You are currently browsing the Maple MOLE weblog archives for November, 2007.

Travis

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

November was a feast of outings, Mark and the boys went to see a football game at BC Place, judgment with held on this game. Mark found it boring, not enough action and the stop every 5 seconds. O enjoyed the whole evening. I think they said a 90 minute game lasted 3 hours….
We then moved on to the music sceen. Mark we to see Athlete, then Mark & I went to see my fave singer, Suzanne Vega, she is just so cool.
Then we had a family outing to ‘The Centre in Vancouver’. Travis were playing, supported by Maximo Park. According to my music aficionado – Mark, it was a good line up and E was – wow two fab band in one night. Plus The Centre allow minors to attend, most venues in Vancouver where bands play don’t allow minors. By minors they mean under 19yrs. Obviously youth aren’t supposed to subject their delicate ears to such music, no wonder the youth have no taste in music! (really it’s to do with alcohol being served on the premises) The Centre is very swish, ushers in uniform, plush carpet, and ohh a lovley Christmas decoration – only appreciated by me. Maximo Park were very loud, and Travis put on a good show. A good evening had by all.

SFU

Thursday, November 15th, 2007

I can’t remember when, but one weekend soon after moving to the new apartment, with boxes to unpack and the sun shining outside the executive decision was to leave the boxes and investigate the surrounding area of the local University. Simon Fraser University is located on top of Burnaby Mountain, the slops and lower part of the mountain are conservation area, so we planned on a walk, some nice views and fresh air. That didn’t quite go as planned. Its not far and the bus journey was quick, unfortunately the bus driver did not understand our request about how to get to the conservation area. So arriving at the top of the mountain we were told – bus terminates here. We dutifully got off and thought we would go on an adventure. We got fresh air, but it was soooo cold. There are some unusual buildings that are very dated by their concrete structures and angular lines. The boys were not impressed as all they could think about was how cold it was. That was when it came back to me, I remember this experience back in September when I went up a mountain. The locals tell us its warmer when it rains, if the sun is out you must remember to wrap up. I didn’t think we was particularly high, obviously height doesn’t matter it just the fact that you have gone up and that means a big reduction in temperature. More pictures posted on my Picasa site. So after a quick walk we headed back to the bus stop, low and behold on the ride down we spotted the stop we needed to walk in the conservation area….. Also on the bus up the mountain we were observed two mountain bikers kited out who popped their bikes on the bus rack and journeyed to the top with us. On the way up we began to understand what the mountain held for them. When we arrived back at the bottom who should we see but the two cyclists waiting to catch the bus back up the mountain again. Once you have the kit, a bike and a bus pass it must be a very low cost way to spend the afternoon in the sun. I just kept thinking broken bones having seen some of the track they must have taken.

The love boat

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

This was a fund raining event for school in the form of an auction. They hired a professional compare to host the evening – Captain Stubby. Those who attended had to go in holiday dress, for locals that meant getting out your Hawaiian shirt. On arrival we was greeted by Captain Stubby. We could then browse the silent auction, there was a vast collection of items, from a tin of biscuits to a complete Hockey kit. Captain Stubby did a few songs the each table had to sing a ‘love’ song to get a pass for the desert. Desert has been prepaid by a professional, the selection was phenomenal topped of with a chocolate fountain. Then Mr Stubby stepped up a gear and gave a performance of Elvis, followed by the live auction. People bid for a small selection of goods such as, a ski lift pass with snow board tuition, Wii, a day at a log cabin with a gourmet meal to end the day, tickets for a Canucks game, and a painting by a local artist. This was the most exciting part of the evening with Captain Stubby carrying out some of the bidding whilst doing a head stand. This was a very unique experience for us and Mark was asked to be photographer for the evening. So this meant he wandered around snapping pictures and school then have them developed and you can buy them if you wish, plus they then display them on the notice board so you can have a laugh – oh no I mean see what events the school run.

Our new pad

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007

We had news that our consignment had an arrival date in Vancouver. So the hunt was on for an unfurnished home. Not that we had much to put in it apart from boxes and 2 ‘red chairs’. The chairs, they only piece of furniture that came with us and came apart thus fitting into a packaging box. The list went like this. Unfurnished home, Internet connection, telephone line, beds, dining room table, sofa, lights, storage and anything else we thought of along the way. It all started to fall into place. Home, beds, Internet, phone, boxes from UK. Hmmm 18th Oct arrival of boxes in Vancouver, 29th Oct keys to new apartment, 30th Bed & internet, 31st E’s Birthday, Halloween (big out here and child friendly) 31st, vacate and move to new place, 2nd Nov BIG school event ‘The Love boat’ (see blog) Mark makes his 1st debut as school photographer. Oh boxes from UK? Yes we think we can deliver them week beginning 1st Nov. Problem, no plates, saucepans, bedding etc. New friend Susan to the rescue with essential items until our boxes were eventually delivered on 2nd Nov. Then the fun started. Normally when you move house you take some cupboards, wardrobes etc that helps when unpacking, you at least know where to put some things. I had to start from scratch. The only things that went straight into homes were all the kitchen stuff. The biggest problem – what do you do with all that ‘stuff’ you keep in the loft or in the garage? It soon began to look like home, although we are still waiting to unpack ornaments and hang pictures, as we don’t have our final bits of furniture. Display cabinets, book shelves etc. We haven’t found the right ones yet, but we can manage without them. We are enjoying being in the apartment, it is much brighter than the first place and I have soooo much storage and work surface in the kitchen. We can still walk to the skytrain, the boys have a 5-minute bus ride to school. They could probably walk to school but highway 1 is in the way. The only downside is we can no longer see the mountains from the window, other apartments block the view. Instead the view from the kitchen window is of Highway 1………….