Another New Car

Since we have very conveniently moved the opposite side of the city to Davids job and I've now also obtained a job (which involves me driving around half the province) it seemed like a good idea to get me a car as well as Davids Murano.

We wanted something that was affordable but reasonably smart and presentable for me working as a real estate agent. We also needed something with a boot for Charlie. Once we had narrowed it down we discovered Dodge Caravans (Chrysler Voyagers) were very affordable here and had the huge benefit of seating up to 7 people for the odd occasions when we have numerous visitors or I am on a hometour with clients.

So, we settled on a 2003 Dodge Caravan SXT in onyx green with 52,000kms (32,000 miles) on the clock and one owner.

I've already been to Kelowna and back and around some of my clients in the Fraser Valley, totaling about 1700kms and so far so good......

A & D

Proud Images I

Vancouver Pride 2006

Back in July we were able to join the city in being proud! Yes, Vancouver pride is actually very inclusive, a big family day out for all. Grandma, Mum & Dad, Kids and grand children all pitch up to cheers and watch the parade of some 180 groups & floats. Some better than others. Appealing to my shallow side I have only posted some of the better pictures we took (i.e. The fantastic or sexy).

A really fun occasion on the main part but there was some political comment. Unlike London pride of the past that I have been to where they still struggle to make bold political statements, here since the political atmosphere is generally very liberal with legalised gay marriage etc. The politics seemed to simply reflect general political themes and not just gay ones. Like the pic below that depicts G.W. Bush acting as puppeteer for the Canadian PM Stephen Harper. It seems that the gay community here is integrated enough to share the same political concerns as everyone else. Cool!



No Pride would be complete in my opinion without at least one member of the order of 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence'.


Some folks really went to town and I have to admire their creativity and bravery. You Go Girl!!

D & A

Proud Images II

Vancouver Pride 2006

Now we had to choose a bank when we moved here and we chose TD Canada Trust. Little did we know that they employed some of the hottest looking men in banking (see above). We certainly didn't expect such a good display after our dealings with our personal banker who whilst very nice and efficient could not compete with the horny dude pictured here.




Clearly no North American Pride (or any pride parade for that matter) would be complete without some cowboys. A lasting and favourite icon of gay culture.

Somewhere over the Rainbow, there's a land that we dreamt of..... So far so good. Pride is great fun and is one of Vancouvers biggest annual events. It is great to live in a city with a strong gay community that is well integrated in such a way as you genuinely feel accepted and valued along with everyone else. Not set apart politically, morally or economically. We are of course just the same as everyone else except richer, sexier, funnier, braver and More Proud!

D & A

Views from Grouse Mountain

From the base camp, looking up part of the mountain, with the cable car tramlines visible and a cable car seen on its way down
From the cable car on the lower slopes looking across North Vancouver towards downtown (across the water)
From the cable car higher up looking across the Lonsdale area of North Vancouver. Our house is just out of sight to the left of the photograph (an annoying hill prevents you from seeing it from the cable car !)
From the very peak of Grouse looking over the reception area where the 'apres-ski' chalet, observatory restaurant and other amenities are.
Still a couple of small pockets of snow remain at this height, although most melted in late June, early July.
Views across Burnaby and the Eastern side of the city
Views to the East and South across Burnaby and the Fraser Valley beyond.
Close-up of Mt Baker in Washington State.

These were a few extra images taken when we went up Grouse Mountain with Yvette while she was visiting.

Our first visitor

The rose between two thorns, Yvette, David and me on our way up to the peak of Grouse Mountain, getting snapped by a friendly passerby.

Yvette on Grouse Mountain with Mt Baker, just visible in the background.
David and Yvette at the very top of Grouse, enjoying the fantastic views across the city.
At lunch in Horseshoe Bay with Tracy Freame, a couple skillets of prawns and a few bellinis.
Enjoying a proper Canadian breakfast - eggs, bacon, pancakes with maple syrup and fresh fruit. (ps Mum & Dad thanks again for the caffetiere you can see it's being put to good use!)

YVETTES VISIT
Yvette Flynn was our first visitor to the new house.

Arriving less than a week after we moved in she saw the house in its original format (something we hope not too many more of our visitors will do !). As a result of the busy time for us she saw plenty of Canadian Tire (like a Homebase), London Drugs (like a huge Boots) and Real Canadian Superstore (does what it says on the tin). She also mucked in and helped get the decorating started.

