In my last blog I'd just had a brief stint in Vancouver and was now on my way to Whistler with Tom Ellis, to restore the bank balance, ski and take part in other random shenanigans! But why Whistler I here you ask and that's a good question. I've never been one with the cold, or snow and having a two and a half year period without a real winter has been awesome. To be honest Canada never really appealed to me until last winter when Matt and Tom were talking about going for the ski season. I'd always been intrigued about skiing and it was on my bucket list but I'd never given it a go, I'd not had the opportunity and perhaps never created one as I was scared I'd break my leg or something. But after a quick look at the visa's I realised that this would be the last opportunity for me to go on a working holiday visa what with age restrictions and what have you. So I went through the long process of getting police reports and other documentation to go through the rigorous application. To put things into perspective The UK get just over 5,000 working holiday visa's which are split into three sales periods. We decided we would go just after the second allotment had finished going on sale, this leaving 2,000 visa's up for grabs. With the UK having a population of 64.1 million people this didn't leave many and they went as fast as gig tickets! We practised on applications which were already open, Costa Rica, Greece, Australia. We had the application down to a fine art, with copy and paste tricks and other useful hints we had picked up from people. Thanks to the practise and a little bit of good fortune all three of us managed to get over the line and were granted entry into Canada. Now if we fast forward a year, I've been in whistler dead on seven weeks and what an eventful seven weeks they have been. From skiing for the first time ever, to getting work, to going to yoga classes and spending evening's in Hot Tub's. I've been weighing up on how to write this blog, chronological would be a great test of memory, and one I don't think I would be able to rise to the challenge. So I've opted to take you through my Whistler To Do List and tell you which I've accomplished already and this will about tell you everything you need to know about my first 52 days in Whistler.

Now a guilty pleasure of mine is a list, I love a to do list, liked them at my previous employment at Dawson Rentals and nothing changed travelling. Once in a place I often have a list of what I want to do, see or achieve there, some's necessity based like get a job, accommodation, other more cultural like visit the museum and some quite sporting / adventurous like doing a bungee jump and others through recommendation so without further ado let me introduce you to my Whistler To Do List.

· Get a job

· Get a house

· Get a library card and finish Game of Thrones

· Ski

o Blackcomb Mountain

o Whistler Mountain

o Peak to Peak

· Snowboard

· Bobsleigh and / or Skeleton

· Bungee Jump???

