Mr. Noodle

Mr. Noodle
Mr. Noodle

Monday, July 4, 2011

yarnsalad leaves the Pacific Rim area

Sorry I've not been posting, I have been busy moving away...

Here's how my last few days have gone:

On Wednesday after work, I had my last massage with Tawnija. I decided last month that I would see her every week before I left, we had a good arrangement so I could (afford to) do that. O it was wonderful to be on the table, under the powerful hands of someone who can read the body. I left feeling so relaxed that I could hardly see. I wandered over to the yarn shop, and when Ellie closed up we went to her place to get ready for my farewell party at Shelter.

Ellie's idea was that we would dress up with a Sex and the City theme, that we would move Stitch Night (normally on Wednesdays) to Shelter restaurant. We were sitting down with the first round of drinks, most of us drinking Cosmopolitans. I was barely halfway through my first one when Ellie said "It's your last night! Why remember it?" and then ordered me another one. I sent text message to Kirsten "So... can you feed my cat and bring me a clean uniform to work tomorrow?" Her response was "sure! Drink up!" More cosmos followed...






See now I must confess that in Tofino & Uculelet among my friends (the knitters), I have a reputation for story telling, and the more alcohol I have, the more colorful the stories. It's true I have lots of stories and tell them often, but I guess the more tipsy I get the less inhibited I feel about telling certain stories. Well, yarnsalad let loose that night and I couldn't possibly repeat any here. Besides, I wasn't the only one spinning yarns...

So we had drinks, then dinner, and then in the interlude between dinner and dessert, Kim from Chocolate Tofino  broke out some chocolates for us: Grand Marnier (YUM) and chocolate mint. After dessert was tucked away, Ellie decided we all needed to go to the Maquinna for karaoke night.

I didn't know this, but I think the Maquinna is Tofino's seediest bar. It's nickname is the "Dirty Maq" for a reason. When we got there, there were maybe about 15 people in the place, not much going on, but there were people on the mic. We got our drinks, sat down at a table, when a local character, a young woman who had just played a softball game that day & was still in her gear came by I said "I'm going to sing a song and you guys are all going to dance!" "Okay!" we said, and the night progressed from there.


We wild & crazy knitters danced the night away, sang a few songs, and entertained the crowd. I sang Melissa Etheridge's "No Souvenirs" and Madonna's "Ray of Light" (not very well but who cares? Everyone was drunk!)

Now here I must add that as it was the Sex and the City theme, I was wearing the only heels I own, which are 3" tango shoes that I got when I was learning Latin dance in Korea. I am tall, have bunions, and almost never wear heels, so having these things on my feet for six hours was a feat in itself. Somehow I made it back to Ellie's place, where I stayed the night, having left my truck at Shelter (and was spotted by someone I know. The text message read "I saw your truck at Shelter...") (See, I was living in Ucluelet which is a 35 minute drive away, so that my easily identifiable truck was spotted is a dead giveaway that I was out having a good time).


I left Ellie's the next morning, walked in my running shoes to get my truck, found (a very unsatisfying and expensive) breakfast at the Tofino Bagel Company, then went to the hospital for my last day of work. Luckily I had all my gear so could have a shower. When I was telling my coworkers the story of the previous night's debauchery, they were all delighted for me! Chelsea said "that's great!" Alice got me towels for my shower. The day was off to a lovely start.

So as it was my last day and Kirsten was with me (it was her last day of training to be my replacement), it was an easy day. It was a good thing because I was slightly hungover. No, I didn't get floor-licking drunk, thank goodness. I don't like that feeling and I am admittedly far too responsible to show up for work with a really bad hangover.

At lunch time, Judi the cook rolled in a cake for me.


Everyone sang "for she's a jolly good fellow" and there was a card and it was so sweet that I was moved to tears. I had been at Tofino General Hospital for exactly five months.

That night, I had signed up to moderate the #knitchat on Twitter. Every Thursday from 6:30-7:30pm PST, Natalie from the Cloudy with a Chance of Fiber podcast hosts a knit chat where we discuss various knitting topics. I got to moderate & lead the discussion for the knitchat a few nights ago, my topic was knitting to fashion and how we choose the garments we knit for ourselves. It was riotous good fun and I received lots of compliments the following day. Glad everyone had a good time!

After the #knitchat, I had dinner at the home of my former fish boss and then we watched V for Vendetta, a film Chris thinks everyone should see. It was dark but very well done, good cinematography and an interesting plot. It was good to escape into a story...

The next morning I woke up and felt overwhelmed. I had been having upset stomach for several evenings in a row and my foot hurt. I think it was the gold tango shoes, but I felt rather paralyzed with the amount of work I had to do to clear out of the house and not knowing how on earth I was going to do it by myself. Faye showed up and said "lets get a hot dog" and I went with her. Faye always has good ideas and I will follow. I had forgotten that it was Canada Day, and didn't know that down the street from the house there was an event that had free hot dogs.

That was an odd moment and bears a bit of a story. Someone got on the PA system and said something about 'make way for the colour guard'. Colour guard? Isn't that what you use to get your stains out of laundry? Then a bunch of people in camo pants and red hoodies marched on the lawn, single file. Ah. The Rangers. There was one Mountie in full regalia, and then the Ucluelet version (a la hoodies). The mayor got on the mic (who has a laughable reputation) and said some not very funny things in an effort to be funny, and kept on saying you-CUE-let (instead of you-CLUE-let)(I get right bent out of shape at half the town for not being able to pronounce the town's name correctly). It was like nails on a chalk board. We got in line to get our free hot dog.

Later I went home to get moving on the packing and cleaning. Faye and her daughter came over to help. Kat & Kirsten came over to help. I didn't ask, they didn't offer, they just knew I needed help and started working away. I didn't even have to tell them, they just started clearing out the fridge, the bathroom, and just did stuff. It was so good, because I was so distracted and overwrought that I wasn't in a position to make rational decisions. If it wasn't for them, there is no way I would have been able to make it out of there on time.

So my landlord is away in Nova Scotia, working & going to school. He had a friend of his come over & do the walk-through with me. When Kevin came by, I wasn't really ready but he works during the day and I wanted to leave after lunch the next day, so we had to do it on Friday night. We did, and he was pretty pleased with how things looked. No damage, and in fact there were a few improvements Dan had made to the place during our time there. I am a bit worried that I didn't get a copy of the condition report after we both signed off on it, this having to do with access to a photocopier and Kevin having to work the next day. He said his wife would bring it by before I left but that didn't happen. Fingers crossed all will be well. 

Kat & Kirsten had me over for pizza on Friday night, which was good since I had no food left in the house at all. They hosted me for breakfast the next morning too. Then they came back to help me load up the truck for the dump run, then clean out the truck, then Kirsten expertly packed up my truck with everything that was coming with me. It was stressful and hard and I thank the heavens that they were there to the end to help me. I popped over to the Driftwood to buy us all lunch. It's three doors down from the house and was the first restaurant Dan & I went to the day we moved in last year. Truck loaded, we were just getting the tarp on when it started to rain. Good. It was time then.

We said our goodbyes and with a sort-of-scared kitty in the truck with me, we drove away.


This is Sam on my lap, she had finally settled in to having a snooze as I was approaching Steve & Toni's house.

And with that, I'll end my lengthy post!

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