Nine Months in BC

Oh, and more snow!

Mon Jan 3rd 2022


Happy New Year all.  We find it hard to believe it was nine months ago today that we arrived in a locked-down Canada, having departed a locked-down UK.

We have vivid memories of arriving at a deserted Heathrow airport and going straight to the front of a check-in desk, nobody in security (so much so the security manager was keen to joke and chat and show off his new technology) and then on to an empty Air-Canada aircraft to Toronto.  The only brief delay was the Canadian embassy official  checking we were legitimately allowed to travel under their pandemic constrained reuniting family policy.

[Note to friends wanting to move to Canada, export one of your youngsters, get them to apply for Permanent Residency and then they can sponsor you to apply under their reuniting family schemes]. 

On arrival in Toronto, getting through immigration, Covid testing and transport queues to our designated quarantine hotel was amazingly well organized, though slow.  The quarantine hotel accommodation was comfortable, the food a disaster area and no booze!!  Our negative Covid tests came through quickly and we were efficiently forwarded to Vancouver for our final 11 days of quarantine and Jack's arrival.  

Gibsons Marina
We still wonder if some of our friends and family thought we were barking-mad moving nearly halfway across the world at the height of the pandemic.  We had a few doubts and knew it was not risk-free.  Nine months on we'd do it all again.  Nothing ventured.  As we often say to ourselves, you're only here once.  Make the most of it.

Our house in the UK has since been sold and our possession are shortly to be shipped to Canada. 

Separated from many years of accumulated personal possessions we find we have less sentimental attachment to them now and wish we'd disposed of more and shipped less.  Life is not, we have decided, about the possessions and assets we have accumulated, familiar and comfortable though they may be but more about where we are and who we're with.

No dabbling today - walking on water
So we have spent our first white Christmas in Canada.  It has been unusual in that the Sunshine Coast does not normally get much snow.  One wag who I met said we can get up to five feet, I later learnt five inches is more like it.  So far we have had about eighteen inches, though today, Monday,  it is a balmy 4c and raining, so the snow is beginning to go, but it's taking down some trees with the weight of it.... one is down in the garden and one across our road so having to drive off-road to get past it.  Snow is forecast to return overnight on Wednesday.  Many of the creeks and waterfalls started to freeze and I mused what it would take for the sea to freeze.

We discovered the answer to that on Saturday afternoon with a walk down around Gibsons Harbour and Marina.  It was already cold enough!  Some boats are being reported as 'stuck' when Fred checked out the local FB pages. 

Ice-bound boats
It is, apparently a fairly rare event and I am trying to ascertain if and when it last occurred.

I'm not sure I have seen a frozen sea before though it will do so at about -1.8c.  I had assumed with all the salt it would need to be colder.

New Year's Eve was a subdued affair, a small party we'd been invited to was cancelled due to Covid and there were no fireworks or church bells to ring in the new year.  We had got used to both in Burbage.

Instead, on the stroke of midnight, the ferry that was berthed for the night down at the terminal below us, ahead of the daily 0620 sailing, sounded its foghorn for about 30 seconds which raised Jack and us from our slumbers.   It's not just one horn, there is one at either end of the ship, and with both sounding off it was loud enough to wake the dead!  I suspect most of Gibsons would have heard it!

Today, Mon Jan 3rd, is a Public Holiday and though many shops are open, smaller traders have taken the day off.  The Christmas tree is down, the decorations safely stored away and we are rather looking forward to a return to normal after the Christmas period. At the end of our road and ahead of a busy return to the mainland the snow plough is out clearing the overflow carpark which is more like a skating rink and lethal to walk across.  The local roads have gone from that lovely white pristine snow to the dirty slushy piles ploughed to the side of the road.

An overcast and grey West Howe Sound

An arriving BC ferry - they will be busy today with vacationers returning to Vancouver











Comments

  1. BobJanuary 3, 2022 at 11:43 PM

    Welcome to 2022 - can't wait to see you both and all the places you have shared piccies about

    ReplyDelete

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