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Life in BC

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Experiencing this level of snowfall in Victoria is pretty unusual. CTV News reports thus:

“After another 23 centimetres fell on B.C.’s capital Monday in a coastal snowstorm, Environment Canada confirmed the region has seen more snow this month than any February since records began in 1941.”

Even on our little plot I can attest that the snow levels are up to the top of one’s Hunter wellies (and sometimes beyond) – in places drifting several feet and more deep!

Now, inhabitants of other parts of Canada – some of them not very far away – have a jolly good laugh at Victoria’s expense when it comes to the City’s inability to process even mild amounts of snowfall. Boy, are they chuckling now! We would naturally point out that we have plenty of other things on which to waste our tax dollars rather than investing in expensive snow-clearing machinery that would sit idle in its garage four years out of every five.

No matter.

These photos show how the snow built up over the last few days:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid
I am trying to keep up a constant supply of unfrozen nectar for these little fellers:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe good ship ‘Dignity‘ handles well in most weathers, but this goes well beyond her design capabilities:

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

 

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Turns out that – following my last post on the subject of Arctic Outflows – there is much more to say on the subject of the weather. The ‘event‘ (meaning as far as I can tell ‘stuff out of the ordinary‘) referred to in that post is still ongoing, but here is the tale thus far.

On Friday we had our first dusting of snow – merely a taster as it turned out – and the first day of high winds. The forecast for the weekend promised more serious snow to come and The Girl advised me (to no resistance at all on my part) that I should try to get the snow tyres fitted to the Lexus. This I duly did and it turned out to be a really smart move.

On the Saturday our power was out for a couple of hours in the morning but we were – as so often – amongst the lucky ones; others lost power for more than twenty four hours!

Come Sunday afternoon the serious snow set in and everything started to disappear under a proper blanket of white. Another snow storm swept across Greater Victoria on Monday and a third this morning (Tuesday). The forecast looks more promising for the second part of the week, but there is a lot of snow on the ground (and on everything else) which I can’t see disappearing any time soon.

So – here are a whole bunch of snow pictures. We don’t get that much of it here so it is a source of serious fascination.

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

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Back in the good old UK understanding the weather used to be straightforward… or at least so it seemed when ‘I were a nipper’. It rained (a lot) or the sun shone (no – honestly, it did!). The most technically complex weather situation with which one might be faced was an Occluded Front – and no-one bar the swotty people even pretended to know what one of those was.

But here I am – new continent – new weather! And at this time of life too…

So – over ‘t’other side’ of the nation there was recently a lot of snowy unpleasantness caused by a Polar Vortex. When that (whatever it might be) trundled away to the west (towards us, in other words) we were apparently to be subjected to an Arctic Outflow. I guess we do things differently on this coast.

Anyway – it turns out that this meant a whole shed-load of snow, followed by a couple of days of violent winds from the north. Hmmm! Nasty!

This is what it looked like:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid
The good ship ‘Dignity‘ was happy to be safely tucked away down the side of our house…

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid…and with the forecast for the next week or so suggesting more of the same it seemed to be a good idea to get the winter tyres re-installed on the Lexus.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidApparently they like a bit of an outing once a year!

 

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Photo by Andy Dawson Reid…I suppose!

Given that much of the north American continent has been suffering the ‘Polar Vortex‘ (not totally sure what that is exactly but Winnipeg is shown as being -21°C today, which can’t be good!) and that the BBC is forecasting “VERY heavy snow” across Europe and “Freezing conditions and chance of snow expected in Valentine’s Day chill” for the UK – we really can’t complain here on the island that the temperature has plummeted and that we have had a sprinkling of snow…

Mind you – in Siberia it is well below -40°C – but I guess they are used to it!

No – for us it is but a mild inconvenience. Since our renovation last year – new windows all round and an attic rammed with newly blown insulation (not to mention our fabby new high-efficiency gas furnace and our gas log fire) – we are snug as bugs in the proverbial rug.

The ones I feel sorry for are the hummingbirds – and that is because when I looked outside the other morning I discovered that the nectar in our hummingbird feeders had frozen! There was a tiny little bird sitting near one of the feeders looking mournful – and tired! (Gentle readers will naturally be glad to hear that I did the necessary and thawed out and replenished the feeders).

