No Weather to Report

But in other news....

 Mon Jan 17th

Ferry departing Langdale heading for Horseshoe Bay

Hurrah I hear you cry, he's not going to talk about the bloody weather again, 'we've had enough of the snow'! 

If it's any consolation so have we!  It's now all over on the East coast, lots of it!

Today it's Barclays 'Customer Service', self-unloading log barges and local wildlife.


Our difficulties with Barclays arose when we sold Eastcourt House because they had not cleared an old mortgage 'charge'. It led to a formal complaint from us and offer of £150 compensation from Barclays back in November.   This was after spending £100 on phone calls from Canada aside from numerous useless chat sessions.  The registered letter to Barclays accepting the offer and closing the complaint never arrived as Royal Mail were 'unable to deliver the letter as nobody was in'.   Two one hour phone calls at the end of last week, one of which was abandoned as the transferred call went unanswered,  we are no further forward, as the call handler discovered the mortgage team had closed for the day after doing various research, security checks etc. etc. This is what Barclays call "customer service".  Google  "Your call is important to us.....", interesting.  The icing on the cake was that Barclays closed the complaint the day they made the offer of compensation, before they had received a response.  Rant over ..... for now.

Log Barge

From our house in Gibsons, we have often noticed strange tug pulled barges go past, with cranes at either end, piled high with trees.  On some of them a tracked machine can be seen moving logs around.    They are huge and the image on the right of the barge crossing in front of Grace Islands does not do them justice.  

After a bit of research I discover they are 'self-unloading' barges and can carry 16,000 tons of logs.  

I had assumed the cranes loaded and unloaded the logs.  Not so.  Whilst they may load the logs, the barge is surrounded by a boom once it arrives at its destination and the ballast tanks are then flooded on one side to tip the barge over sufficient to allow the logs to fall off.  There are some examples in the video below from one of the local operators.  The tipping is done remotely from the tug.


While we are on the local water there has been some exciting news about local whale populations.  The property we are renting is in Langdale, near Gibsons and we look out onto Howe Sound that extends up towards Squamish, halfway between Vancouver and Whistler on the mainland; an arm of the Salish Sea .  The Salish Sea is the main body of water between Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.  So our views are mainly southerly/easterly, while the rest of the Coast looks southwest across to Vancouver Island.

Local Area of the Salish Sea and Howe Sound

It is the Howe Sound part that was named as an UN environmental Biosphere in the latter part of last year because of its unique geography and ecology.  More info on the Biosphere link.

Orca sighting on the Earl's Cove to Saltery Bay ferry
News last week reported that 2021 was the best year for the Biggs Killer whale species of Orca and Humpback Whale sightings in the Salish Sea.

More here.  Experts are suggesting that it is representative of a healthy population and that the sightings include many youngsters indicating they are successfully breeding.

We saw a mother and calf Orcas on a ferry crossing at the top of the Sunshine Coast in June when we went up to explore Powell River.  We have yet to see Humpback whales.


Other recent images mostly from Hopkins Landing looking out across Howe Sound.

Bufflehead Duck off Hopkins Landing

Moody morning on Hopkins Landing

Hopkins Landing Wharf

Departing Ferry

Horseshoe Bay bound ferry






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