Travels With Brian

You've Never Had Korean Food?

"Hi, you must be Gavin, welcome to the office, please chuck your coat on the hook there."

"Nice T-shirt."

"Um yes, sorry, it was the only one they had in the shop. My luggage is in Amsterdam."

Thankfully, due to my jetlag, I was early to the Wattpad office on my first day, and only two other people were there at 8am. So, only the office manager and one of the partners saw the infamous "I love Canada" t-shirt.

The staff at Wattpad continued the overwhelming sense of chilled politeness and easygoing calm that I'd experienced since I landed on Canadian soil (or concrete). There were only about thirty people in the company at the time and I think virtually everyone there came over and said hello to the random Brit who'd turned up in their midst. Everyone was very welcoming and after a whirlwind tour around a brand new office (the decorators were just finishing the painting), and chats with my new boss, head of HR, and a meeting and lunch with the CEO, I was shown a desk, fed coffee, given a laptop and left to get on with it. 

The video above shows the office as it was back then, and it was crazy, fun, occasionally interrupted by Nerf gun fights (one of the partners is a blooming good shot), but also very hard working and full of people committed to what they did, but not afraid to have a bit of fun or challenge what was being done. And that was an absolute thing of wonder after working in the very restrictive and conservative environment of construction for fifteen years. 

It still felt a bit dreamlike at that point, and still does a little even now, some ten years later. But the coffee was good, the office was amazing and the people were just kinda cool. The old North York office was one big space with a few small meetings rooms. All of those were 'themed' so there was a room that had a murder/mystery theme to it, a Fantasy one and various others. But as with the new office, the kitchen area was the focal hub, and where people gathered to talk through ideas, have a chat, get to know each other and often just take five minutes to stare out of the window and look at the view which was pretty impressive as we were about seventeen floors up. The main meeting room even had a ping pong table in it and I got roundly thrashed several times by an intern who was so good at the game she didn't even need to take off her high heels.

The first day was a blur, and as I was preparing to leave that night to head back to my hotel, one of my new colleagues looked over at me and asked me what I was intending to do for my evening meal. I replied that I had no idea. So she suggested a nearby Korean restaurant called Ms Joons.

My family is pretty European so I'd been exposed to all sorts of random foodstuffs over the years; pickled herring, sheep's brain, my Gran's attempt at a curry (it had sultanas in it, and was a funny yellow colour that I swear glowed in the dark), jellied eels and snails*, but I grew up in rural Devon where the most exotic meal you could get was prawn fried rice, and you had to travel ten miles to get that.

* - I actually quite like snails, but let's face it, they're pretty unappetising looking things and you have to douse them in garlic and white wine, or douse yourself in enough white wine that you get the munchies and will eat anything

So Ms Joons sounded fabulous. But there was something I needed to do first.

"Can we do one thing before we go and get some food?"

My colleague looked a little puzzled, but agreed. So we walked the two blocks back to my hotel where the excellent receptionist took one look at me as I entered the hotel lobby, dashed into the back room and came out with my luggage.

I probably looked a little strange hugging a very large suitcase in a busy hotel lobby, but I didn't care because I had fresh socks. Fresh socks are one of life's little joys. And so about ten minutes later, with me in a completely fresh set of clothes, we hit the town. Well we went to a restaurant, but it was rather good.

I honestly can't remember the exact contents of the meal we had, but I do remember at one point the waitress bought out a solid stone bowl that was bubbling volcanically. Into that, you cracked a raw duck egg, then stirred it around to cook. It was bloomin' good, relatively inexpensive and I managed to eat my meal without making a complete pillock of myself using chopsticks. I walked my colleague, and new friend**, back to the subway, then mooched back to the hotel.

** - still a friend too I'm pleased to say, and a truly lovely person who married one of the engineers who worked at Wattpad at the same time. I was privileged to be able to attend their wedding in 2018.

"Nice T-shirt sir!" called the receptionist as I passed her, and I gave her a grin and escorted my full stomach into the lift.

Over the next few days there were quite a few foodie firsts; ramen, a greek takeaway, sushi, frozen yoghurt, and great company at many of my meals in a strange and interesting new city. There were also a few pubs too, and I found out that Canada had a rather good craft ale scene, something that's exploded over the years I've been going there much to my joy.

And then it was time to go home again. I was packed off with a suitcase full of interesting things to take home to the family (including the 'I love Canada' T-shirt), and some great memories. It was the first of many trips to that great city, but before I went home, the head of HR, a wonderful lady who every head of HR should aspire to be, took me out for a quiet drink.

"How are you getting back to the airport?"

"I'll take the subway to Bloor, change trains to head west, then transfer to the bus."

"You're taking the bus?" she said incredulously.

"Well it's about fifty-seven dollars cheaper than a taxi."

"Most people take the taxi. You are allowed to take a taxi. You're a weird man."

"Probably, but you get to meet interesting people on a bus. In a taxi it's just me and Brian."

"Brian?"

"I'll explain next time I speak to you."

"Cheers my friend, and welcome to Wattpad."

"Thank you. May I come back again?"

"Absolutely. And next time I'm taking you to a whisky tasting."

Well that was a reason to return if nothing else. And we did go whisky tasting too, but I had to wait a year for that one.

I learned a lot during that trip. And I realised just how behind the times many industries were in regards to how they treated people. Several years later I finally ditched my career in construction to go full time with Wattpad, and that trip in Nov 2012 absolutely changed my life, my view of what I wanted to do and gave me a chance to do something different, something I will always be grateful for. 

That was the first of many great trips to Canada. But some months before that, there was a trip to Paris... The Interview.