Cream Crackers & Stilton

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 workers and I would escape for an early Friday lunch (we weren’t important enough to be able to book) and enjoy lunch with some Berry’s Good Ordinary Claret. This was before it became unfashionable to drink at lunchtime, apparently! This was on our own shilling as we were too junior and had no expense account!  We were often looked after by a lovely Irish waitress called Trudy. The cheese course included Jacob’s Cream Crackers.

Bacon sarnie and HP

 
The BBC TV Centre staff and star restaurants are long gone and more recently the estate as a whole.  I have retained a fondness for Jacob’s Cream Crackers alongside the more exoctic types of cheese biscuit you get today. Why do I mention this you might well ask?

Our local British Shop in Sechelt stocks Branston Pickle, HP Sauce and Jacobs Cream Crackers amongst other UK staples.  We recently stocked up on all three (impossible to have a bacon sandwich without HP sauce!), and this week for the first time in three years I have enjoyed some of the said crackers with some local cheddar and Stilton.  It brought back fond memories.

Sadly Stilton in Canada, is now relegated to history, like the BBC TVC 2nd floor restaurant, as the UK and Canada have failed to reach a trade agreement so dairy and related products have become uneconomical to import. 

The portions imported were not very big to start with. We bought the last piece of Stilton from our local specialist cheese shop a couple of weeks ago, 'there will be no more', the owner said. Any visitors coming to Canada please note...bring Cropwell Bishop (or similar - but not a mature one) Stilton. 

Measly Stilton portions

The Pirates of Penzance is over and it was fun. I shall not be getting involved in musical theatre again. It got in the way of sailing, skiing and consumed my (our) life for a large part of January, February and into the first week of March. Though well received it was knackering. We had seven sell-out shows and very appreciative audiences. I've decided I prefer to avoid the limelight and sing with a score!

The good news is that I am back sailing and we had the last race of the Winter series on Sunday March 24th. We were first over the line, 2nd on corrected time and finished 2nd overall in the series. We had an ad-hoc race March 31st (placed a poor third), and the Spring series starts on Sunday Apr 7th. Bring it on .......

Last Sunday's race was out in the Salish Sea, with a 15 kt wind gusting 20 kt+ and a 1 metre swell. The racing steed we acquired last summer is much smaller than the previous boat and gets rather thrown around in a heavy swell. An interesting race!

In the lee of the island we lost the 1m swell

We had been planning an escape to Whistler, but the warm, wet weather has meant poor visibility, Spring snow and the alpine frequently closed because of a risk of avalanches. Then with a new snow forecast, along with sub-zero temperatures overnight, we decided last Sunday to head up to Whistler the following day. On the recent two trips (December and January) it rained throughout our visits.

I had only got one day's wet skiing out of my season pass so far. A sunk cost I know, but I wanted to get a few more days out of it. The 24/25 season passes are already being advertised! The good news is by the end of this week our passes would have paid their way. If I had just bought 5 days skiing, it would have cost more than $1100, compared with the $850 we paid for the year's season pass (on over 65 rates!).

This visit the weather has been better. The rain on Tuesday turned to snow overnight, delivering 20cm of fresh powder. Queues have been short on the lifts and few fellow skiers on the mountain.

The rest of the week was cold, sunny with cloud and produced good skiing albeit rather Spring-like on the lower slopes below the freezing levels.

Friday was an amazing bluebird day and though occasionally a bit icy on the mid slopes it was a pretty good day's skiing.

Thursday evening we were enjoying our apres-ski beer at Dusty's, in Whistler Creekside, when Fred spotted someone who she thought might be in her Coast French Society group (which meets monthly over coffee to, well, talk French). He looked across, but the connection wasn't made. It's all about context I said to Fred.

Fred sent a text to him/Rick, "are you at Dusty's in Whistler?" and the individual on the far table donned glasses, looked at his phone then over to us, Rick and his wife then joined us for another beer. 'It's all about context' he said. He comes from a small French speaking area of Northern Alberta, (I didn't know there was one) rather than the main French speaking part of Canada in Quebec. We skied with them on Friday.

He is 78 and skis faster than both of us. The over-75 season pass is only $120, (whereas a one-day pass is $110 for sub-65 year old adults) .... yes a whole season for £70, an incentive if ever there was one, to keep skiing! I shall not be hanging up my ski-boots just yet. Who knows we may get another day or two in before the end of the season. Blackcomb Mountain doesn't close until mid/late May, though Whistler Mountain shuts end of April to be converted for the mountain bike season. We're thinking of going up to Whistler for a couple of months next winter - enquiries are out.

Fred, with her new bionic hip, is skiing better than I can ever remember. When in the past, Nick or I would race ahead, stop for her to catch up, only for her to complain that as soon as she reached us we set off again, I now turn round and she is behind, if not ahead of me. This is non-stop downhill slopes, no rest breaks ....... I am going to have to up my game next year!

For the record, the main supermarket in Whistler has both Cream Crackers and Stilton. We stocked up on both.

It is not unusual to find abandoned vehicles in the most unusual of places in BC, as past blogs have noted. I took a closer look at two Whistler wrecks left rusting in woods alongside Alta Lake.

I was surprised to see that both had their engine blocks still in place, but not much else and wondered why nobody has hauled them out of their swampy resting place and rebuilt them. If only I had a bigger workshop. Where is Mike vardy when you need him?

I haven't yet worked out what models they are, but they look to originate from the 40's and 50's.

We headed back to the Coast on Saturday April 6th via the North Vancouver branch in Lynn Valley and got some Sebby time in.

He is two in a couple of weeks time and an absolute joy.

Runs everywhere, 3-4 words sentences are now beginning to form, sort of, and he is a bundle of energy, enthusiasm, curiosity and fun.

He has had his first run on skis a few weeks back, about a year before his dad did. He seemed more interested in his energy bar than the skiing, but up for it.

Some more recent pics ....

Whistler mountain - Roundhouse Restaurant

Whistler mountain - Roundhouse Restaurant - 2

Engine block with go faster moss

Old truck

Crying out for a rebuild