Ok folks, it has been one hell of a while!! And I am sorry for that. However, whilst I've been bad and let this slide, I have been acting. You see, I've recently been writing and uploading a variety of blogs to help avoid this is the future! Regardless, it's time for us to move on.
So, we left the blog just as I was arriving in Edmonton, Canada, didn't we ay? And who was there to great me? My dear friend, whom I hadn't seen in over 5 years, Matt, whom I would be attending the wedding of. And how was he dressed to meet me? Just like this:
Yes, that is a massive banner with my name on it. Yes, that is a crown on his head. Yes, those are two massive, wooden swords at his side. And yes, Matt is slightly mental and 100% wonderful. After this fantastic welcome, we caught up in the airport and headed off to the hotel, merrily chatting away, and driving in his spectacularly massive truck. Pulling up at The Jane hotel, we arrived at a quirky, Victorian style B&B that was both affordable and great quality. For less than £200, we got a bedroom; a bathroom with a Victorian bath; a living room; a breakfast that was massive for two!
So, after dropping off my stuff at the hotel, at was about 10pm, which was the perfect time for some food and a drink. So, off we went in search of somewhere to eat and we came across the most perfect place I could have imagined; an American style bar with some soft rock, great burgers and cold beer. And so, my first night in Canada ended with a good friend and some good food and drink. Wunderbar! The next morning and after another delicious French toast breakfast that had toast an inch thick, Matt decided to show me some of Edmonton's shops, whilst we picked up some cigars.
However, before we did that, we stopped off for the first, of many, times to that Canadian institute: Tim Hortons. Now, I like coffee and I've always viewed myself as a fairly heavy coffee drinker but after being in Canada, I sense that I might be wrong! Every trip basically begins with a stop at a 'Timmies' where, for my trip, it was usually a 'XL double double' in a double cup. This roughly translated to an extra large double cream, double sugar coffee in two cups (one as a cup holder) but you can go to tripled, quadruple and beyond! Though, my usual go to was a single cream dark roast with no sugar.
After our coffee, and just before we left the truck, we ended up with a a fairly epic and priceless moment: sitting in the car park, not having seen each other in years, singing Bohemian Rhapsody together on the radio in unison.
Epic.
So, after our impromptu karaoke session, we headed around the town a bit with Matt showing me some of his favourite shops, before we picked up some cigars for his stag party (later that day) and headed to pick up his brother Andre from work.
Then with Andre leading the way, via somewhat fast driving, we grabbed some lunch and headed to our first step of the day: paint-balling at Young Guns Paintball.
Now, this was my first paint-balling event ever and it was brilliant fun! First of all, the place had around 18 different fields you could play with both urban and forest style, in a huge variety of sizes. There was even a large map with multiple levels! Another plus was that because there was only three of us, we were allowed to join a group of 7 players who were on a team building exercise. This meant we could have some 5v5 games. All in all, this was an amazing introduction to paint-balling, and although I did get shot a lot, I did manage to get a few people myself!
After a few hours of sweaty, painty fun, we packed up and headed to our next stop: Wyld Archery. Here, we rented some recurve bows and a lane each, and spent a few hours firing arrows and relaxing after our paint-balling. Eventually, and once our fingers were sore from the bow strings, we headed off for the final part of the night: rib eye steaks cooked to perfection at Andre's, with a couple of beers (none for Matt) and some very nice Cuban cigars next to a bonfire. These few paragraphs and my generally unskilled writing doesn't convey how enjoyable the day really was and whilst I know that Matt enjoyed it, I really hope he enjoyed it as much as I did, if not more.
After a very deep sleep, and then a lazy morning, we checked out from the hotel and headed back to Andre's house for some bacon and pancakes, with maple syrup. Dear god, I haven't had as many unhealthy breakfasts in my life, as I did when I was in North America but I digress.
After breakfast, we headed off to the local 'hunting shop' Cabela which is basically a megastore outfitted with rifles, compound bows and every type of outdoor activity gear you can imagine. Now, I know what you're thinking: 'why were you heading to a hunting store?'. Well, it turns out that we wanted to see if they had a crossbow range we could use, However, they didn't so I didn't get to try one out but it wasn't a wasted trip as we did manage to try some maple syrup and bacon fudge which was, how should I put it, unique. Plus, I got to see a fascinating store as well. Win - win!
