It’s nice to be “home” after our time in Quebec City. We landed earlier than expected on Wednesday night but were delayed getting home by some person on the tracks (dead or alive, I don’t know).

Thursday was a day for catching up on things. I went to the post office to mail our postal votes back to Australia – not that they did much to help the country but I’m at least glad and proud of the fact that I’m free to vote without persecution or corruption. I also collected a package of yoghurt starter culture so I could attempt to make yoghurt. Also returned some library books, then went to a chiropractor appointment and then shopping.

In the afternoon I went down to collect a ticket for the Toronto International Film Festival. Glen had gone earlier in the day to collect the ten tickets under his name. It was lunch time and the queue took 40 minutes. When I went at about 2:30/3pm the queue wasn’t quite so long, about 30 minutes I think, which was long enough, especially with the cold wind that was blowing.

I can’t quite fathom why ticket collection isn’t done online by now. It would surely save so much hassle. Bizarrely, TIFF allows you to return tickets and exchange them for something else. Good customer service I suppose but can you imagine the workload? Anyway, got my one ticket. I could have collected it from the theatre box office on the day, as it was a single one, but after seeing the queue for the film we went to today, I’m glad I collected it early.

People were already staking their claims on patches of pavement beside the “red carpet” for the opening of the festival that night. I got distinct pangs of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) thinking that I should be doing the same or at least trying my hardest to join in all the hysteria of star-spotting. Then I remembered I hate crowds and if I can’t actually get to talk to these people then seeing them from a distance, amongst a bunch of screaming people, isn’t really my idea of fun.

Thursday night I put the yoghurt on. I’d used almond milk as Glen’s drinking it at the moment (I don’t have milk) and also it comes in UHT packs so I wouldn’t have to bugger around with heating and cooling the milk. Left it to set overnight and in the morning it hadn’t set at all. It had fermented, as evidenced by the smell, but no yoghurt whatsoever. So looks like I’ll have to use regular milk and heat/cool it after all. Apparently Canadians don’t like UHT long-life milk. It’s impossible to find except in tiny little containers in restaurants when they bring the coffee.

Friday Glen and I went to the gym in the morning (we also went Thursday but at different times) and then he went off to work. I got stuck into the next lot of editing work and made good headway. I’ve got about two-thirds left to do and then I’ll get paid, which will be wonderful.

In the evening I made something fancy: chicken with pumpkin mash and pistachio granola. It’s a Thermomix recipe and despite how it looks, it was pretty easy and stress-free to put together. I got the grunt of approval from Glen so will make it again in the future.

We then went and got haircuts down the road from the place I went before. My haircut took so long. Glen started after me and was finished well before. I had the same guy as last time. Once again, he shaved my ear lobes. It’s not a bad haircut though perhaps could have had more trimmed off the top. Glen’s is a bit shorter than he would have liked.

Later that night we headed uptown to Yonge and Eglinton to a bar/restaurant called Alleycatz for Eileen’s birthday party with Kevin, Adam, Eileen and Pauline. We got there about 9pm and I ordered some more food (it had been about two and a half hours since I’d eaten). We had some drinks, ate, chatted, listened to the live cover band who were pretty good. People danced. I think we facilitated an early exit as Glen was tired and ready for home about 10:30. I decided I’d go too then all of a sudden everyone else was leaving as well. The quickly made plans for karaoke were just as quickly abandoned. Still, it was nice to be out and about and see people.

This morning we woke to grey skies, managing to sleep in until 8am. The alarm woke us. We checked the news and Facebook and saw, much to our horror and disappointment, that Tony Abbott was now Australia’s Prime Minister. I’m not going to rant on this thing because it’s likely to upset people BUT all I hope is that he’s only in for a three-year term. If nothing else, if not for his lack of social and environmental conscience, then think of the National Broadband Network. Business should really be up in arms over that one. Sigh. Let’s see what the next three years have in store.

We ventured out into the rain to St Lawrence Markets to buy fruit and veg from the farmers’ markets, which is always fun and more enjoyable than getting stuff from the supermarket. We also bought chicken and Glen got some fillet mignons.

This afternoon we went to see our first TIFF film. It was called Only Lovers Left Alive. It’s a vampire film with Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton and John Hurt (and the guy who plays Chekov in the new Star Trek movies). At first I thought it was going to be painfully slow but then you get into the swing of it and it’s quite a beautifully crafted film. Very introspective, though with a few humourous lines and plays with convention.

At the end of the film, the director, Tom and Anton (Anton Chekov) came out for a Q&A with the audience. Tom looked exceptionally dashing in his suit and with his slight English accent. Was quite a surprise that the Q&A was going to happen. We had no idea. So that’s the first of our TIFF films out of the way. I’m seeing six, while Glen’s seeing five. We’ve got another tomorrow and then I’m seeing one on Monday. Hope they’re just as good.