Day Twelve

Foot off the gas

Fri Apr 30th
Hyannis, Bridle, Fishermans
and Baden Powell

Mainly because it was pouring with rain this morning - a more leisurely start was promised.  Jack poked his head out first thing and thought better of it.  Odd for a dog that heads to the nearest water whenever we are out.

A mid morning walk first thing around the trails just north of us - Hyannis, Bridle, Fishermans and Baden Powell was at a quick pace.  Maybe a run tomorrow!  Moist but not drenching.  A few dog walkers, a couple of joggers and lots of pines!

We have been researching properties ready for viewing next week when we head across to the Sunshine Coast on Sunday.  A property we were particularly interested in near Gibsons, that came in from our realtor this morning and we'd booked to see Sunday lunchtime, had gone by lunchtime today, such is the BC property market at the moment!  

We find our media viewing and listening habits have changed materially since arriving in Canada.  Underwhelmed by North American TV, some use of our Apple TV box and much use of radio apps and music on our mobile devices, we needed to improve our listening experience.  We actually don't miss our all-singing and dancing surround-sound TV and audio systems, but would like better audio quality.  So a smart loudspeaker purchase was added to our afternoon excursion.  

Our plan was a tour around Lonsdale, a retail and residential area on the Western end of North Vancouver which stretches from Highway 1 in the North (the Trans-Canada highway that heads up to Whistler and beyond), right down to the docks on the side of Vancouver Harbour.

Interesting area.  Smart shops, attractive residential property, but too urban for our tastes.  It was though like much of Vancouver, an area we be happy to return to if a particularly retail therapy need had to be met. 

Speaking of which I came away with a JBL Bluetooth speaker, which has brilliant audio quality and 9 hours between charges and a great sound.  

Having come from a home where we had radios everywhere and connected speaker systems via the TV Amp, the technology is good and amazingly simple.  It will play from any App on our Apple devices, BBC Sounds (which seems to work out here unlike iPlayer), radio Apps and Apple Music.  Apparently if I get a second it will be true stereo!  :-)  

A well spent £120!

Our days of linear viewing and listening are a distant memory, as is our news consumption.  Newspaper reading is largely on-line, though I am not yet convinced by the aggregators, or prepared to pay for them.  Even Google News alerts seemed to be largely based on Yahoo and little else.  Interesting times in the news market.



 





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