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August 2024

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Good travellers

August 29, 2024 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

“A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving”.

Lao Tzu

Earlier this summer – some short while after The Girl and I returned from our momentous trip to Scotland – we were sitting in the sun outside the Stone House pub in Canoe Cove, chewing the fat and contemplating the remainder of the season.

We were minded to seek out some culture – in the form of theatre, music… maybe even fireworks… or indeed any combination of the above. We toyed with a visit to Vancouver for ‘Bard on the Beach‘ – particularly for it’s coincidence with the ‘Celebration of Light‘ – though that looked like turning into a somewhat expensive trip…

We also looked at the offerings here in Victoria – but nothing really caught the eye…

Finally The Girl came up with a smart notion. Come mid-August we could head up the island to Nanaimo, just in time for the Nanaimo Fringe Festival – the which fortuitously happened to coincide with the Nanaimo Blues Festival. We could make it a long weekend and avail ourselves of some theatre and some music – as well as paying a visit to The Girl’s mother in the process.

So – we had a fixed plan… the possession of which – according to Lao Tzu – is a ‘no-no’!

…as indeed it turned out to be!

This has been a busy old year – particularly for The Girl. When it came down to it we didn’t spot anything in the Nanaimo Fringe programme that looked unmissable – and she really didn’t fancy getting caught up in the the sort of crowds that the Blues Festival would attract.

We decided that we would make the trip anyway – but that we would modify the itinerary.

For the first of our days around Nanaimo we settled on an excursion to Gabriola island, where once The Girl’s parents had lived (well before I knew her) and the which we had visited with them on an early trip from the UK.

It was good to explore the island again. Here are some photos:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThese last images are of the Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola. When I was first taken to this extraordinary geological feature – back in 2006 – The Girl’s mother took a photograph of the two of us which is still pretty much my favourite image of us together. It was lovely to be able to go back and stand in the same spot getting on for two decades later.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Martin Mars

August 25, 2024 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

I first visited Canada in 2006, on which occasion I was introduced by The Girl to the delights of British Columbia and of Vancouver Island – along, naturally, with her family and many of her friends. The expedition was planned with the sort of thoroughness that is her hallmark and included my first meeting, in Nanaimo, with her father and her mother in law.

The four of us took a trip up island to Port Alberni and to Tofino. This memorable sojourn – the which included spending a day drifting down to Bamfield on the Francis Berkeley – has been replicated more than once when we have entertained visitors from outwith the province (or indeed the country).

Between Port Alberni and Tofino we paid a visit to Sproat Lake. Quite apart from being a very beautiful spot this 25km long lake is known for a number of interesting attractions, amongst which – until very recently – was that it was home to the Martin Mars water-bombers.

Now – I could regale you with the story of these huge and beautiful flying boats – built during the second world war and serving for many years fighting wildfires across Canada and elsewhere – but why don’t we let Wikipedia handle the honours in this instance. What gentle readers need to know for the purposes of this post is that ‘Hawaii Mars‘, which I believe to be the remaining flight-worthy aircraft (of the seven that were built) was this year donated to the British Columbia Aviation Museum, the which is right here beside Victoria International Airport.

A couple of weeks back ‘Hawaii Mars‘ made her final flight from Sproat Lake down to Victoria. For the last leg she was accompanied by the Canadian aerobatic display team – the Snowbirds. Many Victoria inhabitants turned out to view the spectacle, but we were fortunate enough to be gifted a grandstand view from our deck as the formation circled the airport.

As you would expect, this spectacle certainly brought a lump to my throat.

When the aircraft is finally ready for visitors at the museum I shall go and pay my respects.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Tech fail!

August 15, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

No – this blog post is not about my shiny new computer – the which is humming away gently to itself whilst solving complex problems with one hand tied behind its back! In that department things are currently going well (though there is, of course, still plenty of opportunity for everything to go t*ts up!).

This is about a couple of other technology failures which caused one of us (The Girl) considerable inconvenience, and cost the other (me!) a packet of money.

Those who know me well – or who have hung around these pages long enough – will know that I drive a black Lexus SUV (a GX470). This splendid vehicle was no spring chicken when we purchased it shortly after our arrival in Canada. It dates from 2003 and is now, of course, getting on for a decade older than it was when we acquired it.

