PEC
A got back from Glasto and the next morning they set off to Prince Edward County for a weekend away for July 4th holiday / Canada day! They rented a little vw car from Turo and drove through Coburg for a stop where they had coffee and walked through a strange seaside festival and went to a nice bookshop. The weather as a bit cloudy / rainy. They arrived in Picton to Merrill House where they were staying which was an old house renovated into beautiful rooms. The design was incredible and they were super impressed. They had some slow afternoon time and then went to 3 different vineyards – Closson Chase, small family run one and then Broken Stone. They were all such small vineyards that felt like you were in someone’s garden. They had little tastes at each one like 1-3oz and then walked to the next one. They liked the small family run one in the middle and spoke to the lady there, and bought 1 bottle. The taxi service was really funny – there was like 5 taxis in picton and they spoke to each other by walk-in talkie. In the evening they went to the sauna then went to Bocado which was a great tapas place where they had seafood pasta, bread, ceviche and a great salad. They spent a while googling house prices in Picton because they loved it so much. The lady at the table next to them chatted for ages and invited them to buy eggs from her farm.
The next day they went to the local coffee shop and bought local mustard and local soaps. They loved the community feel for everything. They then drove to Wellington and it was raining. They went to The Drake hotel for a really good brunch. A had salmon benny and L had eggs and toast. Then they went to Sandbanks Winery and the sun came out. They tried more wines and bought one for Julie Anne too because she loved them. They also bought nice strawberries off the street then tried to go for a walk because it was hot but A kept getting bitten by bugs so they went to the beach and had a little walk there instead. They stopped off by La Condesa for great tacos super quickly before driving back to Toronto for 3 hours. They listened to a podcast with the Microsoft CTO and they both loved how nerdy but smart he was.
BBQ & Other
On the 4th July, they decided to have a little barbecue together and had garlic shapes for the first time. They loved them and L had set it up with Kim so that she knew how everything worked.
One evening after work, they met up with Julie-Ann to have drinks in a little wine bar and she scootered over. They then went to an Indian restaurant to celebrate Alex having paid off his McKinsey debt.
They celebrated “Molliday”, the birthday of one of Tamara’s friends by going to a really nice wine bar.
The next day, Alex had his 4-hour technical coding challenge (which he was a little stressed about) – he had to create a coding pitch on electricity generation. L met up with Nani – she met her at Eglington (nani took the bus!!) and they went to a Syrian restaurant that was lovely. Then A met L after the test and they went to the art festival in Toronto and walked around and had momos. In the evening, they made dinner and prepared food for Aleem and Karen
On the Sunday, A had his english tests for permanent residency and L went to a breathwork class in trinity bell woods. Then they came back a and cleaned the house, picked up pizza and Aleem + Karen arrived! They had lots of potatoes, veggies, dips, crackers followed by pizza. It was such a lovely chilled afternoon and they chatted on the balcony. Then A went for his aural English test and L walked by the lake.
San Fran
The next day L went to SF for work – her flight was super delayed and long and she got a middle seat. Her back was really hurting when she got off. She got a quick dinner then went to bed. The next day she went into the office for the New Verticals Consumer offsite where 100 people were there across ops, product, marketing, engineering etc. She hung out with the affordability team and in the evening went to a Mexican restaurant with Julia, Grant, Caleb and Priya T which was cute. The next day they were in the office all day and then had drinks with the whole team on a rooftop. L was so happy she had so many good friends at DD and spent the whole time chatting to people she liked and not important people like Laura C, Camille, Priya Gandhi, Caleb, Julia etc. The final day in office was Thursday and in the eve she went to dinner with Julia and Souvla and then went to her house and met Freddie. It was so warm! On Friday L went to go work from Google office with Noureen and Areef. The office was packed and had so much free good food and coffee. She ate lots of granola and nuts and fruit! The best thing was the 180 views of the water in SF. Then she went to Areef and Noureen’s flat which was lovely and they went for a walk in Pacifica followed by Japanese BBQ. The next morning they went fora quick walk then L headed to the airport for her flight to Vancouver
A didn’t do much whilst L was in SF apart from work but he met up with Paddy
Vancouver Island (Nanaimo)
L and A met at vancouver airport after L’s flight being delayed for quite a while. They booked a last minute sea plane from Vancouver airport to Nanaimo. It was the best decision! The sea plane terminal was so cool – basically a nice outdoor pub by the water and they got on this tiny plane for 10 people and had a 15 min journey to Nanaimo. They were met by Iman and Aunty Navin and then went home to their place, followed by a walk on the beach with Iman and met Aleem and Victor briefly. A went for a quick swim on his own in the ocean. They chatted about Iman’s work with addiction clinics a lot. In the evening they had dinner all outside and stayed up chatting with Auntie Navin and Uncle Maqbool. It was so chilled and lovely.
