Wow folks, it certainly has been a while since I’ve written anything on here. Today however marks a special day as I’ve now been away from home for 6 months. I can tell you right now that this has been a hard road with ups and downs. Absolutely no regrets though. While I don’t have much new material to share with you guys, I thought I’d share some of the events that have happened recently.
It’s been an absolutely crazy time since I’ve begun my hiatus. First off, right after I started my housing fiasco, I had the privilege of being summoned for jury duty. While you’re thinking: You’re in Australia so it’s an easy out, yes it is but getting there is the hard part... My summons has a number to call should I need to get out of it, but of course it goes straight to an answering machine. As much as I was thrilled with the idea of potentially talking gibberish to some court staffer waking me up at 3am, I opted to stay up till 1am and start phoning around. Started by calling the Attorney General’s office in Toronto, after explaining my situation the girl sent me to the crown prosecutor’s office. Explained myself once again to them, and they advised me to call the same number I started with as they can’t help me. Re-explained the situation at how I can’t leave a voicemail and finally was given a NAME and transferred to a live person. Thankfully she was really cool about it and just told me that I needed to provide some proof that I’m away overseas. My work provided me with a letter establishing that I’m employed in Australia and I also sent in a receipt for my public transit pass. Safe!
Apart from that, I have found a great place. I’ve given up living in the backpacker enclave of St. Kilda for a more hipsterish suburb of Thornbury north of the city. Following a lead that my friend Nick provided, I ended up meeting my future housemate Pascal one of his fellow workmates. While rent is a little more than I was paying originally, I now share a 2 bedroom house with one housemate (and our neighbours). Pascal and the neighbours are fantastic (even though they cheer for Richmond...).
Finally, I ended up having a visit from my mum who came all the way from Canada very recently. It was great to see her after 6 months and get to show her around my new city. She got a VERY nice mother’s day gift as I took her to the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant. It’s a five-star dining experience on a tramcar where we had a 5-course meal and all-you-can-drink. It was also a great excuse to dress up in my spiffy new suit. I also took my mum onto the Great Ocean Road which meant I had to drive on the left, and oh boy... While it is pretty easy to get used to, I keep PUTTING THE WIPERS INSTEAD OF THE DAMN TURN SIGNAL! Ugh...
I can’t promise much for the next little bit as I haven’t really travelled in a little while. Travel has ended for now as I concentrate on work and planning my future adventures. Also, you can all take a guilty pleasure knowing that OLD MAN WINTER is approaching here... No more sunny beach weather as the temperature regularly dips below 10C and will get colder as June-July hit. It's also getting dark earlier and earlier... I’ll try to keep you all posted on some of the things I have planned but for the most part the material has dried up. Stay tuned throughout the social media channels as I keep you all posted on my daily observations and rants.
