Maple MOLE

When I was down town one day abundounce of electricity towers caught my attention, and how loaded they looked. They are in most of the older back allies where the garbage bins are kept, so its not prettiest of places. I am sure soon these log pylons will be a thing of the past as Vancouver undergoes redeveloping. There is a lot of redevelopment downtown, which sometimes looks really scary with wooden scaffolding. More pictures of that can be seen on picas. The power cables look so exposed and look like they have been thrown together, or as a temporary measure. When you look around and think that the majority of the building are only 3 or 4 stories its not an issue, but I can see as more and more tower blocks go up these cute pylons will become history.

When I was taking pictures of electricity cables I spotted some building going on, you really can’t miss it there taking down and rebuilding all over the palace, some in preparation for the Olympics, others because that’s what builders do! I have noticed how they dig a huge hole for car parking or underground shops then things start to take shape and you get the over ground stuff. I was stood at street level when I took this picture, just look how small the people on the other side are, and the porta loo in the bottom. Gives you an idea how far down it went. I have some other shots on picas of the hole and a building next door showing wooden scaffolding. It looks very primitive, but it works.

Taking of holes, I have put some up dated pictures of the Canada line on picasa. The area where I took my first hole pictures is now being filled in and they have even taken out one of the temporary bridges. So check them out.

Having aborted our skiing trip, we decided we wouldn’t waste the day, as the weather was looking good. We returned home and changed in to cooler clothing and headed for Stanley Park, which meant driving down town – hmmmm. This was when we realised warmer weather means everybody heads for some green open space. But we didn’t let that get to us. Unfortunately as newbies who had only been to Stanley Park by bus meant we had never really noticed how little parking there is in Stanley Park. Whilst Mark drove around the park trying to spot a space I was busy snapping shots of spring happening. Feeling a little defeated with two outing now failed in one day we headed for home. With the sun blasting through the windscreen we were desperate to get some of the fresh air. Five minutes from home we found the spot, Burnaby Lake. We took a stroll and watched the Canada Geese and other birds enjoying the sun. The mountains looked good for here too. Wasn’t the day we had planned when we set out, but at least we achieved something. Pictures of spring arriving and Burnaby Lake can be seen on my picasa link.

When in Rome etc etc, so when living in Vancouver you have to ski. There are 3 mountains that the locals use, The most popular being Grouse Mountain, it over looks the city of Vancouver, at the base you take the gondola ride to the peak, that takes about 6 minutes. Its strange when you get on fully kited to ski but it raining, then 6 minuets later you get out and there’s 5 meters of snow. Plus they offer good deals on passes. Our very first trip to Grouse was really a fact finding mission to what it was all about. As well as skiing you can go ice skating, snow shoeing and have a sleigh ride, or just take in the views.

Having kited ourselves out with relevant equipment in the sales, apart from ski’s and boots, and purchased our passes, we booked our 1st lesson. It was interesting! The boys were very patient with their slow parents and patiently waited for Mum and Dad to get their act together. Mark spent the first hour falling over whilst I was picking up speed. Then I had an unfortunate incident at the top of the rope pull where I could feel my knee was not happy and frankly the dollar signs were flashing in my eyes, Fortunately I called on our instructor who came to the rescue. I then came to a stand still as I watched Mark and the boys picking up the pace. However after nearly 1.5 hours on the nursery slopes my legs and arms were feeling a little weak and as my knee was intact I felt maybe I should call it a day. E & O were doing well and made it down the cut, which is the easy slope.

During the next week E made the decision to go with snowboarding and Mark and I picked up boots and ski’s, we have decided to wait until next season to get O’s as I am sure he will be slightly bigger by next November when the slopes open again.

Before the slopes closed for the season we managed to fit in two more sessions. Its a bit more scary when there is no instructor leading you. I stood at the top of the nursery slope and as watched whilst my legs turned to jelly, my mouth went dry and my heart was pounding. As Mark and the boys got into it they kept passing me saying ‘come on Mum you’ll be fine’, but I was far from fine. However I did manage to shift my butt and slowly wind my way down the slope whilst lots of 5 & 6 year old whizzing past me. This was not the best day for me, having spoken with friends afterwards they told me no to worry it happens – I was sure they was just being nice. However I soon discovered on our third trip that it was OK and I was soon finding my ‘feet’ and gaining confidence, although still on the nursery slope I was relaxing and beginning to enjoy it.

Our third trip up the mountain was the last day for skiing at grouse this season. We initially went on Saturday, arriving around 10:30, only to find an enormous queue. After a little investigation we discovered that the gondola that holds about 100 people, was closed for servicing and the old gondola was being used. This holds only 44 people, hence the queue. After a family discussion we decided not to bake in the heat at the bottom of the mountain, and we would return tomorrow bright and early. This we did, arriving at 8:30 the next morning with only 10 minute wait. Having not done this before we thought the last day would be mega busy. This was not so, the slopes were empty so we decided to make the most of it and didn’t come back down until 4:30. All very tired, but having had a great day. Whilst we was up the mountain the clouds cleared and the skies were blue. We/I was not prepared for this so we all had a lovely glow by the time we got home. Now we just have to wait for the next season. Although we do plan to go up the mountain and see what they have on offer during the summer, I want to see what it looks like with out snow.

So how many Easter eggs did you see in the shops in UK? On Easter Sunday the boys looked a little dejected and asked ‘No eggs’ Big guilt trip for parents, but then when we made a pit stop at the local supermarket for milk the realisation hit us NO EGGS. Wow, having recovered from the shock I realised why I hadn’t fulfilled by parental duties. There were no eggs for me to buy. Not wanting to be beaten I sent O to the candy section in search of eggs. This is what he came back with! We all had to indulged in a Cadburys egg, woopie!

