SUPER AWESOME

I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been beaten up. Every muscle was aching. As I lay there under the duvet, I contemplated moving but my arms didn't really want to. My legs too, like long planks of wood were unresponsive limbs, twitching with displeasure. I can hardly blame them.

I did get up though. Looking suspiciously like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, I guided myself down the stairs, arms and legs locked straight.

"I might give the gym a miss today, guys," I said to Nick and Emmie, who were just about ready to leave. I thought about my Mum, who often says things like, 'If it hurts, that means you should do it again,' which suddenly seemed like terrible parenting advice, though I do of course, know what she means. Training your muscles is a steep curve at first, but they, and you, do get used to it.

So, while my friends are lifting weights at CrossFit, I'm here drinking tea and thinking about yesterday.

Yesterday was (what the Canadians call) 'super awesome'. Emmie and I went to the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario, both of which are (what the Canadians call) 'downtown'. You know how London feels fast, busy, full, noisy, congested? Toronto is not like that at all. OK, it is a big city and there are all the things you'd expect - from enormous glass buildings to traffic jams, but the atmosphere is really different - slower, less smoggy, quieter even. We drove right in, found parking and emerged opposite the ROM without any trouble at all.

The best way to describe the Royal Ontario Museum is that it's a kind of cross between the Natural History Museum and the British Museum in London. We saw dinosaur skeletons, fossils, mammals, giant turtles, ancient Egyptians, Nubian pottery and exquisite Islamic art. It was history combining across millions of years.

The ROM is also an outstanding building all by itself. The original Nineteenth Century design is complemented by an extraordinary angular modern wing which wedges itself into the original building as though it crash-landed from another century - which, I suppose it did in a way. Then inside, there are Star Trek style walkways linking old and new, white glass to red brick, romantic curved roof to stark angled windows. It's quite something.

When we'd finished chatting about creation and evolution, Emmie and I went on to the Art Gallery of Ontario (what the Canadians call) the AGO. But not before stopping off at a music store to play some of their pianos.

"Baldwin," I said, walking across the laminate floor, surveying the pianos on either side, "Seiler, Seiler again, Kurzweill, ah Steinway!"

The Steinway was tucked away in the corner. It had a red cloth draped over the keys, with the words "Steinway and Sons" embossed in gold. If ever a thing said 'do not touch' without saying 'do not touch' it was that.

The AGO was inspiring. There was hall after hall, gallery after gallery of exceptional artwork and artists. My favourite was Lawren S Harris, who had painted bold, bright, almost cartoonish images of Northern Canada. I really love it when artists use vivid colours and definitive lines - it gives art a sort of comic-book feel, which some might sneer at, but I can't really think of a reason why that kind of thing isn't as valid as anything else.

We also saw the Henry Moore gallery. Henry Moore was a British sculptor who crafted huge stone sculptures which are sort of representations of the human form I think. Some were more life-like than others.

"Take a picture of me next to this ET fella," I said, standing next to a blob with a long neck and a tiny head.

"You do know that's the butt," said Emmie, laughing. I went round the other side and saw that the tiny head had eyes and a nose. Fair enough.

I think it helped today that the sun was warm and the sky was perfectly blue. Rising up behind the smaller buildings, the CN Tower struck a magnificent figure, pointing and glinting into the sky, reminding me exactly where I was, and exactly where I wasn't. I guess if we had this kind of weather back home, things might feel a bit more relaxed.

My phone tells me I did over 19,000 steps yesterday, not including the workout at the gym. It might not be any surprise then that my muscles are stiff and I can't move properly today. However, on the inside, and not without a degree of irony, I am actually feeling much looser than my normal life permits. 

"How's the relaxation going?" asked Emmie, smiling as we got back to their apartment.

"Super awesome," I said.