So, Matt and I piled back into his massive truck and began the long drive (which isn't that long for Canada) to Matt's home in Lloydminster. Needless to say, we took a detour to Tim Hortons on the way. This is perhaps the only place in the world where I've fell asleep for an hour and woke up to the exact same scenery. And that is not an insult at all. I loved the drive and the scenery, and other than the sleep, it was nice sharing a long drive with Matt: chatting, drinking coffee and listening to rock radio. It was...peaceful.
Eventually, we arrived and I finally met, very briefly, Brandi who has been a wonderful addition to Matt's life. We then headed off to help set up the wedding and then rehearse it, which took the rest of the day and had plenty of fun doing so (I did anyway, I suspect the bride and groom may have been somewhat stressed). Once done, we all headed back to Matt's place to have some Chinese food. One thing that's definitely worth noting is that during this time, I was able to see Kathy (Matt's mum) again and, to my complete surprise, Amber (below, the black dog). Now, this was a complete surprise as Amber was a dog that Matt had back when he lived in the UK. It was brilliant and one of those genuine moments you never expected. She might have been older but she still had her puppy energy and she eventually she remembered me! Once everyone headed to their hotel for the night, Matt, Andre and I stayed at the house to play some Dungeons and Dragons before bed.
Soon enough, and after not enough sleep, it was the big day and the reason that I had dragged a kilt halfway around the world: the wedding! Before the ceremony could start though, we had to get a couple of jobs done first! First up was the collection of 144 of the most delicious crème-cheese frosted cupcakes I've had the pleasure of having, with one type being carrot cake and the other banana (and the actual wedding cake as well). Moist and creamy. I liked very, very much. And now I'm hungry.
Having managed to stave off the urge to devour them all in a cup-cake frenzy, we dropped them off at the wedding venue and headed back to Matt's to get ready. And then, it was time for a crepe breakfast at a quirky little restaurant in town, and as usual, I don't mean quirky in any sort of negative way. It was my kind of restaurant, with lots of different things like jewellery and art work to look at whilst eating (and buy). It even served cucumber water! During this time we actually had one of the two photographers, Jim (really nice guy, also in a kilt) with us to take pictures of us getting ready and eating banoffee crepes with coffee (and then actually getting ready at the hotel...we did have a wedding to get to after all).
After breakfast, it was time for us to go and get dressed: Matt and Andre in their matching suits (rather dashing chaps) and me in my kilt (matching tops). Once we were all done up, it was time for that special ride to the church after hiding in the bathroom for a while (to avoid the bride), made all the more special by the car we were being driven in. Now, Brandi and Matt had actually won a competition to be driven to the church (and then have photographs with) an authentically restored Ford Galaxy. Now then, I'm not a car expert (or even a beginner really) but this was a stunning car that drove perfectly, and was very, very loud. Great fun!
And finally, after a whole lot of fun, it was time for the wedding and it... is not my story to tell! Whoops, bit of an anti-climax. I'm not going to go into detail, as it's Matt and Brandi's story for them to share and I don't want to take that from them. However, I will say this: it was beautiful and it went really well. Brandi was absolutely beautiful when she came out and Matt was as handsome as I had ever seen. It was a lovely ceremony for everyone involved, and everyone had a great time.
As for the reception, well there was great food and even better cupcakes. The company was brilliant and I even line-danced a bit. However, let's just keep that our little secret, shall we? It was nice to spend some time with Matt's family again, meet other members of it and meet loads of Brandi's relatives as well, Honestly, it was a beautiful day and a lovely night and I am honoured to have been the best man and I am so very pleased I could attend. Brandi and Matt, thank you for inviting me and I wish you happiness forever.
For more (and much better) photographs of the wedding, please follow the link:
http://www.actsofbeauty.ca/brandi-and-mathias/
After the wedding, it was time to head back to Matt/Brandi's house for some more drinks with some of their family and friends, via a ride in the boot of a large car. Here I got a rather enjoyable lesson in beer pong and Canadian parties. Eventually, we all crawled into our respective beds and fell asleep. Not for long again, as we then needed to get up the next day to help tidy up the wedding venue (though not before a 'timmies', of course). What followed was a rather lazy day, filled with Wii Mario, opening wedding presents (I just watched, of course) and popping round to the supermarket to buy food (for me to take home). This sleepy Sunday was well deserved by all, as it had been an extremely busy period for everyone. The day was rounded off by an interesting take on Dungeon and Dragons; a board game version which was extremely fast-paced and action-filled.
