Expedition Canada

Technology Woes Continue Tue Nov 30th Our planned early season excursion to Whistler has been canned.  We were due to go up the same day as the latest 'Atmospheric River' was due to arrive. Nick was skiing at the weekend as the last weather system went through and gave up skiing Saturday after getting a soaking from rain on the mountain and he didn't ski Sunday.   The freezing level Tuesday was around 2,000m, so the snow is going to get a soaking at the alpine level. Disappointing but there will be plenty of other opportunities.   We hope to get up there for a couple of days next week before Nick and Lizzie arrive for their weekend up there.  Friday onwards its getting colder and more snow is forecast.   The lathe continues its reluctance to turn, so I stripped down the head and removed the system board on Tuesday to check it over.  Alas, no obvious faults so the shipment of new parts from the Far East is eagerly awaited. One bit of good news late Tuesday from the repairer

And It's Raining! Sat Nov 27th  Not quite the Burbage Christmas Tree Sale and Market and we didn't need to steal in to the forest in the dead of night to choose a tree, though as you might imagine there is quite a selection! 'Crazee Mike' (not me - though some may disagree) runs a Christmas tree farm near Gibsons so we headed off  yesterday to choose a Douglas Fir. Selected, tagged and paid for, we will collect next weekend.  They are felled to order so it will be pretty fresh. Now for the confession.  I have never been a fan of drama series or serials.  Eastenders, Neighbours, Coronation Street or the ones with posh frocks such as The Forsyth Saga or Downton Abbey.  I think I was put off by watching Crossroads when I was little! Truck in one of the mall car parks Interesting finish! Canadian/North American TV does not quite have the richness and variety of the UK.  We have somehow ended up 'binging' on Downton Abbey.  Not bad I suppose but I can't believe 

Salmon in Danger Bus stop furniture Tue Nov 23rd As we have driven along the Coast we've been amused by the variety of cast-off chairs that are gifted to bus stops along the highways.  I've shared the odd picture before.  These Adirondack chairs have clearly seen better days but have been recycled to the bus stop at Langdale.  Quirky, rather than transport utilitarian. The floodwater that hit much of the Fraser Valley from Merritt in the north to Abbotsford nearer to the US border has started to recede.  BC has mobilized to clean, dry, repair and rebuild - houses, roads and railways affected by the landslides and flooding.   There is some interesting footage from a helicopter pilot who flew in supplies to a flood isolated camp, which shows some of the devastation that took place.  A second video he did a few days later shows the water receding.  Some of the bridges that have been washed out are not expected to be back in service until the new year.  Military personnel have bee

Christmas Lights Go Up Fri Nov 19th We have rather developed a taste for these! Today we completed on the sale of Eastcourt House, the end of an era and bringing to an end 33 years of Cronk stewardship.   A period that has seen the house brought back from a state of dereliction, with water and power cut off, holes in the roof, creepers growing through the windows and brickwork and damp coming in from all directions.  Thirty three years which saw the children grow up and fly the nest, lots of dinner parties with fabulous friends, a couple of huge parties in the garden (a 21st for Nick and a joint 21st/50th for Ros and Fred) and a cottage garden restored to its former glory by the head gardener, Fred, a nd opened in the National Garden Scheme in 2010. The end of an era, but the start of a new exciting adventure. While we have been focussed on getting our house over the line, many BC residents have sadly been trying to save theirs.   The house in the picture is two doors away from our May

News Travels Slowly Wed Nov 17th      If you depend on BBC News to keep you up to date, you would be three days behind the events of the last few days that has been breaking, literally, across southern BC.   Of course if you are a regular reader of this blog, you would have had an early heads up!   The ' Atmospheric River ' that hit BC on Sunday and Monday of this week has caused major disruption, significant flooding, road and rail washouts which has effectively cut southern BC off from the rest of the province and the rest of  Canada.  Port Mellon, our nearest weather station recorded close to 200mm of rain.  Sky News , to their great credit picked up the story onMonday.   Highway 1 - Tank Hill in the  Fraser Valley So the ' Yesterday's Chip Paper ' prize goes to BBC News ! Sadly one person is known to have lost their life as a result of a landslide on one of the highways and searches continue.  Several thousand people have ben evacuated from homes in Princetown a

Remembrance Day 11/11 Sun Nov 14th  Canadian Remembrance Day this year represents 100 years since Canada first recognized the end of WWI on November 11, 1921.   Snow on the local peaks The diversity and pluralist nature of Canadian gives it a different feel compared with the UK. November 11th is a public holiday for federal employees.  Public offices and schools close.  Many small businesses are also shut, though not the national chains.    The Canadian Legion, the equivalent of the UK's British Legion, has a major role and individual groups such as the First Nations, Sikhs and Punjabis honour the day. It feels as though they get better coverage than in the UK.  Canadian Poppies, which are a different style to the UK, are evident but perhaps not quite so prominent, except on TV.  The only common feature is that the pin is just as useless at keeping a poppy in place!  My Nikon nightmare started when I sent my camera body and the large 200/500 lens I use for wildlife photography off

Snowbirds Flock South Mon Nov 8th Mt Elphinstone Mount Elphinstone just up behind us is now dusted with snow, Whistler Village and the Sea to Sky Highway also has a covering and the main slopes are close to skiable.  Winter beckons, as do the ski slopes.  Grouse Mountain on the North shore of Vancouver, which has a well known hill climb beneath the gondola, is shut because of too much snow. With snow arriving here, Canadians preferring the warmer climes (termed 'Snowbirds') like the southern United States are heading south with the land border opening today.  It has been possible to fly into the US, but not drive until today.  Dedicated snowbirds have flown south and had their RV's delivered.  Long queues formed at the border ready to escape the winter weather.  Some of us of course, can't wait for the snow to enable Whistler to open up later in the month. Blackberry Gin With the glut of blackberries this summer we have made Blackberry Gin, which we decanted out today.

England Win! Ironing fashion accessory Sat Nov 6th The sale of Eastcourt House progresses and we are about to exchange, or were until until our solicitor ran in to a little problemette with Barclays, who used to hold the mortgage.  The deeds were not receipted when released when the mortgage was cleared and six weeks after raising it with Barclays, they have still not done their bit! I start with their 'Chat' service.  After waiting for fifteen minutes, explaining I am in Canada and can't hold on to the 'extremely busy' mortgage line, I am given a useless UK freephone number and the chat is ended by Barclays.  Grrrrr. Next I try their UK international number, hold for five minutes.  Three people and 15 minutes later, I'm told they wrote to our solicitor a month ago (letter never received), but have not responded to any of the other entreaties.  I do extract an undertaking to prioritise it, once they receive more paperwork from our solicitor!  They call it custom

Trash Trashed Tue Nov 2nd Autumn colours in the garden - glorious! Some may recall the difficulty we had getting fares back from BA which promoted them to the 'World's least favourite airline' on the Cronk list of airlines.  Right now they rate behind Air Ariana, the national carrier I used when flying to Kabul some years back.  They only had one pre-used Air India airbus. Wanting to use the e-vouchers which BA refused to refund when our flight to Canada was cancelled last year, I spent 68 minutes holding on a call today before the call was dropped.  Nick is heading to the UK for a few days, and better he use the vouchers before they expire in March rather than BA win the money permanently.   An hour and thirty minutes later, I had got through, booked the ticket and Nick was scheduled to fly using the e-vouchers.  Ten minutes later an incoming call from India and the flight won't be honoured.  "As the booking is not being used by one of the two on the original book