· Bounce

· Build an epic snowman

· Have a massive snowball fight

· Ice Skate - Meadow Park / Outdoor Rink / Lost Lake

· Walk around Lost Lake

· Go and see the train wreck

· Whistler Museum

· Film Festival

· WSSF Festival - April 12 - 21st

· Fire & Ice Show

· Scandinave Spa

· Hot Tub Nights

· See a Wild bear

· See a Wild Moose

· Village 8 Cinema

· Yoga

· Play Football

· Olympic Rings Photo - Village / Mountain

· Photo outside of Cows

· Have at least a bear at each of the following

o Tapleys & Attend Bingo Night

o GLC & Attend Quiz Night

o Blacks

o Dubhlin Gate & Breakfast

o Vodka Ice Room

o Tommy Africa's

o Moe Joe's

o Bill's

o Maxx Fish

o Garf's

o Crystal Lounge

o Dusty's

o Cinnamon Bear

o Longhorns

o Merlin's

o Three Below

o Brandy's / The Keg

o Amsterdam Café

· Food! Eat at the following: -

o Sushi - Sushi Village / Nagomi

o Peaked Pies

o El Fernie's - Try the whole menu including Taco Tuesday & Wing Wednesday

o Ingrid's

o The Mexican Corner

o Splitz Burger

o Southside Diner

o Tandoori Grill Inc

o Earl's

o 7/11 Pizza

o Fat Tony's Pizza

o Avalanche Pizza

o Sweet Shop

So now you've seen the list let me tell you which I've crossed off already. So the first Get a job! Tick! Yeah I'm once again in full time employment after six months out of action. I work for Whistler Village Inn & Suites doing the Night Audit which is what I did as my last job in Melbourne, Australia. It's a pretty cruisey gig but it wasn't a straight forward process at all. My main problem to start with was my laziness. I'd just done six months of bounding from place to place every couple of days and cramming stuff into each day. When I first arrived in Whistler I loved that I had more time, I could put my feet up and relax. I didn't have to charge around like a raging bull, pack and then unpack. So for the first week or so my job hunt was very little. I did the bear minimum, I think it took me a good week to get my CV up to date and have potential employers purring over. Once my job hunt was in gear there was no stop in me, applying for anything and everything, hotel attendants, lobby attendants, server at a restaurant, snow shovellers, spa receptionist. Without being big headed with the quality of my CV I was invited to many interviews. It gave me quite the ego boost, so with my new jumper and smart trousers purchased I toddled off to numerous interviews. But this was where my second problem lay, it was still late November and I had a sex offender like mo, which undoubtedly put off employers! My first interview didn't get off to a great start as I turned up twenty minutes late, taking the bus to the end of the route and back. I was relaxed in the interview, I suppose with being twenty minutes late I had it in my head I'd already not succeeded in getting the job. I was right I never got it, but offers for interviews kept flooding in, my next interview I made the opposite mistake and ended up being a day early. As we turned into the month of December, I was getting more and more confident especially now the moustache had gone. Interviews were still pouring in, and I was getting that confident I was making demands to future employers I assume they didn't like the cheek as they either didn't get back to me or refused my application, so with the wind knocked out of my sails I took the job at Whistler Village Inn & Suites. I was interviewed by the Assistant General Manager Karen and she was that impressed with me she offered me the job right then and there in the interview. I didn't like it, I didn't like it when The Hidden Spa did it to me too I thought I was being bulldozed in to a decision and couldn't refuse. They also wanted me to start the next day for a couple of hours and I also wasn't sure about working five nights a week, I wanted a social life. It all semt very rushed. I wasn't sure, so I emailed a few places I had interviews to see how they were coming along. One rejected me straight up and the other said I was a strong candidate but still under consideration. I thought if I was strong enough they should have employed me already and not keep advertising in Pique News Magazine, so I took the job offered to me and I'm glad I did. My first day was just a couple of hours with Karen and Rona sorting out paperwork, bank details etc. I was warned not to get on the wrong side of Rona, as she can send snooty emails and get on your back about the tiniest of things. But during my first month there she has been nothing but kind even giving me some vouchers for doing such a good job. My next scheduled shifts were five 7am starts straight, what a way to get back into working life eh? My first two shifts I was training with a guy called Ben; he had done many seasons out here and was a very keen skier. He was also from England, Oxford I believe and went to Sheffield Uni and liked his football. So we had plenty in common. I must have been a dream trainee remembering a lot of things from my previous work in Aus. and the software being very similar. It helped that we weren't that busy either and a lot of my training involved Facebooking, watching Man Utd or the fa cup and various other non-related work things. It was very slack. My next day was with Kate, also known by her middle name Imelda or Kate 2 because there is another Kate working at the hotel before her. Imelda from Townsville, Australia and recently engaged was very full on and particular about the job writing to do list's even more than me, she had issues with her house mates who she moaned were messy and loud and she was fond of telling me celebrity gossip and which celebrities had houses in Whistler like Will Smith and Jennifer Aniston. I didn't really give two hoots. She didn't seem the type of Whistler person especially as she couldn't ski or snowboard because of her bad back, but she was a nice enough person and one night I had a very interesting dream about her. The rest of the week I did shifts with Kate, a hot Aussie from Perth who was nice but you could tell if you got on the wrong side of her then she wouldn't be one to mess with and Simon, a Manc chap who loved skiing and snowboarding and who also was a big United fan. The first week went by pain free, as did the second, when I was put on the more bearable 3pm to 11pm shifts. It was after this I was on the nights, where I would be for the foreseeable future, my first few training sessions were with Paul, whom I would be replacing. He was a small middle-aged Brit who looked like a chubby Paul Daniels. He went through the procedures with me and it all semt easy enough and what I'd done before. Basically I had three hours work and the rest I could watch films, read books etc. In fact I've watched the entire three seasons of Sherlock and I'm sat here right now writing this blog at work. So would this make me a paid travel writer? If I played football manager am I a paid football manager? When watching films and reading books? Am I a paid reviewer? The possibilities are endless for my next CV. A guy called Martin trained me the next few days, he was English too, I believe from Exeter or around that area. It was actually because of Martin that I got this particular job as he posted the advert on the Whistler Job Page to which I responded and the rest is history. So I've been on my own working the nights for around two weeks and everything has been going smoothly, touch wood. The biggest problems I've had so far was a kid not being able to use a tin opener and a couple who split up and bickered about who got the room but nothing too bad. There are also great incentives, I'm already up $40 on nesters (a grocery store) gift cards and was able to get Tom and my newly purchased ski's tuned up for free. The staff are great even though I only see them flittingly changing shift, and it's a shame I don't get to see the housekeepers anymore as there was a couple of nice looking females in that department although I do think one might be getting trained on the front desk soon.

