Covid and Cars

Batteries not Included

Tue Aug 24th 
One of the many barges taking wood chips to Port Mellon 
Wed Aug 25th

Having checked out the Chevy Bolt Electric Vehicle (EV) on Sunday we arranged to take a closer look on Tuesday.  The red EUV (slightly larger than the EV) remained unsold on the forecourt.  We learnt that it, and all other Bolts were going to remain unsold due to a Chevrolet recall and sales ban.  They were happy to take a deposit on it, but we were not able to do a test drive.

Irritated (understatement) we'd driven down to Sechelt when the salesman knew it could not be sold and then tried to sell something else was not a great dealership strategy.  It was particularly frustrating as we wanted to buy an EV from a Coast based dealership, rather than have to go back to Vancouver for servicing. GM are the only EV supplier on the Coast.  About ten of GM's earlier models have caught fire because of a battery fault, none of the 2020/21 models have had the problem.  Our two car strategy has fallen flat!

The drive to Sechelt was proceeded by announcements from BC Health that further relaxation of Covid restrictions was being put back because of a surge in the Delta variant.  There were 641 new Covid cases  in BC on Tuesday, a total of 5357 active cases.  No new deaths on Tuesday,  138 cases in hospital of which 78 are in ICU.  Later in the day, mask wearing indoors in public spaces was again mandated.

BC, like many other parts of Canada, are introducing Vaccine Passports from Sept 13 for access to public facilities, restaurants, bars and sports venues.  We're tying to establish if and how we can obtain one.

Tuesday evening we popped up for drinks to a couple from the tennis club.  Adele is originally from South Africa and Kevin from Marlborough in Wiltshire.  Small world!

They live on the south (right) side of the Sechelt Inlet in a waterfront property that has stunning views up the inlet towards Skookumchuck.  


They have a dock at the bottom of the garden with easy access to the water.

Wednesday morning it appeared some local residents didn't get the message that waste food collections had moved forward to Sunday from Tuesday.  While I did a gym sessions, Fred took Jack for a walk and found that bears had got to several bins overnight in both our road and Lower Gibsons.  

The local operator is having huge problems recruiting drivers (not just a UK problem) and as a result service has been distinctly variable.  Not great for the bears or humans.  Once bears become a nuisance they usually have to be 'euthanized' by conservation officers.  They cannot be relocated as they are so territorial.

With Fred paying tennis in the morning I spent the time researching alternative EVs for which we'd have to go to Vancouver.  Sounds like a ferry trip early next week.  I've also started the process for selling Fred's Audi Q3 in October after the MOT.  If anybody wants a 2012 Q3 Quattro  S-Line in good nick, let me know!

This afternoon we drove down to Grantham's Landing for a walk and some paddle boarding.  The water was choppy and quite a few passing boats added to the swell.  Jack had to be on the board and seemed quite content despite the swell.  We also had a quick paddle on our own beach.  



Back home and my phone rang to say that my Nikon telephoto lens cap, which I'd lost on Hopkins Landing beach had been found.  Fred had posted a message on the Hopkins Landing FB page.  The power of social media!


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