Wonderful Weather

This post is for those interested in all things meteorlogical. In particular I know that Josep will be interested as he was certain we were to have nothing but rain.....

In fact we have had glorious weather since we arrived. The first week was warm but reasonably cloudy with some rain and one big storm (pictured from our hotel).

Since then we have had nothing but summer. Days have gone past without a cloud in sight. Temperatures have been 25 to 32 degrees. We even went out and bought a fan as was too hot to sleep at night.

We are told that the sunny weather we have had is fairly typical of the Vancouver summer, which is great, but we are under no illusion that the rain will come. How else could a place be so beautiful and green?

Hope you all are enjoying whatever weather you have.

D & A

A New Car

We have our own set of wheels again !

One of our first jobs once we got here was to buy a car as renting one was throwing money down the drain.

We bought a 2005 Nissan Murano, in Davids favourive colour black - not terribly practical we discovered on the dusty gravel roads of the Sunshine Coast - now we know why they all have tan coloured cars ! Nonetheless, it was exactly what we wanted and looks really smart when it's clean. It was an ex-rental with 14,000kms on the clock (about 9,000 miles).

We bought the car from a Nissan Main dealer, but have discovered in our search that used car salesman are the same the world over !

A & D

Our Temporary Pad

Well, since 'Real Estate' is supposedly my thing David says it's my job to write this post !

Until the house we have bought completes at the end of August, we have rented a property as a 'stop-gap' to enable us to have our own space, and more importantly bring Charlie over as soon as possible.

We have rented a 'shabby-chic' (more one than the other) house in a neighbourhood about 1 mile from Davids work, and about 3-4 miles South of Downtown. The area called Kerrisdale, is actually very sought after, being predominately leafy avenues of large houses close to many parks and beaches.

The house itself is a 1950's property which could use a little TLC but is quite comfortable and it means the owners are relaxed about us bringing the dog here. It appears to be a bungalow from the front, but in good Canadian style dissapears underground so actually has vastly more space than you would think. Most importantly there's a fenced garden for Charlie and a BBQ.

The owners of the house are German and planned an extended holiday back to Europe which coincided perfectly with our need to rent until our house purchase completes. However, because its only a short rent the owners belongings are still here - it's a rather strange feeling seeing someones elses family photos on your fridge door and their clothes in the wardrobe. As for the answerphone - we are still arguing over who's Robin and who's Doris !

That said, as landlords they have been very welcoming, baking us cakes and giving us lots of 'neighbourhood tips'.

We aren't expecting any visitors before we get the house we have bought and so we have posted some images of this rental house, so you can picture us here over the next few weeks.

A & D

Vancouver Stuff

Hello to all from Vancouver.

We have had a very busy couple of weeks so far but now can catch our breath and stay in one place for a while. We have just moved into our rental house and at last have full access to a computer. This means I can set up this Web Log. How 21st century is that? Now we have a Blog. Thank you to Rebecca for suggesting it.

This first post is a test to see if I have done it right.


Imaginatively titled 'Vancouver Stuff'. Many post may have this title as that is what it is. It does exactly what it says on the tin. We will post pics mostly, just to share our life here with you all. Somebody said something about a picture speaking a thousand words I believe?? We will add our thoughts, feelings and observations too if it seems interesting. Unlike a diary (apart from the fact you all get to read it) this blog is not necessarily chronological. Also unlike a diary you can leave your comments too. We would love to hear from you all.

To start we will share with you what we have been up to for the last few weeks. Here is the first pic of us enjoying one of the main reasons we fell in love with Vancouver and wanted to come live here; the scenery.


More to follow.

Love

D & A

X & X