We have learnt that for lots of people Easter is about going to Church, or having Easter lunch with family, similar the Christmas. There are some eggs hunts where the Easter bunny attends, they hunt for the little sugar covered eggs and that about it.

Easter was upon us and we thought it was high time we investigated some new areas. After all we needed to find somewhere where we can chill on warm barmy summer evenings. I think this is just the spot, you will have to look at my Picasa page to see what it is really like. About a 20 minute drive from home, I can see the one road in/out may cause a few problems if it gets busy. There is a small collection of shops, including pizza, ice-cream, craft shop, clothes shop and fish & chips!!. There’s a small beach where you can walk along the waters edge and take in the scenery, or watch the boats and kayaks, or take a walk along the road and look at all the water front homes. You could just see how many unusual signs you can find. This one cause much amusement. Once you have spotted one they keep coming.

They even teach dogs to read in Vancouver, encouraging all to have manners, humans and dogs a like. Now the third one we decided you would only see on the West Coast. It was on a notice board outside a ‘corner shop’ At the top the card are for a local chimmney sweep, followed by bingo and restorative justice at the Philosophers Cafe! Although there was nothing about Harry Potter.

How many electrical item buzz? Well lets go, Washing machine at the end of cycle, tumble dryer 10, 5, and 2 minutes before the end of cycle, iron if its left standing alone for to long, microwave if you don’t respond when its sounded end of time, telephone – its part of the entry system to the apartment, the cooker when its reached to desired temperature, when you set the timer on the cooker gives you a warning 10 sec before time is up, then beeps every 30 seconds until you turn it off. Sometimes they drive me and others mad, I here the boys saying does that buzzer have to be so loud? These are times when its very helpful, however it does get a little frustrating sometimes, a bit like a child who doesn’t give up until you say yes!!! Thank goodness my wake up alarm is the radio.Then to top it off, its not a buzzer but it could well be, the car doors lock automatically 10 seconds after you start moving. Its taken a while to get used to.

How many shops can you go to to get the monthly shop, and what is a monthly shop? It appears that not many Canadians shop monthly, I think some even still shop daily. What’s good about that, well there are never any lines at the tills. Some things they do VERY big or buy in bulk, but bulk is just 1 or 2 items. The only place I have seen an well stocked trolley is at Costco. I have managed to get the cupboards stocked with all the usual stuff. Still struggling with the cost of cheese, about £4 for half a pound, but we off set that with the amazing range of fish, at a good price as you can see from the picture this piece of fresh salmon cost £10. You can’t buy everything in one shop. There are lots of fruit and veg shops, with an excellent range of goodies and there is no alcohol in the supermarket you have to go to the Liquor store! At the other end you have a post office that also sells t-shirt and trinkets. Opening hours are all over the place, some are open 24hrs and others close at 6pm every night. So when we have a last minute panic I have to stop and think which shops are open. We did come unstuck one night when Mark needed paracetamol for a tooth ache and none of the shops were open so we ended up at a petrol station. Plus its not paracetamol Canadian know it a Advil, but we learn from our adventures and have since found out where there is an all night chemist.

Now I passed my test back in December, 1st time, well I couldn’t break family tradition. It only us folk who drive on the ‘other side’ who have to take a complete test, theory and road. Following advice from some friends I opted for package with a driving school. I felt OK about the test until the morning when a different instructor turned up and then he started taking me to another test centre. Ugh I am not sure who was in more of a panic as we both knew there was not enough time to get to the other test centre, Fortunately we had gone to the correct one and I left 45 minutes later with a pass certificate. At the time we still didn’t have a car, but we did hire a car over Christmas. Mark passed his in early January just before all the snow.

Starting driving from scratch here is a long process, they have a graduated licence programme, that last 3 yrs. You can reduce the 1st year by taking lessons with an approved school, and then the next 2 yrs can be reduced by 6 months if you have no accidents or violations. So 1st you have to pass the theory and get an ‘L’ With the ‘L’ you must always have someone over 25yrs beside you and only 1 other passenger from your family. Then you can sit the next stage of the test, if you pass you get your ‘N’ You can the drive alone, but only with 2 passengers. I think I’ve got that right. E has just passed his ‘L’ and it appears it is dirt cheap to get him put on the insurance, that’s because it costs a small fortune to insure the car in the first place £1200 for a year, but no road tax and only £70 to have E added.

Chilled drivers, not cold but very relaxed. We do get traffic jams but we joke there would be no jams if they all closed the gaps. Yes they have gaps – I know that’s unheard of on the M25. When approaching traffic lights it normal to leave almost a cars length between you and the car in front when you have to stop. We are getting to grips with turning left on a red light, but its very off putting when you are waiting in the middle of the junction to turn right and you see a car in your peripheral vision to the right coming in to the junction and turning. Another thing we have noticed is all cars stop for Fire trucks and ambulances – I mean STOP. I think its because Fire trucks will cross the central reservation if there side of the road is completely jammed. Scary stuff when you see it for the first time, but you do know they are coming – boy the horn is LOUD. Oh by the way the central reservation may only be a like a speed bump or just double yellow lines in some places.

So the main difference, large parking spaces and wide roads and a few very small traffic circles! Because there is a significant number of BIG vehicles 99.9% of the parking spaces are huge – like you could hold a party in 1 space, consequently they never have to know the width of their car.

Valentines day is BIG in Canada, younger school children send cute cards and give chocolate hearts etc. The boys school had a non uniform day, but they had to go in formal and wear red with it. So out came the suits and ties – fortunately O’s jacket just about fitted, so they both looked ultra cool going to school. I was out on valentine’s day and various people could be seen wearing red for the occasion.