On Thursday night we had a couple of the radiology residents over for a games night. We’d previously been to Amy and Alon’s for food and games and now we were repaying the favour, with the addition of Phil and Eva. They arrived about 7pm and, after a bit of a chat, Glen and I put on the pizzas.

I used wholemeal flour in the pizza sought this time (it was on sale at Loblaw’s). I was a bit wary of it at first, but the pizzas turned out really nicely. Unfortunately, Alon only got to have one slice (and some corn chips) before he left for hockey. Both Glen and I first thought he meant field hockey, but nope, ice hockey.

A few more pizzas and glasses of wine later we were ready for the first game: Ticket to Ride.

My cousin Natasha and her husband, Owain, had mentioned the game when we were back home (they’re both avid gamers) so I was keen to see how it was played. The basic premise is you collect cards of different colours, which you then use to build routes across the board. For example, Los Angeles to New York, or Montreal to New Orleans.

Players don’t know what routes the others are going for and there’s the possibility that you’ll block another player’s attempt to complete a route. This brings up a wonderful sense of dread as you watch other players begin to mark out their routes using their coloured train carriages. You gain points depending on how long your train is. You also get points for routes you complete, but also deduct points for routes you don’t complete.

I was able to complete all four routes I had in my hand and looked like I was going to win longest continuous route, but Eva’s multidirectional route on the east coast of North America pipped me by about ten points. She was already ahead everybody by that stage and this final addition of points cemented her dominion. Still, I came second.

We then packed that up and I brought out our set of the card game Pit. This is – or can be – a very loud party game where you have to collect a full suit of nine cards by swapping cards with other players – all at once by calling out “one-one-one-one-one” or “two-two-two-two-two”, depending on the number of cards of the same type you want to swap. The first person to collect all nine cards of one suit wins by shouting, “Corner!”

This game has been played in my family for decades, probably since the 60s. We’ve got an old copy of the game back home in Perth, and bought this newer copy at the end of last year in one of the game shops.

It’s always a favourite, gets the blood going, turns the voice hoarse and is really good for breaking the ice. We played about ten rounds (maybe more). By then it was close to midnight and we were ready to turn into pumpkins. Amy and Phil had night shift starting the next night so were fine to stay up late in an attempt to kick their bodies into a new sleep cycle. Glen and I, however, just fell into bed once they were gone.

It was a great night and we’re going to have another.

Waking up on Friday morning was hard. We didn’t get up until 7, which meant Glen missed the gym. I went, however, and was glad of it. I was also the only one in there. I then checked out a couple of reviews people have already written about my book.

There’s a 4-star and a 5-star review, both really gushing about the book, which made me beam. I hope they’re all like that (though I’m sure there’ll be some nasty ones thrown in there to).

I motored on with more work. I’ve got a big job on at the moment and have put in a lot of effort over this past week to get as much done as possible before I leave for Vancouver on Saturday night. Unfortunately, last night’s late night caught up with me just after lunch. I reasoned that it was best if I have a nap because I was losing focus. Mistakes would then creep in and the work would look shoddy. Satisfied with that, I went to bed for a couple of hours.

It’s probably done my some good, though now I feel a bit groggy. And not at all like working. There’s probably another day’s worth of work left to do so guess what I’ll be doing on Sunday on the train.

Yes, that’s right. I’m taking The Canadian all the way from Toronto to Vancouver. A four-day journey that takes me across the country. I’ve read up a bit about what the experience is going to be like and I’m really looking forward it.

Unfortunately VIA Rail doesn’t provide all that much information on their website about how long each stop is (it stops at some of the major cities along the route), so I don’t know if I’ll have time to get off and look around for a bit. Fingers crossed I do.

So that leaves tomorrow night at 10pm.

Tonight, we’re going to Pete and Royden’s for homemade butter chicken. Nom nom nom.