The Imperceptible Immigrant · Flotsam and Jetsam

Anam Danu update

July 29, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

I normally restrain myself from posting too much to this forum on the subject of my musical endeavours with Anam Danu – out of deference for those who have no interest in such matters. However, there has already been much activity this year and it felt to me that an update was probably a little overdue.

I posted this item to the news feed on our website at anamdanu.com:

The recent lack of activity on this news feed should not be interpreted as a sign that nothing is happening. Anam Danu have been busy behind the scenes; with results that are already becoming apparent.

A quick glance around will reveal that the website itself has undergone a considerable face-lift. We like to think that it is now fresher, cleaner and somewhat easier to navigate. Do let us know what you think.

You will also observe that we three have recently done something that we had studiously avoided doing for the past four years – to wit: participating in a photo shoot. Such things do not come naturally to any of us, but we hope that you find the results helpful in gaining a clearer picture of who we are.

In our last news update – which revealed the arrival of our new member, vocalist Adrienne Dyer – we also announced that work was well underway on our fourth album, with an intended release date later in 2024.

Well – we are still on target for that release, having written and recorded ten tracks for the album. We are currently mixing and sequencing them, following which they will be sent for mastering. Cover artwork has been commissioned and the pace is picking up.

If you would like to be notified when the new album becomes available – which for subscribers will be in advance of the general release date – subscribe to the Anam Danu newsletter by using the link below.

Tags: Anam Danu, Music, News

Welcome guests

July 14, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A week or so back we had house guests – in the shape of one of The Girl’s cousins and a friend who had come to Victoria to walk the challenging West Coast Trail. We (The Girl!) picked them up from the airport on the first Saturday and dropped them at an ungodly hour on the Sunday morning (me!) at the Victoria Central Bus Station. The following weekend we met them from the bus on the Friday and spent the weekend with them before their return to Toronto.

Amongst other delights we enjoyed a splendid lunch at the Church and State vineyard, as a reward for the morning’s sun-drenched exploration of Butchart Gardens. Whereas I have certainly posted images from Butchart’s on a number of occasions it is my opinion that one can never have too many photos of natural beauty.

Enjoy!

Tags: Butcharts, food and drink, Friends, Photo, Visitors

Auld reekie

April 28, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

Well – we made it to Scotland in one piece – although the journey was not entirely trouble free. A three hour delay to our flight from Vancouver to London meant we had to catch a later flight to Edinburgh, which meant that we reached our apartment there at about 11:00pm, after 24 hours of travel.

The Girl had found us a splendid National Trust apartment right on the Royal Mile in the old town:

The only downside was that the apartment is on the fifth floor and we had to get our heavy suitcases up this staircase:

It is a good thing that I work out!

We spent a splendid couple of days in Edinburgh before heading for the Highlands. Here are some images:

Tags: Edinburgh, Holiday, Photo, Scotland, Travel

Getting better

April 23, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“I’ve got to admit, it’s getting better,
A little better all the time”

John Lennon/Paul McCartney

Some years seem to bestow upon us an abundance of joy and positivity (in the personal realm if not on the national/international stage) whereas others seem fated to to serve up a seemingly endless procession of set-backs and knock-downs. 2024 has seen a bumpy start for The Girl and I, beset with such unexpected events as the exploding shower screen – the dying Mobiliser – and a variety of other unexpected expenses.

These things are, however, transitory and my optimistic nature leads me to look for signs that our fortune is once again improving. Take the glass shower screen – for example…

It had been a while since I posted to this forum the tale of its unexpected demise. The manufacturer of the screen sent us a replacement under warranty in a gratifyingly rapid time (suggesting thereby that this was not exactly an unheard of problem for them). We had by that point also received recommendations from various sources for contractors who could repair the bath tub (damaged by the falling glass) and install the replacement screen. That nothing beyond the delivery of the new screen had yet happened was because the bath-tub-fixing guys had not got back to us; presumably because business was booming and they were being kept busy. Clearly we could not do anything else until the tub was repaired.

I finally received a call from them and we fixed a date for their technical chap to have a look at the tub.