Sunday morning they had coffee and bagels, then dropped Iman to the ferry terminal. They then went on a hike with Aunty N and Uncle M and it felt like having couple friends. Aunty M said how much she liked A and L was very happy! They then went home and A and L went on another beach walk for an hour followed by cooking dinner where L made salad and veg, A made potatoes and Aunty N made fish. The dinner was great and they sat around talking about working hours, priorities in life and other things.
On Monday and Tuesday they both worked and A started at 7.30am both days! They then cycled to Regard for morning coffee then back home for 9am start. They finished work around 5-6 each day which was nice because of being on the west coast. They had long evening dinners and chats every night and felt so so relaxed. They also played basketball every day!
Vancouver Mainland
On Weds they flew to Vancouver mainland and had a beautiful journey again. L’s sunglasses fell off her head as she got off though and into the ocean. They checked into the Marriott then went to Small Victory coffee and A headed into the office to meet his team. L worked from the hotel and then in the evening had dinner by herself. The next day she went to Gastown for coffee in the morning (Nemesis) then went to work from the hotel all day. She had a nice salad from Field and Social for lunch. In the eve she went to Iman and Sameena’s flat which was by the water and beautiful. They drove to Kitsilano and went for sushi together then went to meet A and his colleague Jeremi for a beer. Iman and Sameena both said how much they loved A. On friday L worked from Revolver coffee, then Nelson the Seagull coffee then back to the hotel before having a slow evening with A before date night. L felt like she was on holiday in Vancouver despite working full time. It was just so nice to explore another place.
A’s offsite
A had a really nice time seeing his team in Vancouver. When he arrived to the V office on Wednesday, Christine, Jeremi, Ben and Keith were in the office; Shawn joined later. On the weds eve, Alex ran several sessions: a live testing of the product, a retro, a strategy step-back and a deep-dive values session. Particularly the values session hit really hard, with people explaining their history and what they valued. After, they went for dinner with Amit, who talked about his role creating data-science partners. They had ice cream on the way back to the hotel. Thurs was more of a working day but with lots of PSSing between. A caught up with Tom Youldon too. In the afternoon they headed up to Grouse mountain where they saw bears, saw a bird show and had beers and burgers – was SUPER nice seeing everyone outside of a work environment or team dinner. Friday was more PSSing with just Shawn & Keith but felt super good to see everyone, Christine said it was the most she’d got to know anyone and Jeremi said it was awesome.
Final weekend in Vancouver
L and A had date night! They walked to Chinatown and found a vintage furniture shop. They chatted to the owner Liliana for ages – she was so passionate and lovely. A found some glasses that L loved immediately and they bought 4 glasses – they are Libby La Femme with women’s bodies on the outside. Then they went to Oyster Express which was a super cool oyster shack vibe where they tried 3 different Oysters from various parts of Canada. Chinatown was a fairly run down and dead area in the evening but then they went to Kissa Tanto which was a japanese <> italian fusion restaurant. The decor was 10/10. They had nice drinks, a tuna mouse ina potato with bruschetta, an octopus salad, amazing seafood noodles and miso veg. It was definitely in the top 5 restaurants of 2023. L was amazed by it all and couldn’t stop talking about the restaurant. Then they walked back to the hotel and watched Peaky Blinders until 12.30 (a party night!).
On Saturday they rented electric bikes from the hotel for free and cycled all around Stanley park, it was beautiful. They had to use the boost for a bit because of the big hills. L now wants an e bike. Then they walked to Chinatown again for coffee at Propaganda which was great, followed by steamed vegetable buns at an authentic bakery. They then stumbled upon a cute book store and Fat Mao noodles which was the best noodle soup L has ever had. They had tom yum with fat rice noodles. They then picked up their glasses which had been wrapped and headed back to the hotel via the Vancouver public library which was A’s favourite place. It was super nice seeing how used the library was, it was full of people with books!
In the afternoon after a quick stop at the hot tub and a free ice cream which A made into an affogato, they went to Iman and Sameena’s flat and stopped by Will’s dad’s office where they face timed him! They chilled in the flat and Nuraiyah was there too. A was happily reading essays by Karl Marx and bonded with I about socialism. They then set off to a Thai restaurant and discussed by Mckinsey was evil. It was Uncle Maqbools 70th birthday! The dinner was cute and they chatted mostly with I and S. Then they went back too their flat with Uncle M’s sister, husband and kids and had ice cream cake and chilled some more. It was very homey and family vibes and they learned about uncle m’s sister and husband trip to Pakistan to work for the AKDN to build a university. They then watched the fireworks with I and S by the water and went home. A really really happy weekend with family. They felt so close to I and S and the parents. Sunday morning they went for coffee in one final cafe and they’re now on a porter flight and they love porter!
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 