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Life in BC

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Suddenly it’s summer

June 19, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

After a considerable period during which the summer attempted in only a somewhat lacklustre fashion to get properly started… now, suddenly, here it is! Temperatures kicked up by six or seven degrees Celsius almost overnight and the sun is now truly hot.

Nice!

We entertained friends on Saturday evening last and it was the first occasion this year on which we were able comfortably to sit out late on our now year-old deck. Indeed, ’twas so balmy that we stayed out ’til midnight or thereabouts, clad only in t-shirts, shorts and summer dresses (as appropriate to our genders and inclinations!). A splendid evening was had by all even if we were too busy chewing the fat to venture onto the freshly mowed croquet lawn. Oh well – plenty more opportunities now that summer is truly here.

On the Sunday – and only a little worse for wear – I was on Intrepid Theatre board duty. As part of its outreach program the company mans a feature at a number of Victoria public events. On this occasion it was ‘Car Free Day’, for which one of the city’s main thoroughfares – Douglas Street – is closed to vehicular traffic and given over to all manner of stalls and amusements. Next month it will be ‘Pride’ and then in August ‘Fringe Kids’ as part of the Victoria Fringe Festival.

For these events the company creates a 65 sq metre ‘Cardboard Castle’ for youngsters to paint. Those eager to express themselves are given an oversized t-shirt to cover their own clothes, a small container of poster paint in a colour of their choice and a brush, before being set loose inside the castle to cover its walls in any manner that they choose.

They may, of course, return at any point to top up with further colours and some spend a considerable amount of time creating their own masterpieces… either that or just painting each other! Either seems to work and the attraction is hugely popular, not least with parents who can come to rest for a while knowing that their offspring are safely pre-occupied within.

Golly… we are nearly at the solstice already! Now, how did that happen?

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Swiftsure

June 5, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

“For years, sailing bound us. We were racers, builders and cruisers. It was our family business, our sport, our drug of choice. Yet eventually, sailing blew us apart, too.”

Jim Lynch – ‘Before the Wind’

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidShould you have any interest in sailing – or in this particular (pacific northwest) neck of the woods – then I heartily recommend Jim Lynch’s novel – “Before the Wind”. Indeed, if you have not yet encountered Mr Lynch’s oeuvre I encourage you to take a look. I don’t read anywhere near as much fiction as I would like (my fault – too much fascinating non-fiction to cover) but I really admire what he does and how he does it. The characters, the situations… just speak to me somehow.

Anyway – the centre-piece of “Before the wind” is set at the annual Swiftsure International Yacht Race – the seventy-fifth running of which took place here in Victoria a couple of weekends back. The Swiftsure is actually no less than six different races run contemporaneously. The staggered starts are on Saturday mid-morning at Clover Point in Victoria, with the courses then following a variety of different circular tracks westwards through the Strait of Juan de Fuca before returning to Victoria. The biggest and fastest boats complete the course by early evening the same day; this year the slowest yacht finished sometime after 4:00 am on the Monday morning!

The image above gives an idea of the rolling starts. Close inspection should reveal HMCS Nanaimo in the midst of the flurry of yachts, with the tell-tale puff of smoke from the blank round just fired to start one of the sections. (As ever, double-clicking on the image will give you a better idea).

Now – I love the sea (what – you hadn’t noticed?!) and I have greatly enjoyed what sailing I have done – but… I would be the first to admit that this just isn’t a spectator sport. Whereas at the serious end of the Americas Cup only two (massive!) yachts are involved (whilst at Cowes there are other distractions altogether) with a complex ocean race like this is is well nigh impossible to tell at any moment what is going on. For those who really must know the race organisers helpfully provide a splendid race-tracker on their website, but that’s not really spectating – is it? It is impossible not to to be reminded of this splendid spoof Irish commentary from the 2012 Olympics.

Whilst on the subject of sailing – this rather lovely schooner was maneuvering out in our bay on the same weekend as the race:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidWhat a splendid sight!

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Tax brakes! (sic)

May 2, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

Image from PixabayI am one of that supposedly rare breed of souls (in all probability actually considerably less rare than urban myth would have us believe) that is happy to pay my taxes. Well – ‘happy’ might be going a bit far, but let us agree at least on ‘content’…

This does not – of course – imply that I am at all content with some of things upon which my tax dollars are spent, but that is a matter between me and my government (or would be, if I had one. As I am not eligible to vote here until such time as I can apply for and am accepted as a citizen it could be argued that I don’t actually have a government, though that does not stop them being eager to get their hands on my ill-gotten gains).

