Expedition Canada

It's Back! Thu Sep 9 Fri Sep 10 It may not seem a significant event in UK terms, but internationally it's monumental.  It has been on the shopping list for five months and has only just reappeared in our local supermarket.  Its absence is due apparently, to a shortage of brewers yeast, a staple ingredient in its production. UK lovers will already know this, haters probably couldn't give a damn.   It hasn't yet been covered in the Canadian press!  So a message to all UK friends - please drink more beer! Tomorrow's breakfast will be a pleasant reminder of breakfasts in Blighty.   Any more shortages and pleas will be going out for supplies to be shipped from the UK! Do you love it or hate it? An email popped pinged in my inbox Thursday morning with details of some workshop machinery up for sale in Sechelt. A few hours and a visit later, the deal was done.  In addition to a very decent lathe, I have now added a router table, table saw, band saw (need...

Borders Opening Tue Sep 7th Hopkins Landing soon after sunrise Wed Sep 8th   Time to book your Winter skiing, Spring breaks and Summer vacations.   Canada has been added to the UK's Green List and Canada now allows  double vaccinated visitors (which means Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca), and a negative Covid test within 72 hours of travel into the country Canada. No more excuses, your Canadian adventure awaits.  We have one booking for late July 2022 already!  😀  "Expedition Canada" is happy to advise!  We are particularly strong on bear encounters.   The large male Black Bear is still around! We've stayed local for the last couple of days.  Fred has played tennis, I have been in the workshop and we've done a few walks. The big news is that we got Fred on a Paddleboard (SUP), she didn't fall off (much to my disappointment) and for someone who has a love/hate relationship with water (loves to look at it, not so keen in or on ...

Back to School Sat Aug 4th Saturday Sunrise to  Mon Aug 5th The Labor Day weekend is the final public holiday and long weekend of summer.  The holiday goes back to events in the late 1880's and a printer's strike in Toronto that led to demonstrations and an organized labor movement against the banning of trade unions.   Historically it has been the first Monday of September and not aligned to similar May holidays in other parts of the world.  Schools go back from Tuesday onwards and the ferry terminal is building up for a busy Monday.  That is of course assuming that many did not head back on Saturday when a large part of the summer's absent rain fell in one day. Community Library on Gates Lake - Pemberton Saturday didn't get off to a bad start but the 'red sky in the morning' should have forewarned us of what was to come.  The sun does not appear until ten minutes or so after the official sunrise as it has to climb above the ridge of th...

Another Perspective  Fri 3rd Aug  Fred catching up on gardening mag It is five months to the day since we arrived in Canada on Apr 3rd. The time has gone so quickly. The sticky heat of summer mornings has given way to cool autumnal early morning air, gin clear blue skies to cloudier days; days that are getting noticeably shorter and weather more variable, though still no significant rainfall.  Whilst we miss family and friends and our favourite haunts in the UK, we’re feeling very settled in BC. Canadians we have met have been friendly and welcoming and we are beginning to count a handful of people we have met as friends, including a few Brits!  The highlight of the day was the morning walk on Hopkins Landing Beach and watching three. Young otters playing on the rocks.  Whilst enjoying BC, I have been absorbed by events several continents away. The unfolding story in Afghanistan has been part of my daily reading. I still have fond and vivid memories of my t...

Challenges Little Different Wed Sep 1st Clear skies looking across to mainland mountains Thu Sep 2nd One of the BBC headlines today (Thursday) was about council bin collections being hit by driver shortages.   A few days back the Coast Reporter, which largely serves the Sunshine Coast, headlined  Waste Pickup Interruptions Continue on Sunshine Coast . The truck driver shortage in Canada is about 25,000 (Pop. 38m).  Proportionately smaller than the UK, but nevertheless having an impact on waste management, food deliveries and courier services.  This at a time when online sales have doubled during the pandemic adding to the demand for delivery services. Looks like honeycomb but probably not edible! Similarly Covid numbers have been rising.  In the interior and northern BC the increase is pronounced amongst  the unvaccinated.  The latest report is 801 new cases , a total of 5931 total active cases of which 199 are in hospital and 116 in ICU....

Mike & Jack have a boys day Tue Aug 31st Gumboot Cafe - Roberts Creek The shopping trip was actually to collect the 2018 Nissan Leaf and Fred decided to take the ferry as a walk-on and catch the express bus from the Horseshoe Bay terminal into downtown Vancouver.  Having dropped her off at the terminal in Langdale (she could have walked!), it was straight on the boat, straight on the bus for the $2 and 35 minute ride into town and then a ten minute walk to Nick's office.  Still without a local bank account, Nick had arranged a bank draft to enable us to buy the car.   Meanwhile I took Jack back down to Cliff Gilker Park and we wandered around the creeks for an hour.  It is a delightful spot, though the water levels are really low. But still deep enough for a decent paddle General Store We then headed off to Roberts Creek   village for coffee at  The Gumboot Cafe .  It has been a favourite haunt since we arrived on the Coast.  Roberts...

Bears don't just poop in the woods!  Sun Aug 29th Paddle boarder on Hopkins Landing walk Mon Aug 30th It was a still start to Sunday and a couple of paddle boarders were out on the water off Hopkins Landing beach. One with a dog, one without.  It was quite a serene setting. A Great Blue Heron was perched on Hopkins Landing Wharf and was silhouetted against the distant horizon with a sparkle of sun on water. Heron on Hopkins Landing Wharf Later in the day we went down to Grantham's beach, by which time the wind and waves had got up.  Not quite so ideal for paddle boarding.  Great for the kitesurfing foil-board riders and sailing boats. Not like the electric powered ones that go up and down the Thames and irritate Ditton Island residents!  Quite impressive skill. Entertained by the flying foil kitesurfer, Jack and I decided it was time for a quick paddle.  It was choppy and Jack was not as relaxed as usual.  But he stuck with it.  We landed 20 minut...