Expedition Canada

Marlborough Wed Nov 29th Two of the family of otters on the shoreline On my morning ambles with Jack I've got chatting to a fellow dog walker who has a bouncy Irish Terrier, eight months old and paws the size of snowshoes.  Well I never...she is from the UK and lived near Bristol.  Her husband comes from Marlborough and he and his three brothers, all went to the same school as Nick and Ros. One brother in the same year and friends group as Ros.   I suspect one of the masters from the school and occasional reader of this blog, might might know the four Loosemore lads.  It's Tom who is out here and living a few hundred yards away, as the Bald Eagle flies.   This is the second person from Marlborough (Pop. 9129) we know living on the Coast (100km long and Pop. 32,000), though the first one moved from Marlborough when the population was probably half what it is now!  I am going to have to start reading up on 'probability' though I suspect the rug...

Apparently Nov 13th 2023 I have never been a football fan.  It might be something to do with being taken to see Brentford play Southend or Southport or something South when I was a nipper.  The sleet flew horizontally across the ground, it was freezing cold, I was too young to swill beer, I could not see properly and Brentford lost 0-2 in that Boxing Day game.  It was a defining moment.  At school I used to ‘support’ Arsenal (or was it Chelsea) because everybody supported one team or another, but I never went to or watched a match and couldn’t name a player.  I only ever checked the scores so that it appeared I knew what I was talking about.  Others in my family supported West Ham or Brentford.  I tended to support the opposition but remained ignorant and indifferent of anything to do with the Beautiful Game even when England had a key World Cup match, which let’s face it, they usually lost! Move on a few years and I am now glued to the screen wat...

Beans Means Heinz Thu Oct 19th But which ones?  An excursion to our local supermarket the other day left me curious about the difference between the original Heinz Baked Beans sold in Canada and the British Style sold alongside.  After a bit of research it appears it is not limited to just to basic styles and the original baked beans in Canada may be different again to those sold in the USA.   One video I stumbled across Original v British Baked  beans suggested the British Style had less sugar. It went on to say that the British Style were different to the original beans sold in the UK. Commentators in the USA indicated their 'original beans' were darker, sweeter and had a more smoky flavour through the addition of pork.  By this stage I decided I'd bean dwelling on this far too long, and gave up! Turnstone In the last blog I posted a picture of what I thought was a Least Sandpiper.  My personal birding advisor (PBA), who I worked alongside ...

Fall has Arrived Wed Oct 4th Before heading off to Vancouver Island the Sunshine Coast Regional District, who supply our water, announced that the Coast had gone on to drought level 5 and implemented Stage 4 water restrictions effective Sept 8th.  No outdoor use at all and heavy fines for those breaching the rules.  Our water salvage tank which had  kept the veg beds watered  holds 800 gals and had run dry.  It had rained while we were away but the water restrictions remained in place.    The day we returned Chapman Lake was down to 0%.  The storm that came through over the weekend of Sept 23rd and 24th was sufficient for Chapman Lake to go from 0% to 100% within 3 days.  At 34 ha in size and holding 680m litres of water it was not insubstantial rainfall.  All water restrictions were lifted on Sept 27th and our water tank was again full.  Our last few days on Vancouver Island provided a further opportunity to watch the Orca from our...