Should the gentle reader care to cast an eye back over the proceedings on this site he or she will discover a fair number of entries dealing with matters of taxation. Transferring one’s financial affairs from one continent to another is no trivial matter though, naturally, one in which revenue offices everywhere take a particularly keen interest. It is of no great import now – of course – all such issues having been settled. These days my tax affairs are simplicity itself –  not least because The Girl and I employ an extremely efficient tax accountant (an old friend of hers) to process everything for us. Worth every cent, too!

The Canadian tax year runs from January to the end of December each year. Tax returns must be completed and outstanding monies paid by the end of April. Up to the end of the last tax year my income consisted solely of the three pensions paid to me in the UK, the which I transfer monthly to Canada at whatever favourable rate I have been able to negotiate. I simply submit the transfer slips for the year and on that basis my taxes are calculated.

Now – this should all be sufficiently straightforward that there be no surprises. We pay both Federal and Provincial taxes but the formulae for each are widely published and there are plenty of online tax calculators on the InterWebNet which can be used to predict how much should be put aside to cover the resultant bill.

I must admit to being slightly disconcerted by the fact that the three or four calculators that I tried this year all gave different results for the same initial data – but as they were all roughly within spitting distance of each other I resolved simply to save conservatively and to keep my fingers crossed.

The paperwork was submitted as usual and on the very last day possible – April 30th – I visited our tax accountant to pick up the account and pay the bill. I was in for a most pleasant surprise. The reckoning was several thousand dollars less than any of the estimates had indicated.

I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and I am certainly not complaining at this unexpected good fortune. I think I can also live with any feelings of guilt by which I might be assailed. I am – however – somewhat concerned that I clearly still don’t fully understand how tax arrangements here work.

Hmmm! More study required…

 

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A theory of relativity

April 26, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

As the drear dark days of winter finally pack their bags and grumble off to the southern hemisphere to bother somebody else, nature rubs its sleepy eyes, yawns and sticks its head outside for a quick recce. To its surprise and great delight there is no-one home! The adults are apparently all away and that mischievous little imp has the garden (yard) all to itself.

The results are pretty much in line with the description that the excellent Glaswegian comedian – Kevin Bridges – ascribes to the teenage gangs from his boyhood whenever one of their number discovered that he was the fortunate possessor of an ’empty’* for the weekend!

Mayhem ensues!

 

By the time the rain has drifted away, the temperature risen to an acceptable level and I get around to dragging my sorry behind out into the garden – it looks as though the rain-forest has dropped by and decided to stay for the duration. There follows a month (and more) of hard labour!

 

Now – this is where ‘relativity’ comes in.

I am – you must understand – not talking about Einstein here – nor Galileo nor Newton. I am referencing neither the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis nor meta-ethical morality (which turns out to be a good thing as my knowledge of either is limited to the world of Wikipedia!).

I refer to the fact that what appears during the height of the summer (I don’t venture out there at all in winter!) to be a perfectly sensibly-sized plot – just about large enough that the neighbours on either side don’t intrude in any way – metamorphoses in the inchoate springtime into a vast overgrown estate full of fiendish flora resembling nothing so much as Wyndham’s Triffids.

A whole bunch of seemingly endless hard work – in other words.

Worth it though, of course. Best get back to it…

* Parents away – house to themselves – party!!

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Like Topsy

April 23, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

Not much later this time last year I was (ab)using the pages of this ‘journal’ to elicit assistance with the wildness that flourishes but a few yards outside my window. In that instance I was trying to establish which of the abundant flora in my garden (yard) were plants that I should be encouraging (not, of course, that that would make any difference either way!) and which were weeds and other undesirables.

The answer was – naturally – that all the things that were doing particularly well were the weeds!

Anyway – here I am again – begging free gardening advice from those amongst you who are horticulturally inclined (or perhaps make a living from said pursuit).

This – I take to be a Yukka of some variety:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidAs you can see it is doing its damnedest to push everything else out of the bed in which it resides.

The question is – how on earth does one prune such a beast?

Answers on a postcard please (as the saying goes)…

Ithankyou!

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The spring is sprung…

April 8, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid…the grass is riz.
I wonder where dem boidies is.
They say the boid is on the wing.
But that’s absoid.
The wing is on the boid!

Anon (as far as anyone knows!)

Three signs that spring is actually already here – however much the weather might be doing its very best to suggest otherwise.

 

First – the hummingbirds are back at the feeders again. The Kickass Canada Girl calls them ‘the diabetics‘ and observing just how much sugar nectar these tiny creatures tuck away I concede that she has a good point. Anyway – great to see them back again.

We did not have Christmas lights along the front of our house this year, since the upstairs was still in the hands of our contractors when the festive season rolled around. As a result there was no question of the lights being left up late – and thus no possibility of the hummingbirds using the strand again for their nesting ground as they did last year. Apparently hummingbirds like to stay pretty close to previous nest sites so we will see what they do this year.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidSecondly – the dogwood tree is in bloom. The Girl has apparently long hankered for a dogwood tree and we now have one. This makes her happy – and that makes me happy.

