all is quiet...

Happy New Year.

ewan, mir, dad and i said goodbye to 2006 at a height of 351 metres above the ground in the revolving 'restaurant 360' up in the CN tower, the tallest building in the world. the tower was shrouded in cloud but high winds cleared much of it as the night progressed and we had great views of the city below us. rocketing up in the elevator ride (travelling at a rate of 2 floors a second) is always a bit freaky but rising up into thick cloud was definitely so. it took several minutes and the help of a strong white russian to find my legs again and stop feeling the movement of the floor as we revolved. but the restaurant is incredible and it has won me over every time. it did so again. we had an amazing meal, incredible wines, and a bottle of champagne at midnight. a guy in the same section as us serenaded and then proposed on one knee to his girlfriend about half eleven and everyone cheered when she accepted. the men were given gold top hots and the women got showgirl tiaras with plumes of feathers and every table got party blowers and other noise making 'instruments'. it was hard to judge exactly when 12 o'clock hit, such was the raucous noise being made for the last couple of minutes of the old year but we saw a firework go off and decided that was our permission to welcome in the new year.

so it's january first and i'm sitting beside my new portable hard drive which now has a generous dose of music on it to bring home. tom vek and alan partridge are waiting to load and then we is done.

i began this morning by watching bill hicks: live but my father sat down with a bowl of cereal so i switched it off, thus wiping a rather distressed look off my brother's face. hicks plus parents is not a good combination, especially over breakfast. bill believed advertising was 'pornography to sell shit' and in this set was just beginning to describe the "perfect advert". i've left my dad watching mr bean.

so, this is our last full day in canada. we're gonna chill out with dvd's on the sofa and perhaps have a dander in the record breaking warm weather. it's 9 degrees and sunny. this has been a great couple of weeks. i've eaten loads, drunk loads and had a lot of laughs. it'll be sad to say goodbye to ewan and mir but i'm looking forward to seeing the belfast crew on my return.

2007 will begin with many changes for us all. the sale of the cottage completes, i get my studio to paint and mess about in, i need to find work and decide where i gonna live longer term, and best of all, ewan and mir will welcome their baby into the world.

all kinda feels like riding up in that elevator...

LB, x