Now – according to the Rocky Point Bird Observatory here in Victoria:

“We have two species of hummingbirds that frequent Vancouver Island, the Anna’s Hummingbird and the Rufous Hummingbird. I suspect you have the Anna’s Hummingbirds as the Rufous typically migrate in August. The Anna’s Hummingbirds spend the winter in Victoria (thanks in large part to people putting out feeders for them).”

Naturally my logical mind wants to ask – if putting out feeders for the birds persuades the Anna’s to stay – what makes the Rufous Hummingbirds head south? Are they just smarter? Is this just one of those odd quirks that reveals evolution to be even more complicated that we ever imagined it to be?

Sorry – I don’t know the answer to that one…

…but I gather that this coming weekend we will see some real snow!

Brrrrr!

 

 

 

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Whisky Galore

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe Girl and I attended – jointly or severally – two whisky-based events of late that proved to be just the ticket for whiling away the long January nights as we wait for the first signs of spring to appear. And what an excellent way to pass the time!

The first of these was a whisky tasting – one of the events that comprise the Victoria Whisky Festival. I had acquired a wodge of tickets for this evening at an Intrepid Theatre charity event last November, as a result of trying to drive up the bidding (wearing my board of directors hat) and getting caught unexpected with the lot when the music stopped. Not that I was complaining…

As it happened I got caught out this way on several other items, but all of them have (or will) come in most useful. A gift voucher for Orr’s Family Butcher provided us with our Christmas prime rib and a similar token for Fig Deli furnished goodies for our holiday entertaining. I still have some vouchers for Flying Fish Winery (where we make our ‘own’ wine) and I need to head over soon to place an order so that our wine rack continues to overflow.

The whisky festival runs over four nights at the Hotel Grand Pacific by the Inner Harbour and this was the fourteenth incarnation thereof. The tasting that we attended was led by the knowledgeable Mike Brisebois of Distell Malts, which outfit owns the Bunnahabhain, Deanston and Tobermory Distilleries. Seven whiskies were tasted from the range offered by those three concerns – and very good they were too.

Deanston I did not know. It is a lowland distillery, not too far from Stirling. It was established in the mid-sixties in a disused old cotton mill on the banks of the river Teith, and has built a reputation since then. The Tobermory Distillery, the only such on the island of Mull, dates back much further – to 1798 – and is one of the oldest in Scotland. Bunnahabhain is a much loved distillery on Islay that – unlike most of the other distillers on the island – does not foreground the peaty tones for which Islay is known.

We were most impressed by the almost sweet tones of the Palo Cortado cask finished Special Edition, but pretty much everybody present agreed that the Bunnahabhain 18 Year was the whisky of the evening. Now – if only I could afford a bottle!

The second event of the month was the wild celebratory night that we spent this Saturday just passed at the Caledonian Distillery and Twa Dogs Brewery, where we enjoyed a fabulous five course Scottish menu (including, naturally, haggis, neaps and tatties) by Truffles Catering, who are locally based in Brentwood Bay. To accompany this feast we tasted a further five of the Caledonian’s whiskies, particularly enjoying their guest whisky – a blend of Blair Atholl and McDuff single malts. The evening was admirably hosted by the Caledonian’s resident hairy Scot and much reciting of the Great Man’s poetry and accompanying merriment were the order of the day (or night!).

Never let it be said that the Scots do not know how to celebrate!

 

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Give us a sign

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThere are major differences in house construction between Canada and the UK. When it comes to individual dwellings it is true that there is now a fair bit of wood framed construction in the old country, but here is BC there is virtually nothing else – certainly if the construction were done in recent times.

Such differences extend also to the estate itself. In Canada they do not go in for boundary fences… walls… hedges… dividers of any sort. The norm is that the open space between houses is just that – open. We have a lawn between us and our nearest neighbours with the actual boundary running somewhere down the middle of it. When either of us cuts the grass we make a ‘mood’ judgement as to how far to go. If we are feeling generous we take in an extra couple of metres to save our neighbours having to do it. If, on the other hand, we are feeling surly… or lazy… we don’t.

In many cases there is little or no division between individual properties and the public road either. As it happens we have a screen of shrubs, bushes and trees in front of our domicile, but many do not. They are simply open to the public in a way that would make many Brits feel somewhat uncomfortable (I am trying very hard not to slip into Brexit metaphors here – but it is not easy!).

