast Beef, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding etc, etc - it was really good.   I went to bed quite early - 10:30 and then about 45 minutes later the doorbell went - I thought it was Jason again but it was many voices that I couldn't place.  Eventually Darren came up and said it was Steve, Matt, Jon and Rich - back from Mexico!  It was good timing that I was there.  They had a great time and spent lots of money and now are doing various stuff;  Rich is coming to the Island en route to Alaska, Matt is staying in Whistler, Steve is going home on Sunday and Jon hasn't a clue - as normal!  He may even come here!  I chatted to them until well past 1am and then decided that I really had to go to bed.
$5 bagels, $5 coffee, $28 T shirt, $3.50 magnet


<these are extracts from my diaries written whilst travelling and working in Canada and the US in '97-'98>