All too fast, it was my final day with Matt but, just like when he picked me up from the airport, he pulled out all the stops. After another long drive (with some brilliant chat, and, of course, the obligatory 'Timmies' plus breakfast...pretty sure we solved space travel during this trip), we arrived out our main destination: the largest mall in North America, West Edmonton Mall. Matt had planned a rather fun day out, to see me off, and everything we needed was right here. First off, and accompanied by Andre, we wandered around the mall which included a theme park, an ice rink, a waterpark and much more. Massive!
Then, fueling up with a cinnamon bun, we headed to our second stop: a gun range! Yup, this mall even had a gun range were you could select your weapon (or weapons) and let loose against your selected targets. We opted for a Beretta Storm, a semi-automatic pistol and a colt 45. It might be cliché to say but dear god, the Colt kicked like a mule. Even with the ear protectors, it was like a small explosion next to you and your body jerked with every shot fired. Something completely original and great fun that I wouldn't be able to try at home.
Once we had had our fill of firing guns ( or ran out of bullets), we headed to our next stop which was the indoor water park, complete with wave pool. I hadn't been to a water park in years, and it was so much fun! I'm honestly not lying when I say it was some of the best fun that I've had for years (even if I was a bit of a wimp on some of the steeper slides). I was like a teenager again, just running around and having fun! Some of the absolute highlights were:
So, we left the blog just as I was arriving in Edmonton, Canada, didn't we ay? And who was there to great me? My dear friend, whom I hadn't seen in over 5 years, Matt, whom I would be attending the wedding of. And how was he dressed to meet me? Just like this:
Yes, that is a massive banner with my name on it. Yes, that is a crown on his head. Yes, those are two massive, wooden swords at his side. And yes, Matt is slightly mental and 100% wonderful. After this fantastic welcome, we caught up in the airport and headed off to the hotel, merrily chatting away, and driving in his spectacularly massive truck. Pulling up at The Jane hotel, we arrived at a quirky, Victorian style B&B that was both affordable and great quality. For less than £200, we got a bedroom; a bathroom with a Victorian bath; a living room; a breakfast that was massive for two!
So, after dropping off my stuff at the hotel, at was about 10pm, which was the perfect time for some food and a drink. So, off we went in search of somewhere to eat and we came across the most perfect place I could have imagined; an American style bar with some soft rock, great burgers and cold beer. And so, my first night in Canada ended with a good friend and some good food and drink. Wunderbar! The next morning and after another delicious French toast breakfast that had toast an inch thick, Matt decided to show me some of Edmonton's shops, whilst we picked up some cigars.
However, before we did that, we stopped off for the first, of many, times to that Canadian institute: Tim Hortons. Now, I like coffee and I've always viewed myself as a fairly heavy coffee drinker but after being in Canada, I sense that I might be wrong! Every trip basically begins with a stop at a 'Timmies' where, for my trip, it was usually a 'XL double double' in a double cup. This roughly translated to an extra large double cream, double sugar coffee in two cups (one as a cup holder) but you can go to tripled, quadruple and beyond! Though, my usual go to was a single cream dark roast with no sugar.
After our coffee, and just before we left the truck, we ended up with a a fairly epic and priceless moment: sitting in the car park, not having seen each other in years, singing Bohemian Rhapsody together on the radio in unison.
Epic.
So, after our impromptu karaoke session, we headed around the town a bit with Matt showing me some of his favourite shops, before we picked up some cigars for his stag party (later that day) and headed to pick up his brother Andre from work.
Then with Andre leading the way, via somewhat fast driving, we grabbed some lunch and headed to our first step of the day: paint-balling at Young Guns Paintball.
Now, this was my first paint-balling event ever and it was brilliant fun! First of all, the place had around 18 different fields you could play with both urban and forest style, in a huge variety of sizes. There was even a large map with multiple levels! Another plus was that because there was only three of us, we were allowed to join a group of 7 players who were on a team building exercise. This meant we could have some 5v5 games. All in all, this was an amazing introduction to paint-balling, and although I did get shot a lot, I did manage to get a few people myself!