One side-effect of this lack of dividing infrastructure is that there is often nothing at the front of the property to which to affix a sign bearing the house number or name. Our property has its number displayed on the front of the building itself, but as the house is set back somewhat it is not very easy to see from the road.

I seem to recall that in many parts of England there is a fairly relaxed attitude as to whether or not house numbers are prominently displayed. Here in BC it is considered important for emergency reasons that each property has a sign that is clearly visible from the public road. These are known as 911 Address Signs and they usually take the form of a vertical reflective sign at the very edge of the roadside. Given the relative speed with which wooden framed house can be destroyed by fire it makes good sense that the emergency services be given every opportunity to locate a property as quickly as possible.

For reasons unknown we did not inherit such a sign but with the advent of The Girl’s new venture looming it seemed important to make our residence more visible to the world.

Given that these things are everywhere I assumed that they would be easy to source. They are not – and I guess that the fact that most properties already have them means that there is little demand for new ones. Some Fire-Halls offer programs through which they may be obtained but ours did not obviously do so.

I eventually found a source online through one of Amazon’s third party suppliers. I duly placed an order and sat back to await the manufacturer making contact to check the details.

I received instead an email telling me that the product had been shipped!

Huh?!

I replied to the email, enquiring as to how they had managed ship my order without first asking me what house number the sign was for.

“Oh!”, came the reply. “There was an option on the order form if you wanted to customise the sign”.

I pointed out that I did not consider having the right number on my sign to exactly be ‘customisation’, that the option on the form was not at all obvious and asked who in their right mind would order an address sign with some random number on it anyway?

They seemed to take my point and agreed to refund the purchase price.

“What should I do with the random sign?”, I enquired. They told me that I could keep it.

Fortunately I discovered that – with a little careful effort – the numbers could be scraped off without causing damage and that Staples could supply suitable replacements – this time with the correct digits. A Home Depot mailbox post, some brass brackets and screws, a little white paint and a club hammer later we had a new 911 sign.

Now – ain’t that pretty?!

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…with apologies to those gentle readers who don’t have the good fortune to live in Victoria BC (or are currently holidaying in Mexico!)…

Click the images for the big picture!

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

It’s the second week of January. Must be time to take the boat for a spin!

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

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“Not many those mornings trod the piling streets: an old man always, fawn-bowlered, yellow-gloved and, at this time of year, with spats of snow, would take his constitutional to the white bowling green and back, as he would take it wet or fine on Christmas day or Doomsday.”

Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas in Wales

Our Christmas Day constitutional was to Island View Beach. There was no snow and the sun broke through in a most pleasant manner…

Very lovely!

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

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Blow winds…

“…and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!”

‘King Lear’ – William Shakespeare

The first serious storm of the season ripped its way across the southern end of Vancouver Island yesterday afternoon – tearing dead wood and fresh young fronds alike from the trees, decimating the power grid and scattering bins and other appurtenances to the four corners of the earth…

It certainly seemed that way!

We lost a number of large branches from the trees that border our garden and our power was out for a little over five hours – fortunately being restored at around 5 pm just as it got dark (which it does here later than in the south of England at this time of year).

We were lucky that we got off lightly. The BC Hydro (our power provider) website shows that – 24 hours later – the southern end of the island is still subject to 256 outages affecting 33,777 customers. Our friends in Saanichton did not get their power back until midnight – by which time they were already fast asleep!

Reports suggest that the storm was quite the worst seen in the area for some seven to eight years. Tragically, one person was killed by a falling tree. BC Ferries cancelled 130 sailings on 14 routes and the ferry dock on Penelakut Island was severely damaged. On the mainland a man had to be rescued by helicopter after becoming stranded when the wooden pier at White Rock was broken in two by boats that had been torn from their moorings.

It is the norm in this neck of the woods for the winter storms to start – and indeed to be at their most severe – during November. That did not happen this year (November being particularly mild) which may well be yet another sign of the world’s weather systems being seriously out of kilter.

Bizarrely, however much damage did result the winds proved insufficient to blow away some of the less attractive inflatable Christmas decorations which ‘grace’ front gardens in this part of the peninsula!

Make of that what you will…

 

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There are those – particularly across the pond – who think that if it is winter – and if it is Canada – then it must be snowing!

To be fair, some Canadians (though somewhat less on the West Coast) do little to disabuse outsiders of such views.

Here on the island the closing months of the year are far more likely to look like…  well – like this:

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

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