Now – I love the thing to bits and it has served me very well for a relatively modest outlay – helped by the fact that I don’t put that much mileage on it these days. Even so sometimes things do go wrong with it – and a little while back it started exhibiting a whining noise that had not featured before. I figured that I had better take it to our friendly local garage and get them to take a look.

I had to go downtown anyway a couple of days later, so I though I would stop by on the way back. As I drove cautiously back up the Pat Bay highway the whining noise was suddenly joined by an entire son et lumière of flashing warning lights. This did not look good. I had to queue for a while to turn left in the middle of the ongoing construction on the highway and had visions of the Lexus phuttering out on me – the which would have caused no end of problems at that particular spot.

Mercifully it kept going and I was able to pull into the garage forecourt. I turned everything off and went to find ‘the guy‘. When we came back to start the vehicle so that I could to demonstrate the issue there was no sign of life at all – not a click, not a whine, not even a grinding noise… nothing!

Oh well – if the thing is going to break down completely the forecourt of a garage is not a bad place for that to happen.

Apparently the battery had failed spectacularly (a dead open short) and the alternator (in trying to charge it) had burned itself out. Fortunately we were going away for a couple of days so it mattered not that the car was out of action until we returned.

Just before we left on our short trip (more on this later) The Girl was summoned on our return, to Kamloops (and beyond) – for her work. This would mean that after we got home on the Sunday she would fly out again on the Monday evening. Flying is routinely such a pain these days that the subsequent news during the day on Monday of delayed flights and suchlike did not come as a surprise. The Girl made it to Vancouver and then had to wait for a considerable time for her onward flight to Kamloops.

When it finally boarded it was already quite late. The plane taxied out to the runway, waited its turn and then lined up for takeoff. Throttles open and the turbojet surged down the tarmac…

…only for the pilot to abort the takeoff half way down! Now this sort of thing is definitely bad news! After returning to the gate and spending a lengthy period being assaulted by out-of-control kids and the sweltering heat (and having nothing to watch except the mechanics scratching their heads) the airline bowed to the inevitable and cancelled the flight. Cheap hotel rooms for all concerned and up early the next morning for another attempt.

Guess who was not impressed…!

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Tech bro!

August 13, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do”.

B. F. Skinner

Before I retired from The School back in the UK I persuaded one of my chaps there to build me a new computer for my studio. For those readers unfamiliar with such things, modern digital studios are based entirely on the computer, which not only handles all of the recording and editing tasks, but which can also (by means of samples and virtual instruments and processors and so forth) generate orchestras on demand… apparently out of thin air!

As the techniques required for such feats become more complex and sophisticated over time, so the processing power required to effect them increases. At the same time, any computer that has been in use solidly for a considerable period (more than a decade in the case of my studio machine) tends to become increasingly prone to failure – the which could result in the loss of precious and irreplaceable creations.

The long and the short of all this is that the time has finally come for me to replace my studio computer.

No big deal – you might think – but there are serious implications in so doing. My machine is used primarily for the creation of music – but also for my online teaching at the College. As indicated in my last posting Anam Danu is currently in the process of finalising a new album. The fall term – one of the two in which I teach – starts at the beginning of September. There is a relatively brief window in which to get everything working correctly.

Replacing a computer is not – in this case – a simple matter of buying a new device, plugging it in and firing it up. My musical pursuits require the use of a considerable number of musical applications, virtual instruments, sample libraries, software appliances and suchlike. All of these need to be installed on the new machine and all of the musical and other data that now virtually fill my old machine must be transferred to the new beast.

These are definitely non-trivial tasks and there are many potential pitfalls along the way which might cause important functions not to work correctly. These must all be patiently trouble-shot until everything is as it was before – but considerably faster and with storage capacity for much new creation over the coming decades.

You might get a sense from this brief discourse as to why I have repeatedly put off effecting this transfer over the past couple of years. I have – however – now reached the point of no return and all must be completed and tested in the shortest of orders if disaster is not to ensue.

Fingers firmly crossed!

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