Pottering, planning, panicking

Surprisingly, despite today being a public holiday, my working till 9.30 pm yesterday and our staying out till almost 2 am last night, we both managed to get up, get showered and get organised to go run vacation-related errands before noon today. I guess that Confucian work ethic is pretty damn hard to squelch, even on Buddha's birthday.

So: gift for new baby --- bought; foreign currency --- exchanged; Hong Kong MTR cards --- obtained from the aunt; laundry --- crackling in the dryer as I type. My packing's about one-third done (waiting for laundry). I opened the cupboard to find that my wheelie wasn't where it was supposed to be; it was in fact in the living room, parked in a corner, where it's been since we got back from Vietnam/Thailand in January. It still had some things I bought for friends that I haven't, er, passed to them yet.

Sprite informed me that the weather in Vancouver looks a wee bit chilly, so that gives me carte blanche to bring my delightful (and sadly underused and neglected) leather jacket. Blame it on Serendipity. The one Kate Beckinsdale wears in New York is most excellent.

Been trying to stuff myself with local food before I go, rather than eating food that's available in the Pacific Northwest of much better quality and value. T isn't quite down with this epicurean philosophy, though, so we had teppanyaki for lunch. Last night, there was olua (oyster omelette) and popiah (non-fried spring roll-kind of wrap) at Newton Hawker Centre. It was the first time I'd been to Newton in several years, so I was surprised to find that the car park layout had completely changed, forcing the cab to drop me along the main road, and that just about every other food stall was selling grilled seafood. If not for the fact that I was having dinner at 10 pm and couldn't quite afford hotel prices for late-night food, I'd've suggested going somewhere else.

Tonight, there's apparently going to be an excess of abalone, courtesy of T's parents. We're not sure how that's going to play out, since neither of us are particular abalone aficionados.