City of ''Champions"

This weekend we paid a visit to the Capital of Alberta, Edmonton. Home to Ben Wiggins (benwigginsincanada.blogspot.com), Dr Gavin Searle and Mrs Dr Niki Webster, the Edmonton Oilers and the Edmonton Eskimos (Hockey and Football respectively) and the world' 2nd largest shopping centre, the West Edmonton Mall.
It picks up the moniker 'City of Champions' because way back when in the era of Gretzky (early 80's I think) both the Oilers and the Eskies won their respective leagues (NHL and CFL) in the same year several times. That hasn't happened for a while now so some non-Edmontonians are a little skeptical of the board at the city limits proclaiming the City's victorious status.
It was winning the unofficial 'Who's Got The Most Shops In One Place' award for a while, the giant West Edmonton Mall having been built by chums of the Shah Of Persia (or modern Iran) who fled the revolution of the Ayatollahs in the 70's and wanted somewhere in Canada they could feel at home, surrounded by a giant beach and lots of everyone else's money. Sadly the World's Biggest Mall is now in Phoenix (Arizona, not Lancashire), but there are plans to add a wing and reclaim the prize for the frozen North.

The mall was surprisingly impressive. It contains the beach; a large indoor pool with water slides and waves big enough to surf on (I've seen footage, it's true) that is comfortably as big as the aqualand I saw in the South of France on the French exchange last year; the Santa Maria, a full size replica of Columbus' ship; a theme park with a dozen or so roller coasters and rides and an aquarium with a shark, fish, penguins and a pair of Sea Lions. I believe these are the Sea Lions furthest from the Sea in the world. They are, in fact, so very far from any kind of Ocean that it would be more accurate to call them Lions, although admittedly rather wet and smelling-of-fish Lions.
We had to ride a roller-coaster. We avoided the giant super-scary one which killed a few people back in the 80s. The mind bender was just too much for us, being the longest indoor roller-coaster in the world. We opted for the Galaxy Orbiter as it looked much tamer. You can see from Victoria's face that it was not. I loved it, but I finished with a deaf ear and a sore hand from Vic's white-knuckle grip. Thank God we went before we had lunch...



We'll be back at the mall in January sometime to lie on the beach, swim, play and drink cocktails and generally give ourselves a summery feel when it's -30 or below.
Speaking of negative temperatures, I finally bought a winter coat. Sadly it's almost identical to Victoria's, so we look rather cheesily his-n-hers when the temperature drops.Trying to find something warm enough for -30 and below days with enough room to maneuver for skiing and waterproof so I can still use it in rainy blighty has been quite a challenge. Only the Giantest Mall ever was up to the challenge. I am almost totally confident my new parka and new winter boots will do just the job. I'm already finding them useful for waiting at the bus-stop on the way to and from work. So far it's only got down to about -5 or -6 in the morning, so quite how I'll cope with the extremes of January and February I don't know.
We had a fab time with Ben. You must check out his blog (benwigginsincanada.blogspot.com) for some original comments on Canadian driving and teaching. It was refreshing to hang out with Brits all weekend and relax about our sense of humour. Canadians are amongst the friendliest, most welcoming people on Earth (up there with Malawians and the Irish), but it can sometimes be a strain to hold in the sarcasm so as not to cause offense. Thankfully the cut-and-thrust and day to day banter in the math department is very British in feel; Irony-a-go-go.
We also stayed with Gavin and Nickie. Dr Searle (as he is now) was a housemate at university and a long-time friend, but as he moved to Edmonton 3 years ago we've barely seem them since. It was great to catch up and discover that we haven't changed all that much. Boys are like that I think; we're pretty rubbish at staying in touch but as soon as we get back together it's like no time had passed. We sat up till past midnight comparing a 18 year-old with 2 twelve year olds... scotch of course! Gavin and I bantered merrily about hints of honey and how 'round' was the 'peatiness' while Nickie and Vicky looked on with amusement as we described 3 drinks which they though all tasted the same; like petrol. The following morning we went to the sugar-bowl, an enormously popular Edmonton eaterie and bar where we queued outside for a seat. The food was great, but I was surprised to find a North American breakfast place not offering my favourite Eggs Benedict. Even better than to food was making plans to go skiing. Snow is falling on the pistes of Sunshine Village and Lake Louise down the road. Bring on the winter!



Final quibble. I have noticed a tendency over here to use "bunny ears" in random places. I'll try to point out the funniest ones. Noting them on here is safer than correcting everyone's grammar. Favourite this week was a meeting for "Married" couples at a church. BYO mistress I guess...