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Cream Crackers & Stilton

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Blue Sky in Whistler!!!!! Fred on the Piste - not overly busy Before I get on to Whistler ........ In my early BBC career I spent a couple of years working at the BBC’s Television Centre (TVC), in west London.  This was long before the BBC flogged it and it was turned into an apartment hotel and restaurant complex, plus a few TV studios for the industry to use as a nod to its history.   Amongst other things I did a stint as a studio supervisor and worked on the Two Ronnies, Morecombe & Wise and Top of the Pops.  Anyone remember Pan's People? Phwoar! Interesting times. TV Centre was huge and had several thousand staff. The restaurant block, on three floors, included a waitress service restaurant on the '2nd floor' where stars were entertained by their producers over long lunches and the odd glass of wine.  This was the late 70’s before ‘hair shirts’ and the critical public attention the BBC gets today.   Occasionally, a couple of fellow workers and I would escape for
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Pirates Spotted on the Coast

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Along with other Wildlife! Wed March 6th It will be Major General Sir, from now on! If you are familiar with the plot of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, you will know that Frederic's indenture with the pirates has to be extended until 1940 because he was born on Feb 29th.  The small print of which (one should always read) indentures him until his 21st birthday, not his 21st year.  I mention it only because the production I'm in (I'm still not sure how I got talked into it) which is about to start it's final four shows out of seven this evening, and seems to have taken over every waking moment of my life for the last month,  missed the opportunity of doing its first performance on Feb 29th, as it opened on March 1st.  It's not only involved me.  Fred has been on wardrobe duty making costumes with her trusted 46 year old sewing machine. Fred with the Pirate King whose costume she made As part of my research for the Major General role I watched an
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Whistler Washout

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Again! The Creek beneath Shannon Falls It has not been a great year for Whistler, the snow was late arriving, closely followed by warm weather and rain.  The week-long freeze and subsequent snow did not lay enough of a base for Whistler to get through the latest warm, wet spell.   After our wet Whistler Christmas, we headed up the Sea-to-Sky highway on Monday 29th in rain, fog and 8c.  Waterfalls of varying sizes were cascading down the rocks alongside the highway from the combined rain and snowmelt and the creeks were thunderous.   We stopped off at the Shannon Falls  on the way up, the third highest falls in BC.  The volume of water was such that it was impossible to see the main falls because of the spray showering us from 50' away.   It was quite a sight and sound. We felt like we were in the falls! The creek running off at the base of the falls It is not only Whistler that it 'enjoying' the warm weather.  All three ski centres on Vancouver's North Shore - Grouse, C
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Winter Arrives

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At Last Fri Jan 19th Owning a Land Rover is no guarantee you know how to drive it On my Tuesday (Jan 16th) morning dog walk along Bonniebrook, I said to a fellow walker whose view was that we were about to be buried in snow, 'I'll believe it when I see it'.   Driveway cleared The next morning we awoke to 200mm of snow and by the time I'd finished clearing the drive down to the road it was nearer 300mm (1ft in old money).   Of course the good news in all this, is that Whistler, which has had an abysmal start to the season, now has a decent amount of snow.   We hope it lasts until the end of the month when we head back up there for five days and it is not as soggy as our Christmas excursion.  Although conditions were 'moist', Fred did manage to get some skiing in with Nick.  The new hip passed the test with flying colors, even if they did come back soaked! Back from the Whistler Christmas expedition, I'd still not shaken off the post Covid cold.  It took a dos
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