With a job in the bag, I had to schedule a trip to Vancouver. In order to work in Canada you have to have something called a SIN, no not an act of violating god's will but a Social Insurance Number. I couldn't get it last time I was in Vancouver because the Service Canada office which you obtain the number from is closed at weekends. So I arranged a lift there (with a girl called Katie) and back (with a bloke called Jake) via the Sea to Sky Whistler Hitch Hiking Facebook page and went to Van where I successfully got my number, and also managed to purchase a number of different goods which were unattainable or too expensive to get in Whistler

So next on the list was get a house, or more specifically get some accommodation for the season. Unfortunately this one is yet to be crossed from the list. No I'm not homeless living in a card board box but I've not found anywhere suitable to call home for the winter season. Luckily I knew Tom and Matt who were already here. In all honesty I was a bit disappointed they had found somewhere and not accommodated for me, there were regular skype conversations and I could have got the money across to them but for whatever reason they didn't. However, they were able to put me up in their place in the Alpen Glow for the first ten days, where I shared a sofa bed with Mr Ellis, this was award if either of us pulled, but didn't stop Tom as he got frisky with an Aussie girl called Gemma, whilst I was trying to fall asleep watching American Pie: The Wedding, thankfully he did finish the job in the bathroom. The Alpen Glow was conveniently located in the village, which made it a regular spot for people to get together for drinks, or pop over. It was fairly small but was a nice place. Tom and Matt were sharing with two other lads Sam, a ginger lad, from the Swindon area who loved Basketball and Zombies and Tommy, again English from London. Finding words to describe Tommy is hard, he is a bit of a loose cannon, in a good way, energetic and love for everyone. My first encounter with Mr Britnell was when he returned home pissed from a work orientation meeting, he was stumbling around the flat falling into everything and insisting everyone, especially me, had a can of his multipack of Orange Fanta. Tommy also claimed to make the best scrambled eggs in the world, which I was strongly sceptical of, but when I tasted them I couldn't dispute the fact. From the point I arrived we only had ten days in the Alpen Glow because during the month of December the 211, how it affectionately was known because of the room number, was already booked out. Tom and Matt already had a lace sorted with three Chileans, but Tommy, Sam and myself would need to find somewhere but much like my job hunt, being in the flat made me very lazy, as I spent my days in the arm chair watching movies or cooking up some culinary delights in the kitchen with Tommy, our shepherd's pie would have been epic if it wasn't for Tommy's insanely milky mash. I also thought I had the back-up f being able to stop with Mat and Tom at their new place, an idea which was squashed on moving day by the Chileans, who said it wouldn't be ideal as they were already one person over. Tom and Matt did however had a booking at a hostel for most of the dates in which they were away from the Alpen Glow, so as Matt and Tom headed to their new place in Upper Village, Tommy heading to crash at the German's bird he was banging place in Brio, Sam and myself had no other choice but to head to the hostel and use Matt and Tom's reservations. The hostel was really nice, It had a massive common area with a pool table, I'd constantly be Sam on, an upstairs TV room, and a big kitchen area. The rooms were decent although a lack of windows made sleeping in very easy. Sam wasn't impressed about being back, it was here he'd met Tom and Matt and the rest of the huge Beers and b****es social group and it just wasn't the same for him. He was also had in his a move to Calgary where he could get a job and save money. He decided that if he didn't have a place to stay by the start of December he would leave to the home of Bret 'The Hitman' Hart. I got us a couple of viewings at places, one was really nice but we didn't get chosen, the other was so small a room with bunk beds, and then a sofa bed and a pull down bed in the living room. No storage and we would have been tripping up all over each other. At the hostel, I was still a little in my lazy phase, regularly sleeping in, heading out with Sam or watching the first two seasons of Spartacus instead of finding a job or accommodation. Sam did eventually leave and it took his departure for me to finally be more productive. It was closing down on Christmas and I still hadn't found a place to stay, more importantly I was closing down on a spell in the hostel where it was fully booked meaning I would have nowhere to sleep. It was Tom and Matt who came to the rescue again convincing the Chileans to let me stay for the three nights I didn't have accommodation at the UBC Hostel. By this time The Hostel was beginning to get on my wick, it was a good distant out of the village, enough you had to get a $2.50 bus. And the stop on was at the bottom of a hill which meant on the return the walk back up was torturous. I