Expedition Canada

A year in BC Sun Apr 3rd Howe Sound Catchy title for a book don't you think?  Maybe not. Easter Saturday 3rd April 2021 A year ago today we arrived in Canada.  Departing an empty Heathrow airport, on a near empty Air  Canada aircraft to Toronto.  International flights to Vancouver had all been cancelled.  All incoming international flight passengers were being ‘processed’ in Ontario.  Queuing for a passport check, immigration discussion, Covid tests and then a bus to our quarantine hotel.  Hotel room OK, food well off the bottom of the scale.   Two days later after negative Covid tests we were on our way to Vancouver and the final eleven days of our quarantine in North Van.  Our garden suite was great, our host welcoming and Jack arriving midway through our quarantine, the icing on the cake.   Our house search started over a year ago, before we left the UK.  Tentative offers made no progress.  On Thursday last, we cl...

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 ...

Happy New Year! Looking across West Howe sound to West Lion Mtn Fri Dec 31st 2021 Just as the road was becoming more passable after the snow on Christmas Eve, another 200mm fell overnight of the 29th/30th.  The snow-shoes came into their own Thursday morning, just for getting Jack down the road.  What a great Christmas present. With temperatures remaining below zero the snow is expected to stick around until at least Sunday when we have a couple of days when the forecasts suggest we will get up to a balmy +5c. Although the council snow-ploughs and gritters have been out, even the main roads still have some snow on them so we have not ventured far.   He loves it! A neighbour with a plough attachment for his tractor/lawn mower again cleared the road below us as far as the section where it levels out and I decided to take on the drive.   I wish now I had bought a snow-blower rather than a snow shovel, as it took me the best part of two hours to clear our steep...

Snowbirds Flock South Mon Nov 8th Mt Elphinstone Mount Elphinstone just up behind us is now dusted with snow, Whistler Village and the Sea to Sky Highway also has a covering and the main slopes are close to skiable.  Winter beckons, as do the ski slopes.  Grouse Mountain on the North shore of Vancouver, which has a well known hill climb beneath the gondola, is shut because of too much snow. With snow arriving here, Canadians preferring the warmer climes (termed 'Snowbirds') like the southern United States are heading south with the land border opening today.  It has been possible to fly into the US, but not drive until today.  Dedicated snowbirds have flown south and had their RV's delivered.  Long queues formed at the border ready to escape the winter weather.  Some of us of course, can't wait for the snow to enable Whistler to open up later in the month. Blackberry Gin With the glut of blackberries this summer we have made Blackberry Gin, which...

Rain Stops Play Starts Hopkins Landing - Morning Walk Sun Oct 17th The thrashing took place in the City of Bath when the home team were given a rugby lesson by Saracens in a palindromic 17-71 drubbing.  Bath have now lost all of the opening games in the Premiership and are bottom of the league.  The Sarries game was a great game to watch, even for Bath supporters.  Bath probably learnt more today from the opposition than their own coaching staff.    My fellow Brit dog-walker with the Rhodesian Ridgeback, is a Gloucester supporter.  They drew 25-25 to London Irish in Brentford.  Much less embarrassing!  On the plus side, at least we're not paying subs to Bath now we're in Canada! By Sunday afternoon the rain of the last few days finally stopped and we got out to play without wet weather gear.  In the local area we'd had 154mm of rain over Friday and Saturday and a modest 15.4mm Sunday.  Roads, creeks and trails have been running...

Black Bear Cub passes through Wed Sep 22nd Timber laden barge Thu Sep 23rd Skeins of honking Canada Geese are now in evidence as they ready to migrate to their wintering grounds.  At one time they would head off to southern USA.  These days they may not get as far if they find food and suitable habitat on route, especially around urban environments.    The Acers around the house are starting to take on an orange hue but have not yet reached that fiery red so typical of the species.  Their related large leaf Maple and other deciduous trees are beginning to turn,  some leaves already dropping though this is more to do with the summer drought.  Current temperatures remain mild, though there is a definite chill first thing in the morning and evenings.  During the day in the sun, it remains pleasantly warm.  North American Robins, the size of a UK Thrush but with a red or orange breast and Northern Flickers, a member of the woodpecker fa...

..... and Trudeau Mon Sep 20th Sunrise over West Howe Sound Tue Sep 21st Election coverage in Canada is not much different to election coverage in the UK.  Various pundits, experts and politicians reflecting on the campaign; hedging their bets authoritatively on the outcome. There was much comment on whether Trudeau might be about to do a Theresa May - my analogy, but the message was the same.  His poll lead when the election was called was eroded down to negligible margins by the time the electorate went out to vote. Unfamiliar with the parties, politicians and pundits we watched very little.  What coverage we did catch seemed the all too familiar promises of what the party would do and how the governing party had failed or succeeded, depending on your perspective.   Healthcare, social care, pandemic, govt debt and environment/global warming appeared the key areas of campaigning.  There seemed little attention to the Indian Act and Indigenous Peo...