St John's - Day One

Up at 4:30AM today, to be on time for our 7:30AM flight to St John's. It was dark when we left the house but by the time we boarded the plane the sun was up, and we flew into the sun the whole way. It's now 7:00PM and the sun is stil shining on the hills opposite our B&B.

The Italian was on our flight as well, having flown in from Vancouver earlier in the week to visit with family (he's from Toronto originally). He and my Man had seats together, and I was wedged in a few rows back beside a very tired and very round lady, who made it clear she was not moving to let me out again once I'd squeezed into my window seat. Fortunately the flight was under three hours long, so it wasn't too much of an issue!

We landed just before noon, and a short taxi ride later were at The Roses. The Italian is up on the third floor, but my Man and I have a cozy little room on the second floor which seems to be bright and sunny all the time. Our room is very sweet - it has TWO beds - a smallish double and a very high single that you need to take a bit of a running leap at - and the bathroom runs off a corner of the the room at an angle, and down two steps. (My Man, with more accuracy than elegance, has dubbed it the Poo Pit.) Oddly, there is a pigeon outside our window who makes exactly the same noises as the pigeon outside our window of our loft, so we feel right at home.








We took some time to unpack and wash and then wandered off with the Italian in search of lunch. We ended up at Velma's Place, where the Italian and my Man had Fish and Brewis and I had Fishcakes and Eggs and a bottle of Quidi Viddi.

After lunch we headed off in search of the local liquor store, which my Man was disappointed to discover was not where it used to be. They've replaced the lovely old cave of a shop, which had a huge selection of vintages, with an infinitely smaller and less atmospheric shop that only sells their 50 top items. The balance of the selection has moved out to the suburbs. Apparently it made better business sense, in light of the tourist trade. Sad. Still, we managed to stock up on a few essentials and, more heavily laden now, trekked home for a nap.

We've just woken up, and are going to freshen up and head over to the Battery, where the Professor lives, with his partner. (The Professor, the Italian, and my Man are here in St John's to work on a new radio series called The Nerve, a follow-up to their very successful and award-winning series, The Wire.)