the world through my eyes…

I have never wanted it to rain so badly in all my life.  The heat today mixed with the humidity is intense.  I feel as though I’ve sweated of 10lbs already.  However, this is Niagara in the summer time, so I had better get use to it!  Thankfully tomorrow’s forecast is rain, which means I’ll be hanging outside, cooling off.

Apart from the history of the hostel being a former brothel (I swear, I did not intend to make a rhyme with that!), I found out today that the old abandoned building behind the hostel use to be the detention centre.  Oh great!  Actually the building itself is kinda cool, so  had to get a few pictures!

Although the hot day almost melted me, Nicole drove down from Mississauga late this evening.  It was fantastic to see her.  It’s been about 3-4yrs since we last saw each other (we’ve been friends since we were 5yrs old), and as always things picked up right where they left off.  We went for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, walked through the streets and visited the falls.  It never ceases to amaze me as to how many tourists are still roaming the streets of Niagara at 10:30pm!

After Nicole dropped me off at the hostel, I had a wee nap before going with Michelle to the Queen- a local bar/restaurant that everyone in the area hangs out at.  It was karaoke night, so you can only imagine!  However, I merely enjoyed others singing, I’m not brave enough to get up myself.  While I was sitting there this guy, Billy started talking to me.  He was way passed being sober, but seemed nice enough, plus everyone seemed to know him and like him.  Towards the end of the evening we had an interesting conversation, this is how it went down…

Billy: That woman is going to force me to go home with her.

Me: You don’t have to go home with her, just tell her no.

Billy: But she has air conditioning at her house. My Mom doesn’t have air conditioning.

Me: So you’re going to go have sex with her because she has air conditioning?

Billy: No, I’m not going to have sex with her, we’re just going to sleep in the same bed.  We’re neighbours, that’s what neighbours do!

I have never wanted to laugh so hard in all my life.   He was so drunk and yet, so very serious at the same time.

This morning was spent getting the housekeeping routine down, as I’m covering for the regular girl.  This is the deal, I cover her days off and I don’t have to pay to stay at the hostel.  It’s not a glamorous job, and tomorrow is going to SUCK on my own, but you do what you have to do!

Tonight was another hostel excursion, this time to the Skylon Tower to view the illuminations and fireworks over the falls.  In all the years that I’ve come to Niagara, I have never been anywhere near the tower, let alone went up it to see the fireworks.  Similar idea to the CN Tower in Toronto, although much smaller. 

We had a group of about 16 gusts with us which made maneuvering through the lines and such a little fun.  The view from the top of the tower was great and we all wormed our way to the front of the gate to take pictures of the illuminated falls.  Although we were quite early for the fireworks, it gave everyone a chance to mingle and get to know one another.  Half the group was from France, and the others were from Japan, Germany and England, so it was little a mini UN meeting at times.

The fireworks were beautiful as always, however the number of people on the tower had increased, so getting a picture was next to impossible! The one part that was annoying was when it was all over they only have one elevator operating to take eveyone back down.

After what seemed like an eternity in line, we finally made it down to the bottom where we packed everyone into more Taxi’s.  Although some of the group wanted to go back to the hostel, there were 6 of them who wanted to have some food and drinks, so we ended up taking them to the Wild Mushroom.  Thankfully the drunk woman from the night before was nowhere to be seen!