We did manage to get a couple of 'holiday' days with her, going up Grouse Mountain, seeing the touristy aspects of Lower Lonsdale waterfront, downtown by night and a lovely lunch with Tracy Freame at The Boathouse in Horseshoe Bay.

Thanks Yvette for all your help, and we promise next time you come that we'll be perfect hosts and it'll all be 'holiday'.

A & D

Getting Settled In

Our living room after one day of unpacking and settling in. Charlie has already reserved his spot....

Our container from the UK arrived on Monday 21st August. We were delighted to find that the only damage sustained in the 3500 mile journey was a broken wine glass.

Unfortunately the 20' journey from the van into the house resulted in damage to one of the bedside cabinets as it rolled off the trolley being used by the removal men to carry it up the front steps. I guess that's what insurance is for !

The house didn't need too much cleaning as the previous owners had left it in pretty good condition. However, the whole of the main floor is solid hardwood floors and so we cleaned and treated those before all of the furniture arrived on Monday.

More pictures will follow as the remainder of the house gets decorated and becomes presentable !

A & D

Photos of 3627 Princess Avenue

Front of the property

Looking sideways across the garden showing deck, patio and lawn areas
View of the rear of the property

We've Moved !

We have finally completed on the purchase of our house in North Vancouver (see 3627 Princess Avenue, above)

For the estate agents who are viewing this blog, we completed on Monday 14th Aug, but only took possession on Friday 18th. This is because comp & poss take place on different days so that everybody in the chain moves house on different days so there's no issue over keys being ready & vendors moving out in time for the buyers to get in. Basically, the system is fantastic !

The house is a 'split-level' built in 1971 (classified as an 'old-timer' in Canada). There is just under 3000 sqft with the upper floor offering an 'L' shaped Living/Dining Room, kitchen/breakfast room, 4 bedrooms (one with en-suite) and a family bathroom. Downstairs in the 'basement' (although this is all above ground) there is a family room, huge laundry, furnace room and a further fully self-contained one bedroom apartment which is currently rented out (the tenants of the previous owners wanted to stay and we were happy for them to do so).

The property does need some decorating and a bit of updating, but what we fell in love with when we viewed the property was the location - it is situated in a very upscale neighbourhood of large family houses about 20 mins from downtown Vancouver, and only about 5 minutes from the town centre of North Vancouver. As well as this convenient location the house also has a large 70' westerly facing rear garden and there is an enormous park directly opposite the property. We don't look into other peoples living rooms, rather lovely mature trees and a creek. We are also within walking distance of the edge of the city, so can walk Charlie into the hills from our doorstep and enjoy beautiful views from the area.

We really look forward to having many of you visit us here and showing you our new home.

A & D

Log Booms

Looking South West from SW Marine Drive over a log boom towards the airport (barely visible in distance on left).

Looking West from SW Marine Drive over the log boom. The mountains seen in the distance are on Vancouver Island.

Log booms are big business in British Columbia. Having so much forestry industry, there is a need for felled trees to be sorted into types and grades before being shipped off to sawmills and other log customers.

The logs are normally 'dragged' down the coast by tugs and can be a great length, often several hundred metres in length. At night, tugs must display a visible warning light to indicate their length to other vessels.

So, that pine chest of drawers you have in your bedroom may have once been floating in the waters off Vancouver !

A & D

The Festival of Light

At this time each year Vancouver plays host to 'The Festival of Light'. This is an international fireworks competition or rather the final of the competition. This years finalist were Mexico, Italy, China and the Czech Republic. Mexico Won, though we thought that the show close, an extra display, was the best.

The event happens over four nights spread over 2 weeks and is attended by about 300,000 a night. The pictures here are of the first night viewd from Point Grey (see previous blog entry) where quite a few locals gathered to watch the display across the bay with the city and mountains as a backdrop.

We saw the Grand Finale night from a roof top in Kitsilano while at a Margarita Party.....more on that later maybe, but the fireworks were great and we look forward to next years event!

D & A

Evening views from Point Grey

We recently went out for the evening to watch the Celebration of Light (more on that in another post). We decided to watch from Point Grey Park, which was the nearest location to where we live that we would get a good view. The photograph above shows the view North East from Point Grey Park towards Downtown, and the Northshore mountains beyond.

