I survived the mosquitos. I've been back in Vancouver for nearly a week. Done the most important things - frequented my favourite restaurants, drank my favourite beers and wines and generally got fat courtesy of my parents' credit cards. I am back in the land of maple iced donuts and my waistline hates me for it.

I've done many cool things in Van City and around, including seaplane flights, another fantastic stint at paragliding (the best view of my favourite city) and some whale watching (including a baby orca!) But by far my best moment was watching Zidane receive a red card in the World Cup final, and being greatly amused by how much Vancouverites took glee in seing France lose. It's a Quebec thing, i guess.

Now i'm Surrey - kinda near Vancouver, in a Canada scale of things. Mary and i are taking a 2 day road trip tomorrow with no specific plan other than head as far north as we can get and to try to remember to turn around again, coz if i miss my flight i'm screwed. Mary wants to see the northern lights but we have no idea where to find them. North, i guess. So we'll just drive and drive and drive until our rental car is wrecked. It's a good plan. Foolproof......