also strongly believe the bed I was in had bed bugs, and the people there weren't well, they just weren't the beer and b****es crew. It was mainly Germans and a group of obnoxious Australians. It was awesome to be moving out up to Powder Horn with Matt and Tom again even if I would be on the floor. To be fair I wasn't on the floor to often it worked really well as when I returned from a night shift To or Matt would be getting up for work or to go for a ski so I would just jump in Matt's double bed or Tom's bed in the hole in the wall. The three Chileans were also nice, a lovely girl called Kika who slept on the sofa bed and then a couple Seb and Josepha who had the downstairs double room. Seb was nice enough but was a stickler for money and his own way, Josepha was a very needy girl and if you didn't say hello to her in a morning she would think you were angry with her. She also loved a good moan. She would often come out in the morning and tell us to be quiet even though during the day she would be dancing and singing around whilst I tried to sleep. The three days flew by and it was time to go back to the hostel, but I didn't fancy it one bit. Spending Christmas in a hostel would have been depressing and I would have been at the place in the Powder Horn complex anyway so I asked to stay in exchange for a token gesture of rent money. Luckily for me they agreed and I had a more home like environment for the festive period, which turned out to be excellent. I got Tom and Matt two choose lime t-shirts, Matt got me and Tom tickets to a gig in Seattle! Road Trip! And Tom got me presents I'd usually expect from my Dad, comedy pants, a cowlendar and a Batman apron. I also got hold of a Bruce the Moose colouring book from work to give a guy called Ptheven (real name Steven) as he had just got a second job in a retail shop called Cool as a Moose. He was made up with it! We also did a secret Santa; I drew a Canadian lad called Alec. I liked Alec ever since our second meeting, I'd only met him briefly on the first and the second he knew my name asked me how I was and was generally a nice lad. I had no idea what to get him for Christmas though. I stalked his Facebook which gave me no ideas, so I eventually decided on a can of beer and a voucher for bounce. He never made the present exchange giving night on Christmas Eve so his present is still hidden away somewhere in my backpack. My present was wrapped in a seven eleven pizza box, and contained a chocolate bar, a can of red bull and a playboy magazine. Derek had drawn me and we had never met each other and to be fair he did a great job despite not knowing me at all. On Christmas day with no invite to anywhere for a meal I decided to don my Batman apron and cook up a feast - a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. My feast included a full turkey, mashed and roast potatoes, cauliflower, peas, carrots, pigs in blankets, stuffing, broccoli, gravy, cranberry sauce and the mandatory Brussel sprout each. It was surprisingly easy, I found it was just a case of getting timings right and it all went well, well apart from my roasties being a touch on the albino side. But everyone was impressed. I owe much credit to my Mother though who gave me tips on the timings and stuff. My brother-in-law Craig claimed there must be a girl involved but the only girl there was Matt's work mate Sarah who I'd never met before, she was good looking though and my cooking skills surely impressed her. But my main reason for the meal was that Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the traditional meal. New Year was a bit less entertaining than Christmas as I had the unpleasantness of working the night shift on New Year's Eve, I did get to see the fireworks at midnight though and also have a cheeky cider whilst working next to the giant moose head in the front lobby. Whilst at the Powder Horn Matt and myself got creative in the kitchen with a series of ready steady cook like nights were we would buy a bag of random ingredients and see what we could cook up. This lead to dishes like paprika chicken, falafel, pineapple and fried potatoes on a skewer and marshmallows, mandarins, pineapple and banana on a skewer drizzled with melted chocolate. We also had mini fish and chips, avocado and crackers, beans with a green pepper, jalapenos and homemade meatballs. We would have undoubtedly cooked up much much more but all good things come to an end and it was time for Tom, Matt and the Chileans to move to the Alpen Glow and me to go back to the hostel seen as though there was still nothing doing on the housing front. I'd had a few more viewings which had come to noting apart from one offer which I turned out as I felt it was too far out of town. The housing crisis has been a bit of a shock for me. Matt and Tom did warn me on our skype conversations but I thought they were just being dramatic and were eager for us all to be reunited. But hopefully now we are in the middle of January more places will come available as people get injured on the slopes, home sick and Australian's return back for Uni, but mind you people said that about December too but hopefully by the time my next blog comes around I will finally be able to unpacked my backpack into a wardrobe!