I read that dogwoods often suffer badly from lawnmower and trimmer cuts if they happen to be adjacent to lawns. If the bark is damaged at a low level the trees can become prone to infestation. Ours is a big tree as set so far back from the grass that it is actually in next door’s yard, so it is not in any such danger. If anything the reverse is the case. When the flowers drop on the lawn they do so in the form of hard husks which very rapidly take the edge off one’s mower blades!

Final sign of spring? The return of the Anacortes ferry! During the winter months of January, February and March the little green and white car ferry – a familiar presence during the rest of the year and regular viewing from our windows and deck – voyages no further than the San Juan Islands, eschewing the last leg of the trip into Sidney. There is always a little quiet celebration in downtown Sidney when it is back on its usual route.

Good to see that spring is here again. Now let’s have some sunshine!

 

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Wet coast

April 6, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidOne of the joys of living on the west coast of Canada – with its moderate oceanic climate and in what the World Wide Fund for Nature defines as the Pacific temperate rain forest ecoregion – is that we inhabit a verdant paradise of lush and abundant vegetation.

One of the drawbacks of living on the wet coast of Canada – with its moderate oceanic climate and in what the World Wide Fund for Nature defines as the Pacific temperate rain forest ecoregion – is that we inhabit a verdant paradise of lush and abundant vegetation!

Though the summers here on the tip of Vancouver Island tend to be dry and delightfully temperate, the winters incline to the aqueous. As I write this post I can gaze out of my studio window at a landscape that is undeniably ‘socked in’. I believe that the landscape is still there – but I cannot actually see any of it.

The result of all of this humectation is – naturally (see what I did there?) – that during the late winter and early spring all of that lush vegetation grows and grows and grows –  as though there were no tomorrow! It grows upwards – it grows outwards – and it presumably grows downwards as well!

Nature reveals itself to be the epitome of the doctrine of the survival of the fittest, with each species striving voraciously to overrun its neighbour in the ongoing quest for sunlight, water and nutrients. Left to its own devices the wonderful variety of plants in our delightful garden (yard!) would doubtless whittle itself down to just a couple of bigger, stronger brutes as all the weedy (there I go again!) specimens are trampled underfoot (I think I just stretched that particular metaphor a little too thin!).

The bottom boundary of our compact but decidedly highly-desirable estate is bounded with splendid trees and dense foliage. This latter is mostly – as far as I am aware – laurel of one type or another. Now, apparently the Schipka Cherry Laurel – which appears to form the bulk of this hedge – has the following qualities:

  • Hardy to minus 10 degrees
  • Fresh, glossy evergreen foliage attractive all year round
  • Easily grown even in difficult urban conditions
  • Can be clipped into hedges and screens
  • Drought and deer resistant

It also grows around 2 ft a year up to a height of 18 ft! As this boundary growth had not been pruned back for at least two and a half years – and most likely rather longer than that – it was in serious danger of taking over the smaller shrubs in the bed in front of it, not to mention cutting off our view of the sea whilst simultaneously advancing on my croquet lawn!

Fortunately it can also be pruned really hard. Apparently it simply shakes itself off and starts growing again.

I do now have a huge pile of clippings to be disposed of. Any takers?

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(Melo)dramatic melange

March 28, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid This is, clearly (in theatrical terms at least) a busy time of the year at the southern end of Vancouver Island. The emergent springtime has germinated the fresh green shoots of a new festival season which will now run (with – admittedly – occasional pauses for us all to catch our breath) right through to the end of the summer…

…and if it is Spring Break (which it is!) then it must be time for the Spark Festival at the Belfry.

This year The Girl and I attended what can only really be described as a vocal workshop (though that doesn’t even remotely get close) which went under the title “Why We Are Here” and was led by Toronto-based company ‘Nightswimming‘. This peripatetic parade of improvised chanting and movement was not to everyone’s taste, but I quite liked the atmosphere elicited by this fair sized group of assorted souls on finding themselves in a darkened workshop backstage at the Belfry, propagating a constantly evolving and distinctly dreamlike tapestry of minimalist harmonic sequences.