After a few hours of sweaty, painty fun, we packed up and headed to our next stop: Wyld Archery. Here, we rented some recurve bows and a lane each, and spent a few hours firing arrows and relaxing after our paint-balling. Eventually, and once our fingers were sore from the bow strings, we headed off for the final part of the night: rib eye steaks cooked to perfection at Andre's, with a couple of beers (none for Matt) and some very nice Cuban cigars next to a bonfire. These few paragraphs and my generally unskilled writing doesn't convey how enjoyable the day really was and whilst I know that Matt enjoyed it, I really hope he enjoyed it as much as I did, if not more.
After a very deep sleep, and then a lazy morning, we checked out from the hotel and headed back to Andre's house for some bacon and pancakes, with maple syrup. Dear god, I haven't had as many unhealthy breakfasts in my life, as I did when I was in North America but I digress.
After breakfast, we headed off to the local 'hunting shop' Cabela which is basically a megastore outfitted with rifles, compound bows and every type of outdoor activity gear you can imagine. Now, I know what you're thinking: 'why were you heading to a hunting store?'. Well, it turns out that we wanted to see if they had a crossbow range we could use, However, they didn't so I didn't get to try one out but it wasn't a wasted trip as we did manage to try some maple syrup and bacon fudge which was, how should I put it, unique. Plus, I got to see a fascinating store as well. Win - win!
So, Matt and I piled back into his massive truck and began the long drive (which isn't that long for Canada) to Matt's home in Lloydminster. Needless to say, we took a detour to Tim Hortons on the way. This is perhaps the only place in the world where I've fell asleep for an hour and woke up to the exact same scenery. And that is not an insult at all. I loved the drive and the scenery, and other than the sleep, it was nice sharing a long drive with Matt: chatting, drinking coffee and listening to rock radio. It was...peaceful.
Eventually, we arrived and I finally met, very briefly, Brandi who has been a wonderful addition to Matt's life. We then headed off to help set up the wedding and then rehearse it, which took the rest of the day and had plenty of fun doing so (I did anyway, I suspect the bride and groom may have been somewhat stressed). Once done, we all headed back to Matt's place to have some Chinese food. One thing that's definitely worth noting is that during this time, I was able to see Kathy (Matt's mum) again and, to my complete surprise, Amber (below, the black dog). Now, this was a complete surprise as Amber was a dog that Matt had back when he lived in the UK. It was brilliant and one of those genuine moments you never expected. She might have been older but she still had her puppy energy and she eventually she remembered me! Once everyone headed to their hotel for the night, Matt, Andre and I stayed at the house to play some Dungeons and Dragons before bed.
Soon enough, and after not enough sleep, it was the big day and the reason that I had dragged a kilt halfway around the world: the wedding! Before the ceremony could start though, we had to get a couple of jobs done first! First up was the collection of 144 of the most delicious crème-cheese frosted cupcakes I've had the pleasure of having, with one type being carrot cake and the other banana (and the actual wedding cake as well). Moist and creamy. I liked very, very much. And now I'm hungry.
Having managed to stave off the urge to devour them all in a cup-cake frenzy, we dropped them off at the wedding venue and headed back to Matt's to get ready. And then, it was time for a crepe breakfast at a quirky little restaurant in town, and as usual, I don't mean quirky in any sort of negative way. It was my kind of restaurant, with lots of different things like jewellery and art work to look at whilst eating (and buy). It even served cucumber water! During this time we actually had one of the two photographers, Jim (really nice guy, also in a kilt) with us to take pictures of us getting ready and eating banoffee crepes with coffee (and then actually getting ready at the hotel...we did have a wedding to get to after all).
After breakfast, it was time for us to go and get dressed: Matt and Andre in their matching suits (rather dashing chaps) and me in my kilt (matching tops). Once we were all done up, it was time for that special ride to the church after hiding in the bathroom for a while (to avoid the bride), made all the more special by the car we were being driven in. Now, Brandi and Matt had actually won a competition to be driven to the church (and then have photographs with) an authentically restored Ford Galaxy. Now then, I'm not a car expert (or even a beginner really) but this was a stunning car that drove perfectly, and was very, very loud. Great fun!
