Expedition Canada

Two Whales and an Otter Fri May 27th  Downstairs recreation room/bedroom It seems to take so much longer to unpack than pack.  We are surrounded by boxes and it has taken a long time to make a dent in the various stacks.  As we feared we have more possessions than we want or need,  but are about 50% of the way through our combined local and international shipped boxes.  The UK shipment arrived in a 'Tardis' on Monday. The seemingly never-ending stream of boxes and wrapped furniture took three fellas five hours to unload.   Since then it has been non-stop.  On top of that we have had to carry out a super-clean of our rented house, ready for a handover inspection on Friday 27th.  We are to say the least, weary. Garage now a temporary box store The new house already feels like home and it's lovely to sit in the living room or on the deck to take in the view.  You just block out the boxes in your peripheral vision.  The resident Grey Whale continues to delight and Fred got her

Until it's Not There Mon May 23rd View from the deck Eagle eyed readers will have spotted that yesterday's blog was sent with an old email.  Local production difficulties, in the absence of a Telus technician, resulted in our link to the outside world being tethered through an iPhone.  The Macbook kept freezing and did so just as the email update was being saved!   It is bad form to blame others when a problem arises.  BUT,   Telus were booked for the move at the end of March, they confirmed two weeks ago  that all was properly scheduled  when I rang to check.  Saturday they failed to arrive.  Twice.  The promised rebooked service for Sunday afternoon was cancelled an hour before it was due and is now in for Fri May 27th.   The 'manager' who rang back after I explained 'I was unhappy ' (use your imagination) promised to try and improve on the date and said there would be a conversation about the inconvenience. "we dropped the ball several times". This

Unpacking Commences Sun May 22nd So we have said goodbye to the easterly views across Howe Sound and the North Shore mountains. They  have often been beautifully backlit at sunrise and illuminated from behind the house at sunset.  Our views now are westerly views across Salish Sea (Georgia Straits) to Vancouver Island and their distant snow capped mountains.   We shall miss the ferry and its majestic passage in and out of Langdale, though not the captain who has been on shift last week.  He liked the sound of his own foghorn and it hasn't even been foggy.  Every passing boat seemed to get a five blast warning. One small craft ignored the message, a further louder cacophony of five blasts and the smaller boat stopped dead in the water until the ferry had passed.  Louder, because if he leaves his thumb on the hooter the horn at the rear of the ships sounds off as well. Fred, confident her lists were accurate and packing complete escaped to Vancouver for some quality time with our gra

Coyote Skulks in Cliff Gilker Sat May 14th  After several abortive attempts , usually arriving after it was long gone,  to find the local Grey Whale (Gray in the US) which has achieved celebrity status, I finally managed to track it down. It's been around for a couple of weeks wandering between Bonniebrook Beach and Davis Bay.  Often no more than 100m off shore, delighting a small group of followers and now me!  I spent an hour down on Roberts Creek beach Friday evening snapping away, while Jack explored the beach.   It is a good job digital technology has replaced film as 270 images later I was able to head home with, I was sure, a few decent shots.   After some heavy duty editing and exposure correction (I shoot in RAW not JPG) I got it down to 30. They spend their summer in the North Pacific off Alaska and the BC coast but during the winter they breed in the warmer waters of the Mexican Coast (I looked it up to save you the trouble).  More here . Whilst they are reported to tra

Sick Gulls Sat May 7th Ravens - escapees from the Tower of London on Bonniebrook beach Heading back for the ferry from our first round of grandchild infatuation last Saturday (May 1st), we turned up at the Departure Bay terminal slightly early only to find the ferry was running late. No option but to wait it out.   Two hours later, coming into the berth at Langdale, a driver from an adjoining car was impatiently pacing up and down, angrily talking into his phone trying to explain that the boat was about to unload and asking ‘ where are you?' . His manner and temper control was pure John Cleese/Basil Fawlty.   ‘ We are at the front of the boat. You are at the back. Look which way the cars are pointing ’ and  ‘S o you need to head in the direction the cars are pointing ’.  Over the one or two minutes of this sketch/explanation to Mrs 'Manuel' we had to stifle our hysterics as our window was open.   Clearly his wife/partner at the other end of the phone hadn’t grasped that th