Expedition Canada

Bank Account Open! Fri Apr 22nd Hopkins Landing - from the sea - Soames Hill to the left which has stairs to the top! It might not sound very important but it will make a huge difference managing our presence here.  We can move our iPhones to a Canada location, which means we can download Apps  that are not available on the UK site; we can move mobiles to more competitive contracts rather than pre-paid and most importantly we can move money from the UK when the £ - CA$ is more in our favour and avoid excessive bank charges.  Driving licences next. If you thought the musical opening was for a family event, we are still awaiting news on that front!   The week seems to have flown by.  I made a quick trip over to Vancouver to pick up a keyboard to start a long-promised aim to improve my music reading and playing.  Fred has been playing lots of tennis and Jack has been on lots of walks.   It does not feel Spring like yet, even though the...

The Sun is Out Howe Sound from the deck Sun Feb 6th So a good day to be talking about the Sunshine Coast. Not so good if you are a Vancouverite heading back from your weekend on the Coast for work next week.   Sunday afternoon is the day when those with holiday cottages return to Vancouver.  It's also the day that BC Ferries decide to cancel two successive ferries - Langdale to Horseshoe Bay, (and the reverse sailings that got the ferry over here in the first place). Overflow car park  The cancelled 10.50am and  1.05pm (I prefer 1 305hrs - the 24hr clock got ingrained in the World Service!) left a long queue of cars in the overflow carpark and the main marshalling area after the resumed  3.15pm had departed back to Horseshoe Bay.  Some drivers were expecting a 4 hr wait, perhaps not able to get on a ferry until 7.40pm.  In winter the stalls selling food and drinks are closed and few will want to venture 10 mins back to Gibsons for refreshments and...

The Next Adventure A 3D Puzzle Sun May 2nd.  The car started ok today, no warning symbols, so packing commenced.  This was something of a challenge and just as well we left the dog crate and one piece of luggage with Nick and two pieces at our first rental for later collection.  Jack had to share the back seat with one large suitcase! Car packed, we headed off to Horseshoe Bay, the ferry terminal to the west of Vancouver.  Yet again, the auto stop/start was not working!   All our papers were to hand in case our reason to travel was challenged.  ‘No recreational travel’ was on all the matrix signs driving to the terminal.   Our dual nationality Canadian/British check-in lady, whose daughter plays for Aston Villa could not have been more helpful.  We had a nice chat with her, 'deck three with the dog, or you can stay in the car' she advised.  The ferry is only 29% full, such is the impact of Covid.  Not sure what Jack was going to mak...