And finally, after a whole lot of fun, it was time for the wedding and it... is not my story to tell! Whoops, bit of an anti-climax. I'm not going to go into detail, as it's Matt and Brandi's story for them to share and I don't want to take that from them. However, I will say this: it was beautiful and it went really well. Brandi was absolutely beautiful when she came out and Matt was as handsome as I had ever seen. It was a lovely ceremony for everyone involved, and everyone had a great time.
As for the reception, well there was great food and even better cupcakes. The company was brilliant and I even line-danced a bit. However, let's just keep that our little secret, shall we? It was nice to spend some time with Matt's family again, meet other members of it and meet loads of Brandi's relatives as well, Honestly, it was a beautiful day and a lovely night and I am honoured to have been the best man and I am so very pleased I could attend. Brandi and Matt, thank you for inviting me and I wish you happiness forever.
For more (and much better) photographs of the wedding, please follow the link:
http://www.actsofbeauty.ca/brandi-and-mathias/
After the wedding, it was time to head back to Matt/Brandi's house for some more drinks with some of their family and friends, via a ride in the boot of a large car. Here I got a rather enjoyable lesson in beer pong and Canadian parties. Eventually, we all crawled into our respective beds and fell asleep. Not for long again, as we then needed to get up the next day to help tidy up the wedding venue (though not before a 'timmies', of course). What followed was a rather lazy day, filled with Wii Mario, opening wedding presents (I just watched, of course) and popping round to the supermarket to buy food (for me to take home). This sleepy Sunday was well deserved by all, as it had been an extremely busy period for everyone. The day was rounded off by an interesting take on Dungeon and Dragons; a board game version which was extremely fast-paced and action-filled.
All too fast, it was my final day with Matt but, just like when he picked me up from the airport, he pulled out all the stops. After another long drive (with some brilliant chat, and, of course, the obligatory 'Timmies' plus breakfast...pretty sure we solved space travel during this trip), we arrived out our main destination: the largest mall in North America, West Edmonton Mall. Matt had planned a rather fun day out, to see me off, and everything we needed was right here. First off, and accompanied by Andre, we wandered around the mall which included a theme park, an ice rink, a waterpark and much more. Massive!
Then, fueling up with a cinnamon bun, we headed to our second stop: a gun range! Yup, this mall even had a gun range were you could select your weapon (or weapons) and let loose against your selected targets. We opted for a Beretta Storm, a semi-automatic pistol and a colt 45. It might be cliché to say but dear god, the Colt kicked like a mule. Even with the ear protectors, it was like a small explosion next to you and your body jerked with every shot fired. Something completely original and great fun that I wouldn't be able to try at home.
Once we had had our fill of firing guns ( or ran out of bullets), we headed to our next stop which was the indoor water park, complete with wave pool. I hadn't been to a water park in years, and it was so much fun! I'm honestly not lying when I say it was some of the best fun that I've had for years (even if I was a bit of a wimp on some of the steeper slides). I was like a teenager again, just running around and having fun! Some of the absolute highlights were:
- A large ring
slide where all three of us could use the same ring
- The wave
pool, which is one of the few places in the world where you can land
on top of someone and they just laugh it off
- Trying to run in the 'Hurricane', which was a fast-spinning sphere filled with
a little water. Basically, you tumble...a lot
- Corn dogs and
pretzels by the pool
- And of course, the Jacuzzi
And with that,
it's almost time for my journey to end! However, there's one last
post left but I will make sure it's a good one!
Pick of the Week
S.Luca's – Now then, going for ice cream in winter may not be the
smartest idea but when it's this good, it's well worth it! Alison
suggested that we go to Luca's when we were in Morningside,
Edinburgh as she thought the ice cream was really good and she wasn't
wrong! They make their own, in a variety of flavours including
nutella, Christmas pudding and many others plus you can get their ice
cream in a variety of traditional dishes! Absolutely delicious but
be warned, it can get cold inside so bring a jacket!
Music of the Week.
Perhaps it was picked because I'm listening to it right now or maybe it's been picked because I've been listening to it a lot recently. Guess we will never know but what we do know is that this week's song is Abingdon Boys School - Desert Rose.
See you all next Week!
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