Spaniel Invasion

Truth and Reconciliation

Thu Sep 30th 
Hopkins Landing Tuesday morning.

Today marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.  A day for the country to reflect on the lost children lost, or those who survived, the Canadian Residential School system.  It is a public holiday for Federal employees, but individual provinces and territories have not decided to make it a public holiday for all.

There are ceremonies taking place throughout the day and orange shirts are much in evidence.  These reflect the significance of a child's newly purchased shirt being confiscated on their first day going into one of the residential schools. 

Canada is clearly wrestling with how to address its colonial and early history and the injustices that were metered out to the First Nations peoples.  We both recently finished reading 21 Things you may not know about the Indian Act by Bob Joseph.  A hereditary First Nations clan chief, he sets out a largely balanced and objective account of a number of the Act's provisions and impact on First Nations peoples.  It's not as simple as repealing the Act which grants many rights to First Nations as well as the historical injustices. It will have to be carefully unpicked through consultation - a key message in his subsequent book, Indigenous Relations. 

Rain has been a central feature of the week, which has been persistent and at times, heavy.  A day's
respite on Tuesday coincided with a visit of a friend who lived in our lane in Burbage and her two Springer Spaniels.  A close schoolfriend of Ros' and currently based in Florida she is working for an international show jumper Rowan Willis (an Australian) who had been competing in Alberta Canada, via a tour of several events in the USA.

Jack, who has not seen his mates Harley and Hettie, since we left the UK, took to them immediately and a fine time was had by all.  Three wet spaniels returned from a walk on the beach.

On her way over from Langley she discovered a British food retail store call The Black Pudding and a new source of Marmite!  We are now the proud owners of a large pot, which she picked up for us on her way back and we will collect when we meet up on Van Island next week.

The rain last night was particularly squally apparently, though we were oblivious to the wind and rain.  

As a result the moored boat count, off Hopkins Landing, has gone down by one yacht which beached overnight.  Judging by the mooring buoy in the back of the boat, may mean it dragged its mooring or the buoy detached from the anchor.   

A fellow dog walker who I met this morning  wryly observed it's the first time the boat has moved in five years, winter and summer.  Judging by the crud on the underside of the hull and the water damage on the inside, it may not be back on it's mooring any time soon. 

We will see.

After all the rain this week, 'more than I have seen at this time of year' exclaimed the fellow dog walker this morning, 'it usually doesn't rain like this until the end of October or November', I headed off to Cliff Gilker Park yesterday afternoon, to see if the creeks had risen.


The falls on Clack Creek were definitely in full flood and were even higher than Thursday afternoon.



The high summer temperatures and wet early autumn do bring global warming to the front of your thinking.  I have already started to question the wisdom of owning a large gas guzzling truck sufficient to haul wood around.

I've started to look at large EVs.  Ford are bringing out an all electric version of the F150 truck early next year - the F150 Lightning.  

While researching the Ford I stumbled across the Rivian, also coming to market early next year with a truck and large 7 seat SUV.  The truck options include a portable kitchen - awesome.  There are loads of videos on Youtube for 'battery-heads' amongst you! 

I popped in to the local hunting shop early in the week to check out shotguns.  I sold my UK gun before coming out.  I was surprised that handguns could be purchased albeit they are only allowed to be used on ranges and can only be carried between a home gun safe and a shooting range.  Similarly some automatic weapons are available, though are limited to a maximum of five rounds, as well as pump action shotguns.  There is a local trap shooting club in Sechelt I am considering checking out.  I always used to enjoy occasional clay pigeon shooting.

The mushroom season is in full swing in the forests with some as large as dinner plates.  These look like chanterelles, but I shall wait until my mushroom picking course before gathering any. 

There are so many large mushrooms I feel like I am walking the through plot of Tin Tin and The Shooting Stars and he is about to pop out from behind a log.  At least they haven't starting exploding yet!


More shots from Cliff Gilker's creeks.  The levels are up and the odd tree down.













   





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Frustrations of Canadian Immigration Services

Image
And other things  Sat June 1st The pause in blogs was due to Immigration Canada announcing at the beginning of May that a further draw would be made from the remaining pool of the 2020 Expressions of Interest (EOI) for Parent and Grandparent sponsored Permanent Residency.    Friday was the last day and again we did not get through.  The fifth year running.  I suspect that later in the year they will invite a new round of EOI's which probably means we will be a small fish back in a very large pool.  On the grand scale of all suffering and instability in the world, it is insignificant  (I keep telling myself),  but it is hugely, bloody frustrating.  Our tenure continues under the Super Visa scheme, which runs until our passports expire in 5 and 8 years time respectively. Other news ...  on Sunday 27th w e went to a wedding reception. It is the first time I have worn a jacket in over three years.  My boarding pass from our Air Can...
Read more

Cream Crackers & Stilton

Image
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 wor...
Read more

Fall Leaves and Rainfall

Image
Jack Vs Car Sat November 9th Fall seems later this year and the deciduous leaves have been a lovely mix of golds and reds with the predominance of Maples in all of its varieties. After last week's storms, most of the leaves are now down along with quite a few trees.  Further up the Coast a tornado was reported taking out multiple trees that closed the main highway and took out power for local residents for around three days.    A local driver caught the trees coming down on video .  After two consecutive dry summers, 2024 has been wetter with no significant water restrictions on the Coast.  I assumed this was good news until reading an article in the UK press that suggested late autumns are just another sign of global warming. The storm left us without power for nearly 12 hours and a huge number of properties were similarly affected across southern and central BC.  Fortunately we had a good supply of candles and a gas lamp.  Some friends near the ...
Read more