“Let’s sit and pass the time away
And wonder at our fellow man
Down at the Seahorses Cafe
By Abernethy and Gaudin”
Brentwood Bay – September 2015
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Way back in the very earliest days of this blog I posted this missive. The main thrust of the piece (aside from providing me with an opportunity to effect an introduction to ‘Pearl‘, my gorgeous and much missed Mercedes 300SL) was to ruminate upon the Englishman’s love of – almost fetish for – his (or her) open-topped automobile. This I duly did at my usual length.
Much later – of course – the Kickass Canada Girl finally succumbed to the Anglo-Saxon obsession herself and purchased her very own ragtop roadster. She enjoyed the top-down experience so much that she determined – on our arrival upon these shores – to seek in short order another similar vehicle.
Hunting through advertisements from various online sources before we left the UK left us with the very distinct impression that our search in Victoria for a Miata (as most British Columbians still refer to them) might not be a brief one. This did not altogether surprise me, for had I not written in my original post on the subject:
“Which leads me to this observation… My perception, rightly or wrongly, is that – for a state that has a mild climate and considerably more days of sunshine than we do in the UK – British Columbians do not seem particularly keen on open top motoring. Yes, there are enthusiasts, but nowhere near the numbers that we see in England. Pickups are all well and good, but – for me – just do not hold the same appeal.“
Recent readers will be aware that – counter to our expectation – the Girl effected the location and purchase of a good low-mileage MX-5 within a week of our arrival in BC. I put this down in the first instance to our newly rediscovered good fortune, but I have since been driven to revise this opinion. In this glorious Victorian summer (with apologies to those of you in the UK) it has become apparent that convertible usage at this end of Vancouver Island is as high as it is in the south of England. Indeed, the Mazda MX-5 is to be found here in greater numbers than just about anywhere else I know.
How to explain this shift in perception – this somewhat embarrassing revision to a publicly stated former view? I can think of only two possibilities:
- there has been a dramatic increase in soft-top ownership in Victoria since my earlier posting in 2012…
…or:
- Victorians – unlike the Brits – only dust down and bring out their convertibles when the sun is well and truly shining. There is none of the mad-March scramble at the first hint of a break in the cloud-cover that is so prevalent in the Home Counties.
Well – I am sure that I do not know the correct interpretation. All I do know is that this is yet another sure sign that the Girl and I have relocated to the right part of the world!
Tags: British Columbia, Cars, Convertible, Victoria
“Boats are like rabbits; you can have one boat or many, but you can’t stop at two.”
Aristotle Onassis
Given Victoria’s position on the southern tip of Vancouver Island – and surrounded as it is on three sides by the sea – it is little surprise that the city should be included in what is quite an extensive circuit of classic boating extravaganzas. The Victoria Classic Boat Festival was one of a number of events that took place in and around the provincial capital over the long weekend just passed.
I spent a few happy hours in the Inner Harbour with one of the dear friends with whom we are currently living. At some stage in his widely varied past he owned and lived aboard a 46ft Chris Craft dating from the 1960s, and it was fascinating to ‘sit in’ on his conversations with other wooden boat owners. Most of what was said went over my head, but listening to experts – in any field – is one of my favourite pursuits. At one stage our friend found himself taking to one of his boat-building heroes – Bent Jespersen – which was definitely the highlight of our visit.
I had with me the Fuji x10. I recorded some images:
I have in the past within the pages of this almanac expressed my views – in what can only really be considered a somewhat intemperate fashion – of the less than optimal behaviour of some of those who attend the showings at public cinema multiplexes. This based – of course – primarily on my experiences in the south east of England.
We were lucky enough – when residing in Buckinghamshire – to live within a couple of miles of Pinewood Studios. Further good fortune was evinced in that one of our neighbours ran – in the plush screening studio therein – a members’ cinema club. By this agency we we’re able to go to the movies in a civilized fashion… comfy seats, a bar, no adverts or trailers… and no children!
We are – of course – no longer in the UK, and the Pinewood film club has in any case sadly been wound up.
You might imagine my delight, therefore, to discover in Sidney, BC, a wonderful if diminutive movie house going by the name of the Star Cinema. Perhaps all you need to know of this operation is that a couple of years back – whilst the auditorium was undergoing an upgrade and on hearing that delivery of the new seats would be delayed – the patrons were invited to bring in their own couches and armchairs to keep things going… the which – of course – they duly did.