At least – that’s what I expected was going to happen. As it turned out he took a quick look and then retired to his vehicle, returning in short order loaded with equipment. He was clearly expecting to do the job there and then! I pointed out that we had not even discussed the cost of so doing. “No problem” – he explained – “It’s all under warranty“. He further informed me that they were handling all of the paperwork and that I need do not a thing. When I made reference to being able to get the replacement screen installed he told me that they would be taking care of that also! Now, that’s what I call service!

So – we now get to go on our holiday! On our return we will be carrying from the UK a replacement Mobiliser. Yes – we bit the bullet and bought a new one. Well – we are getting old and that thing is a daily godsend for The Girl…

We firmly expect to have a splendid expedition, about which I will doubtless have much to write and many photos to upload.

Tags: blessings, Holiday, Luck, Mobiliser, Shower screen, Travel

Let there be light – 2

March 18, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

A few more images from the City of Glass!

All of these photos – as well as the images in the previous post – were taken from the window of our hotel room in Coal Harbour.

Cool – huh?!

Tags: Photo, Vancouver, work

Let there be light – 1

March 15, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

To Vancouver last weekend for a work event…

That is one of The Girl’s work events, of course. I only work from home these days – and more power to that – but The Girl’s new venture is sending her darting about hither and thither just at the moment and on this occasion I went along for the ride.

We were kept pretty busy eventing (which all went pretty well, as far as I was able to ascertain) but we still had time to dine out in a manner to which we are no longer as accustomed as once we were (probably a good thing!)

We didn’t get to do much more than that in Vancouver (unless you count a fairly brief visit to IKEA on the way back) but given that the weather was pretty terrible (blowing half a gale in the Georgia Strait) that was a good call.

When the cloud cover blew away late in the day I thought I would take some photos from our room of the early evening light playing on downtown Vancouver’s signature glass edifices. Herewith some examples:

Tags: Photo, Vancouver, Weather, work

Open to improvement

February 27, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

The home is a human institution. All human institutions are open to improvement.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

As we wait for spring to arrive (today the sun shone – then it hailed, whilst the sun still shone – then it clouded over and big fluffy snowflakes started falling. We are now left with what is, I am assured, termed a ‘dusting’!) our thoughts inevitably turn to matters inside the home.

The Girl and I are very fond of our dark-wood furniture – a fair amount of which followed us here from the UK. One ensemble that did not was our rather fine twin pedestal dining room table and matching chairs – the which we acquired here in Victoria from some folks who no longer had room for it. For a reproduction suite it was and is really pretty splendid, with the exception of the rather tasteless fabric with which the chairs had been re-covered. Having lived with this for a couple of years we decided that it was high time to get things upgraded.

As is often the way here in Canada we rapidly established that the perfectionist friend of ours – who did all the difficult painting when we renovated our main floor some years back – was also a wiz at re-upholstering chairs and benches. Cool! She has just completed the task – perfectly as ever – and we thank her most gratefully.

Whilst we were at it we thought we would buy a couple of nice stools for the peninsula between our kitchen and dining room – and a dark-wood plant stand for our over exuberant spider plant.

Anyhow – I thought you might like to see a few photos…

Tags: Friends, Home, House, Photo, Renovation

Closure

February 19, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday”

Steve Maraboli

My last post to this journal ended with this sentence:

“Anyway – I feel that it will not be long until the news here, at least, takes a turn for the better“.

The very next day…

Quite enough has been written in these postings over the last ten months concerning our abortive attempt at a trip of a lifetime, featuring an all bells and whistles safari to Botswana. If you somehow missed the saga of how British Airways wrote off our epic adventure (along with a considerable chunk of our savings) then simply use the search feature on the home page. A search for “British Airways” or any one of a number of expletives should return the information that you seek.

Back in December – shortly before Christmas – this post brought regular readers up to date with the current status of our long (out)standing insurance claims – by means of which we hoped to recover at least some of our outlay. At that point (back in November) the girl had received a partial payment from our main insurers but I had heard nothing. The post ended thus:

“We must, of course, needs be patient yet and wait and see what happens…”

So – back to where we started:

The very next day…

…I received in the post a cheque from our insurers. It was for the full amount of the claim (actually by a small but discernible margin rather more than I was expecting).

Hoo-bloomin’-rah!

Delighted as she was for me, The Girl was understandably put out that she had been left out of this little bonanza.

However – the very next day (again!)…

…another missive arrived from the insurers, this time including a cheque for the residue of her claim.

