Expedition Canada

Today Friday April 3rd, 2026 Heathrow - Easter Saturday April 3rd, 2021 - Not normally this busy! Five years ago today we arrived in Canada.   April 3rd 2021, at the height of the pandemic, on Easter Saturday.   Quarantine Dinner - allegedly! Departing a very empty Heathrow, we arrived at a very heaving Toronto Pearson, where all international flights were being routed, so arrivals could be consistently and systematically Covid-screened; sent off with test kits to the local mandated hotels for a few days of enforced quarantine and carrier-bag food deliveries to the hotel room door.  Yuk. And no bloody wine list!  Four hours from plane door to hotel room door. We could not leave the hotel room until we had a negative Covid test, which arrived after two days, enabling us to travel onto Vancouver with a second test kit to be completed during our remaining  quarantine.  A further eleven days of 'lock down' in a ground level suite, with access to the g...

Coast Culture We've had some stunning sunrises recently and moonsets.  This was  the moon against a foggy backdrop. The long range forecast that suggested we were going to enjoy a cold winter could not have got it more wrong.  It has been wet and warm.   The UK has had more snow than southern and coastal BC.  Whistler has snow in the alpine but it's patchy and thin at village level.  Other resorts in western North America are enjoying similar poor conditions, unlike the Atlantic Coast. We have therefore deferred any trips up the mountain; though are scheduled to spend a week in Whistler late February.  Fingers crossed.  If snow conditions improve later in the season we may go up again in March and April, but book at the last minute.    That said, January has not been a quiet month.  The Coast Music Theatre Co are putting on a production of Guys and Dolls at the end of Feb, and Fred has been busy making costumes. While Fred’s b...

Earthquake Hits SW BC Friday Feb 21st earthquake - Cronk Towers the red dot The house shook and rattled after the initial thunderous roar, while birds scattered in all directions from the feeders and trees.  It took me a few seconds to clock that it wasn't a plane crash or other manmade disaster, but an earthquake.   A first, and quite frightening experience.  Jack was equally unimpressed and didn't know where to put himself.  The centre was 25k North of us (close!) on the northern edge of the Tetrahedron Provincial Park and registered 5.1 (later revised down to 4.8).  Tetrahedron is a popular hiking area and on a clear day can be seen from the Sea to Sky Highway that takes you up to Whistler.  It was also felt in Whistler, Metro and North Vancouver and Vancouver Island. BC's Emergency Notice When we first moved in to Bonniebrook Fred packed a 'grab bag', which is recommended for parts of the country that could be affected by forest fires, earthquakes...

Happy New Year Ok, OK, I know I do a lot of sunsets (and sunrises) - but they are so beautiful Sunset over Vancouver Island (iPhone) Well, as feared in the last blog, it turns out that coming from a new joint email address our festive messages ended up in a lot of folks junk folders. W e sent e-Christmas cards as Canada Post were on strike for several months before Christmas.   So if you were thinking "we didn't get a card from the Cronks this year", check your junk email.  If it isn't there, then our email list was clearly in error (or you have changed your email address)!   It seems e-Xmas messages are starting to replace snail-mail (not surprising if you go on strike before Christmas) and probably arrive nanoseconds after they were sent. We had several.  Our first batch of the more tactile traditional cards arrived from the UK Fri Jan 10th, apart from a couple that must have been posted last summer, or maybe even Christmas 2023! Winter seems to have bypa...