Me with the marina at Point Grey in the background.
Terrific sunset looking West from Point Grey Park. In the foreground once again is the marina and in the background across the water is Bowen Island.

A&D

The Whittington Visit - Canada

Tim (an old friend from work) & his Family came to Vancouver to visit friends and holiday for the first time in Canada recently. We arranged to meet up with them for a day out at Grouse Mountain. I was really keen to see a familiar face in this sometimes stressful time of change and we had not been up Grouse yet ourselves so proved a great day all round.

For those that are not familiar with the geography of Vancouver; to the north of the city are the Coast Mountains. The three closest and easily accessed are (from West to East) Cypress, Grouse & Seymour. Whilst on the mountain you are often reminded of it's importance; you will often hear the catchphrase "Welcome to Grouse - The Peak of Vancouver".

In the winter it boast a busy ski resort, but in the summer a family friendly excursion with nature trails, shows & great views.

Pictured above is the mildly amusing Grouse Mountain Lumberjack Show - possibly sponsored by Disney !

Although a little hazy, it was a glorous hot sunny day. The image above shows views of Downtown and below are views to the south as far as Mount Baker in the US State of Washington.

Once we move into Princess Avenue we will only be about 5 or 10 minutes from the base of Grouse Mountain. We have therefore bought ourselves 'membership' tickets. This enables us to travel up and down as many times as we want over the next year - this is great as we want to go when it's wintry and snowy, in the evening to see the lights of the city and other times of the year. Plus when guests visit we can get them up for half price.

D & A

Errr, What's Up Doc?

For those of you that didn't know, whilst we are renting this house we are baby sitting the owners rabbit. To his owners he is known as 'Pepper' but we have simply refered to him as 'Bugs'.

He eats and poos alot which requires that we clean him out very regularly. We let him out for a run on a lead staked to the ground as often as we can too. Charlie is ever curious about what is behind the door of the room he lives in and sits and watches keenly when he is outside for exercise.

Here is Bugs checking out the lettuce and rhubarb patch in the garden.



D & A

David on the Sunshine Coast

Upper Sunshine Coast

Totem Pole created by the Coast Salish First Nations in Powell River.

Reached by ferry from the Lower Sunshine Coast or Vancouver Island, this is an even more remote and laidback part of the BC coast.

The area nestled between the ocean and forested mountains had been populated by up to 20,000 Coast Salish First Nations until the early 1900's when a Paper & Pulp Mill was built. When fully operational the mill was the largest of its kind in the world, although now only the Paper Mill is still running. When the mill was built a huge 'planned community' was built nearby to house the workers - kind of an early 1900's version of Milton Keynes ! Many of the original buildings are still intact and the townsite has been designated a National Historic District.
View of Powell River Marina with Powell Lake beyond.

Nowadays there is a large tourism industry with many people having holiday homes on the Upper Sunshine Coast. Often the properties are cabins or cottages located on lakes and rivers - frequently with no road access. On a Friday night the local marinas are busy with people pulling up in their 4x4's with their boat on the back, loading the boat with food & supplies for the weekend and then speeding off up the lake.
Coastline in the Saltery Bay Marine Park.

We didn't get to do a lot of hiking on the Upper Coast because there were several 'bear warnings' which although that doesn't mean you shouldn't hike, it does mean to you should be prepared and we didn't have any bear spray, bells or so on with us and felt it best to do the hikes another time.

Views from Powell River. The green land in the foreground is Texada Island and the snow-capped mountains in the distance are on Vancouver Island.

A & D

An Unwelcome Visitor

We have recently started seeing a North American Striped Skunk in our garden. Apparently is it not unusual to see them in this part of the world, and the black-and-white striped seen here is the most common.

The skunk tends to come out early evening, around 7pm ish and digs in the garden before wandering off onto a neighbouring yard.

Holes dug in the ground by the skunk, presumably looking for worms or other insects.

Reading up I have discovered that they often live under peoples decks, or holes in the foundations and while they are most famous for their ability to spray noxious chemicals from their backsides, they are otherwise generally considered useful to have around catching mice, rats and flies and eating spilt rubbish.

Thankfully on the couple of occasions he has visited so far, Charlie has been indoors and luckily not seen the skunk in the garden, or the dangerously close proximity he was getting to his tennis balls !

A & D