When Things Don’t Go To Plan

Sometimes we plan

We research, we organise, we schedule, wemake things happen.

Sometimes, we don’t wait for fate to deal us whatever hand he sees fit, sometimes, we grab that deck, we deal a game of solitaire and we finish the game, even if it means cheating.

Other times, we wake up in the morning, see a job ad for ranch help online that looks fairly interesting, casually apply, hoping they might have work when we leave Vancouver, and then we get a call three hours later that ends in a job offer, a day to pack and a bus journey to travel to a cattle and tourism ranch 7 hours away from the city we’ve called home for a month.

And by ‘WE’ I mean ‘I’

This happened yesterday. I spent the rest of the day cancelling appointments with temp agencies, cancelling plans with friends and telling my new housemate I’m leaving (granted, that didn’t take ALL day) and tomorrow I jump on the Greyhound at an ungodly hour of the morning and head to The Flying U Ranch.

It all sounds a little too good to be true; I’ll work 5 days a week and on my days off I get to ride the horses wherever I want. The ranch is a working cattle ranch as well as a guesthouse so there WILL be cowboys (yeehah!) AND they have a saloon on site – what more does a British traveler need from her Canadian experience?

AND THANK GOD!

I have spent the last week looking for work in Vancouver and it is BOOOORRRRRIIIINNNGGG!!

Sure, there are jobs, and there are temp agencies that will register me and test my skills (100% excel pass AND typing accuracy, if you’re interested), but I don’t actually WANT to work in an office or serve tables in the local vegan vegetarian natural wholefood cafe come candlelit eatery. I don’t want to do data entry and I don’t want to smile at tricky, ungrateful, demanding consumers when my feet are aching and I’m filthy from steam and grease. I can do that in London, and I’ll probably have to do both of those things when I come back, homeless and penniless. But until then, I’ll embrace all that is not British and go and enjoy some pure Canadian air for the next couple of months.

I will miss Vancouver. I’ve taken full advantage of the awesome thrift stores, enjoyed the hiking trails of North Van and the beaches around Kitsilano, met some fantastic people that have helped me navigate my way around and enjoyed unemployment in the best way I know how – in total denial.

The summer is a great time to visit, when there are loads of festivals and you can just sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. They have some incredible food markets, although I am considering personally petitioning that they put a limit on the amount of gelato each patron can buy – three is definitely too much, and it’s easy to bike, boat, walk, swim, run, eat, drink and be merry at all times of the day.

My plan is to come back – probably in October, and see how the city fares over halloween, but sometimes things don’t always go according to plan – and it’s not always a bad thing
Until next time, lots of love