In Canada, Just | 6th July 2011 | 21:31 PDT

After an incredibly clear picturesque flight over America, where I could see for miles, we drift over amazing scenery such as, Mount St. Helen and the islands in-and-around Seattle and as we swoop into Vancouver, I look upon mountains and Downtown in wonder.

Must. Fight. Overwhelming Urge. To. Pop It

Yet, here I am, sitting here, in an extra set of customs checks and waiting to be cleared in a very unwelcoming grey room with fellow immigrants looking to weasel their way in.

I'm thinking to myself, what am I doing here, not in this customs hall but Canada or more specifically as Canada is pretty big, Vancouver - what the hell am I going to do with my time, I've nothing to accomplish whilst I'm here, nothing to aim for, just seems like a pleasant place to spend some time, so that's what I'm doing.

I don't know much about Vancouver either, I do know that:
 -  It's known as North Hollywood because its cheaper on-location filming and it's meant to sort of look like New York.
 -  52% of locals don't speak English as their mother tongue.
 -  30% of the city's population are of Chinese heritage.
 -  There are two seasons: Wet and Damp
 -  Good reviews say its great, outdoors, clean city.
 -   Bad reviews say its awful, expensive and if you take away the buildings, trees etc. It's full of miserable people. This makes sense as wet people are seldom happy.
 -  Constantly regarded highly as most liveable city in the world.

Cheer up, it might never happen (via melbourneinphotos.com)

My knowledge of Canada/British Columbia isn't much better:
Before the boundaries of North America were set in stone around the 1800s, British Columbia used to be called Oregon County and stretched up from the top edge of the California (then, Mexico) all the way north in more or less a vertical line up, which both Britain and America staked a claim. Britain wanted Canada's country line to be horizontal from top of California all the way across. America disagreed and placed the line at the base of the state of Alaska. America had 2 wars  going on at the time and didn't want a third so a compromise was found.

Probably easier to understand (via wikipedia.org)

I'm still waiting in this grey room, no Canadian can believe I'm spending 3 months here, just for the sake of it. After a few grilling questions about me and my bizarre reasons to be here, and a long painful wait totalling a time longer than my flight here, I'm allowed through into the open expanse of... Canada!

Good Evening Vancouver!

Allo there!