Covid Restrictions Eased

Sunshine Returns to the Sunshine Coast!

Tue June 15th & Wed Jun 16h. 

Jack on morning walk with Fred to Mixal lake

So summer it seems has arrived as BC residents are released from captivity by a further notch.  Indoor and outdoor gatherings increase in numbers, social distancing must still be observed; more importantly non-essential travel outside your Health Region is now permitted.  We may pop over to Van Island for a day next week, via Powell River.  Best done while we are at this top end of the Sunshine Coast.

The last two days have been a bit of a blur.  Tuesday we had some early morning admin and yet another call centre, to organize internet and TV for the house rental with the local telco.  "Press one and we will call you back when an operator becomes available" just didn't happen.  It didn't get much better Wednesday morning.

After local walks in the morning we headed off to friends in Halfmoon Bay for an afternoon beer and tour of the house and garden they bought after moving from metro-Vancouver about five years ago.  It is a lovely house architecturally with a high two-storey apex to the front and various additions that give it a style that does not conform to the more traditional rancher style of the Sunshine Coast.  It's set in about half an acre of working garden, producing garlic, fruit and vegetables, that they have laid out and tended over the last few years.  They describe it as their 'hippy house' complete with an old dentist's chair on the covered deck and had a real lived in feel and special with it too. It just works for them.  [Apologies if I am beginning to sound like Kevin McCloud!]  It was great to catch up with them in their own surroundings.

We actually arrived a bit early and made a quick stop in Coopers Green park, a lovely coastal stretch with a large beach and another chance for Jack to go swimming.  He came face to face with two seals watching this strange furry thing retrieve pieces of wood from the sea.  Warning signs around the beach warned that collecting seafood was prohibited because of the the risk of Paralytic Poisoning.  This is due to toxins in the local shellfish.  A rare sign that BC with its vast expanse of forested wilderness and enormous shoreline is just as vulnerable to the challenges of the modern age and global warming as the rest of the planet.  

The evening after dinner was time for me to attend the Sunshine Coast Woodcrafters Guild evening (Zoom) meeting, which they allowed me to join as a guest.  Great fun, very informative and a welcoming bunch of fellow woodworkers.  Once we get settled in to the new rental early July, I shall join as they are likely to be a good source of local intel on kit and materials!

Wednesday morning kicked off with pictures arriving on Fred's iPhone from good friends back in our home village, showing the road closed and being dug up outside the house.  Our friends living at our house this summer are away so we feared it was SSE modifying the supply to the house, which is on their list of jobs.  It would be extremely disruptive to do this as they have done before without agreeing it in advance.  Fortunately it was Wessex Water repairing a leak.  

UK crisis resolved, my challenge was to actually talk to somebody at the local telco - Telus.  It took five calls to actually get through.  "If you would like a call back press 1 or say 'Call back' or press 2 or say 'stay on the call' .....".

I'd accept that my English accent might be a bit of a challenge, but it was the same problem pressing '2'. Once I got chatting to Jason, he was extremely helpful setting up the plan, until it came to the bit about having BC identity and a Canadian bank account.  Not possible was the answer.  I kept my cool and he put me through to Donna, and we went through the same process.  

Hairy Woodpecker

In fairness, without a Canadian/BC profile we do not have a local credit rating, so we are a risk.  We're not going to get one any time soon.  She took passport details and other relevant information and it appears we have an account.  She said we could pay by bank transfer, intimated there may be a deposit and payment in advance (no problem).  We have confirmation of an install date, kit delivery and no interest in us providing a credit reference, bank statements or other identify confirmation from the UK.  We wait and see.  The final irony, was that we accepted the extra $5 a month security camera option (good for watching for bears), but now find we cannot download the iPhone App as we have a UK Apple account and can't open a Canadian one without an ability to pay from a Canadian provider!  Hey ho.

Time for some fresh air.  We drove down to Homesite Creek Falls.  We enjoyed the forest.  Jack swam and we avoided any more black bears.  I did add another woodpecker to my list of pictures with a Hairy Woodpecker, which looks very similar to the Greater Spotted Woodpecker in the UK.  

Though small, the creek and falls were a delight.  The forest had a number of 'old-growth' trees that are becoming an increasing issue for the BC logging industry which is under pressure to stop removing 1000 year old trees.  

Old Growth - trees!

There is something absolutely absorbing about watching a listening to running water over rocky creeks.

Not finished with the fresh air we had a paddle around Mixal Lake, with Capt Jack in the bow!  He now jumps in willingly and seems to enjoy being paddled around.  Still waiting for him to leap out when he comes across local wildfowl.  Fortunately and somewhat surprisingly they are few and far between.  Only two Loons on the lake this afternoon, aside from us!