Considerably more down to earth (not to mention being on a different planet in terms of quality) was Daniel MacIvor’s “Who Killed Spalding Gray?“. Daniel’s disquisition on the subject of the American monologist, who killed himself in 2004 by jumping from the Staten Island ferry in New York, was thoughtful and touching by turns and is certainly a work of a very high order. Daniel was also in town last May to deliver the keynote address at the launch of Intrepid Theatre’s ‘Uno Fest‘ and I was lucky enough (wearing my Board of Directors’ hat) to have had the opportunity to drive him back to the airport afterwards. A very interested and talented man…

The Spark Festival closed – as it usually does – with a short performance on Sunday last by the youngsters taking part in the Belfry’s 101 program. Wearing a different hat (quite a lot of millinery going on here) as an educator of young thespists I like to attend such events to steal ideas see what other talented young folk are up to. The group had spent the whole second week of Spring Break putting together this divertissement and clearly had loved working together as a group, which is – when it comes down to it – why we all do this thing in the first place.

Finally last Thursday evening to the Chemainus Theatre (my first visit) for the dress rehearsal of Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux’s jukebox musical “Million Dollar Quartet”, which takes as its subject the legendary session at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records Studio in Memphis on December 4th, 1956 that brought together Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.

For those that have never heard of the charming Cowichan Valley town of Chemainus a little light reading on the InterWebNet might be instructive. A short crossing (on the Mill Bay ferry) and forty minute drive up island from our neck of the woods it is a bit of a trek for a weekday evening, but we were fortunate on this occasion to have been gifted complimentary tickets by an acquaintance of The Girl’s who is a benefactor of the festival theatre there – hence our preview seats.

Now – not unlike some repertory theatres in the UK the cute and hugely successful Chemainus Theatre knows its audience well and goes out of its way to keep them happy. If that meant that this particular production somewhat sanitised some of the wilder characters and outpourings of 50s American rock and roll (not to mention enabling us to get home early enough for a good night’s sleep) then that took nothing away from a most pleasant evening.

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Seventh heaven

March 16, 2018 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

As disclosed in my last post The Girl and I were in Vancouver last weekend for the Canada Rugby Sevens – and a thoroughly good time was had (and not just by us!).

Weekends away inevitably involve the taking of photos and this one was no exception.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidHere is the UFO fleet over Saltspring! No – not really of course… just a shot taken through the ferry window on the way to Vancouver on the Friday evening.

BC Place always looks pretty after dark:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidWhat of the rugby, I hear you cry! Well – it was a great tournament with some excellent rugby, played in a fabulous indoor stadium which engendered a lively party atmosphere throughout. There were some surprising results: Spain beat Samoa 25-0 in the knockout stages, for example. The final was – quite unexpectedly – between Fiji and Kenya. The Fijians won, which was a truly good thing as it appeared that some 25% of those present in the stadium were from the south sea island and their support was fervent throughout.

Most surprising team to watch were the US who put the All Blacks out to make it to the semis, largely on the back of a couple of the fastest sevens players I have ever seen; one of whom – Perry Baker – is an ex pro-(American) football player who retired at 25 because of a knee injury. He is now one of the best sevens players in the world. Extraordinary!

Current  championship leaders, South Africa, could not get past the semis and Australia bowed out in the quarters – as did England. The Scots did not make the knockout stages but made up for it by winning the Challenge Trophy:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidOnce the show had ended on the Sunday evening we headed once again for Tsawwassen – tired but happy – to catch the late ferry. I snapped this sequence from the car:

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

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Island life – part 2*

March 12, 2018 in Life in BC | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidOn the 9:00pm ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay – en route home after a weekend in Vancouver at the Canada Rugby Sevens (of which more later)…

Though clocks have already gone forward in Canada it is yet early in the year and the light has gone completely by the time we and a hoard of other contented rugby fans are ensconced in the cafeteria, snarfing down much needed victuals after a long and rousing day of cheering ourselves hoarse and singing lustily.

We have not even noticed that our moorings have been slipped and that we are heading out across the Georgia Strait when the purser comes the Tannoy:

“Would the owner of a black Chrysler 300, licence plate xxxxx, please return to the car deck. You’ve left your lights on.”

BC Ferries run a tight ship (see what I did there) and do not care to have their schedules imperiled by a car or truck with a dead battery holding up the unloading.

We all snigger a bit at the poor sap who has left his lights on…

Five minutes later the purser is back on the horn:

“Correction to my previous announcement concerning the owner of the black Chrysler 300, licence plate xxxxx. The lights aren’t the problem. The engine’s still running!”

Incredulous guffaws fill the cafeteria. How embarrassing is that?

Five minutes later the purser is on again. In spite of the previous announcements it is clear that forgetting to turn his car engine off is only one of this particular driver’s shortcomings. He is, perhaps, deaf as well – or at least has his head wedged firmly where the sun don’t shine!

Full of sympathy for the poor schmuck we naturally all fall off our chairs laughing…

There are no further announcements. Either the recalcitrant owner has finally engaged his brain and put in a belated appearance or BC Ferries have simply decided that enough is enough, broken into the car and silenced it!

I guess we’ll never know…

 

*Part 1 here, by the way!

 

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