Hoo-bloomin’-rah-some-more!

Where does this leave us? Well – all the claims that could be met and all the payments that the various parties could not avoid making – are in. We have, between the two of us, recovered something in excess of $24,000 (CAD). That might seem impressive had we not laid out just slightly less than $40,000 (CAD) on the trip and the recovery operation as a whole.

Well – we did get a (hugely expensive) week in the UK, though much of that time was spent either on the phone to British Airways or being unable to sleep because of a growing sense of panic.

No matter. ‘Tis over and done and we have all the closure we are going to get.

I promise that I will do my damnedest not to mention it again.

Tags: Africa, British Airways, Holiday, incompetence, Money, safari, Travel

The deep roots

February 9, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

The deep roots never doubt spring will come

Marti Rubin

American author Lionel Shriver wrote:

“February is for curmudgeons, whinge-bags, and misanthropes. You can’t begrudge us one month of the year or blame us for being even crabbier, it’s so short. There is nothing good about it, which is why it’s so great”.

Ah – ha! Not so short this year… this being a leap year!

That aside it is not altogether difficult to agree with Ms Schriver. By the time one has finished exhaustively cataloging all the reasons why February in so darn cheerless (Six Nations Rugby aside) it is almost over.

Hmmm!

However, what we all know – of course – is that under the forbiddingly dark, dank, semi-frozen soil, all of the tender young shoots are working out – gathering their strength ready to burst forth just as soon as spring gets the go-ahead. It may not look as though too much is happening right now – but it is all just waiting for the call to arms.

Now – as it happens this is not too bad an analogy for how things appear chez The Girl and I. To the casual observer nothing much might seem to be happening – but that would be misleading. We are currently both working (so much for retirement!) from home.

Having spent a considerable amount of time (and money) over the last few post-COVID years, driving into one or other of the College’s Victoria campuses, I find myself this year co-ordinating an online course from the comfort of my studio. I say co-ordinating – rather than teaching – because this course is entirely asynchronous… which means that I prepare course materials, make little videos, post all manner of resources on our learning platform and wait for assignments to roll in for marking. It is a not altogether unpleasant way of going about things, though I do miss the face to face teaching a little. It does seem to be – however – what the students require nowadays.

The Girl is also beavering away in her home office, on the project that cannot yet be named. Her endeavours actually also involve some travel (concerning which I am less keen) – but she does have a sparkle in her eye, which is good to see. Let’s hope that it stays there!

So – for now we just ‘sit back’ and wait. Spring will soon be here!

Tags: Home, Spring, teaching, work

Measured by years

January 8, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

“Age is not measured by years. Nature does not equally distribute energy. Some people are born old and tired while others are going strong at seventy”.

Dorothy Thompson

On January 7th 2014 I wrote this post whilst sitting in the departure hall at Vancouver International airport, waiting for a flight back to the UK. The Girl and I had been visiting British Columbia for Christmas and the New Year – as well as for a trip up island to Tofino… more specifically to the Wickaninnish Inn. The chief purpose for our trip there was to celebrate my sixtieth birthday – that somewhat scary turning of a decade which is a precursor to impending old age.

Now – it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that – if I turned sixty in 2014 – I must now have finally reached the ripe old age of seventy…

…which is indeed the case.

Our 2014 trip to Tofino was all the more epic because we were still living in the UK at the time. This time round we were not only resident in the country in which we celebrated, but also just down the road from our chosen destination – that favourite of ours, the Brentwood Lodge Spa. Because The Girl was in charge of the details the event turned out to be a slick piece of organisation – and a lot of fun and relaxation to boot.

We trundled over to the spa on Friday for sumptuous ninety minute massages (hmmm! dreamy!) – but came home thereafter to sleep in our own bed. We re-traced our footsteps on the Saturday and checked in for the night to one of what really are very gorgeous West Coast rooms – overlooking Brentwood Bay and the Mill Bay ferry dock.

There was time for lounging in the pool (outdoors, but startlingly warm) and the hot tub before we dolled ourselves up for dinner. We hugely enjoyed a splendid coastal repast with Tuna Tataki, Scallops and mushroom risotto to the fore – supported ably by a delicious bottle of BC Fool’s Mate Chardonnay from Checkmate Artisinal Winery.

Yum!

As for the birthday – job done!

Here are some piccies…