We saw there recently the estimable Sir Ian McKellen exercising his acting chops in ‘Mr Holmes‘. ‘Serena‘ was – as you might expect – excellent. The film was adequate. It seemed to me that the writer had either not quite the courage to fully exploit the premise of the film, or was perhaps subjected to the now obligatory interference by ‘those who know better‘ – whose number includes, of course, the men with the money!
On to drama of the live variety…
I have mentioned before Victoria’s Belfry Theatre. A couple of weeks back we paid our first visit there since we moved back to the province. The play concerned was ‘Boom‘ – Rick Miller’s solo multi-media tour de force that took us through two and a half decades of the cultural history of the baby boomers. Miller is massively talented and the show was certainly a hit with the Victoria audience who – it must be said – pretty much exactly fitted the demographic featured in the work.
The past week and a half has also seen the annual Victoria Fringe Festival. As a long running attendee – as both audience member and participant – of the Edinburgh Fringe I was particularly looking forward to this event. There can be no comparison in terms of scale, of course, but I was looking for a similar atmosphere of experimentation and inclusivity. I was not disappointed.
We attended six shows in a little over a week and I can honestly say that not one of them was a complete dud – which is a better hit rate that I have sometimes experienced in the land of my fathers.
Here is my pick of the fringe:
Mike Delamont – brilliant local Victorian comedian – gave us the second part of his trilogy – ‘God is a Scottish Drag Queen‘. I feel that I hardly need tell you more about this wickedly funny show… you can use your imagination. Needless to say the Girl and I were reduced to tears at several points, we were laughing so hard. Some of the best comic timing you will ever encounter.
Englishman Rob Gee offered his exquisite one man play Icarus Dancing. Informed by his previous existence as a psychiatric nurse the piece is beautifully written and performed with the lightest of touches – both funny and affecting. If you get a chance to see it you will not be disappointed.
Corin Raymond’s ‘The Great Canadian Tire Money Caper‘ is quite simply perhaps the show with the biggest heart that you will ever encounter. Corin is a Toronto based musician and storyteller who financed the making of a live double album with Canadian Tire Money. Non-Canadians will want to know that this incentive scheme by the auto-store company turned multi-department giant has been running since the fifties. Older UK readers might best compare Canadian Tire Money to Green Shield Stamps, though in the form of a Monopoly-like currency. Pretty much every Canadian has some – but no-one ever has enough to do anything worthwhile with. Corin tells the story in such a big-hearted manner that you just want to love him. (The Girl goes all gooey at the thought, which might not be an entirely good thing!) If you live in or around Vancouver the good news is that you can catch Corin at the Vancouver Fringe. The bad news – if you are in England – is that he was at the London Fringe in June.
Right! That’s about all the arts news for now. More to follow…
Lest I should leave the gentle reader with the impression that all of our time here on the west coast of Canada is currently taken up with explorations into hardwood flooring (well – some of it is!) or trying to find the perfect bathtub…
…actually, I must needs digress at this point. What springs to mind when one thinks of the normal Canadian chap (settle down at the back there!)? Yes – that’s right – a tall, swarthy outdoor type who climbs mountains for fun, drives around in a huge pickup, hunts wild animals and skates and rows and skis, etc, etc.
So – what sort of bathtub might you expect such a specimen to require? Yes – so did I, but the standard Canadian bathtub is a mere five foot long and no more than about twelve inches deep! Scarcely enough to dampen one’s… well – you get the idea. Should you require the sort of soaker that we Brits demand – at least five foot five (if not six foot) long and a good twenty two inches deep – then one is looking at a special order. Weird – huh?
Where was I?
Ah yes – culture!
I thought I would regale you with some of the cultural and artistic events that we have attending since landing in BC. Victoria is a really buzzing place and there is a pretty constant schedule of interesting stuff with which to get involved. Should the island not provide enough stimulation on its own it is but a hop and a step to either Vancouver or Seattle.
Anyway – this is what we have been up to:
On the first day of our trip to the interior we stopped in Vancouver, partly to conduct some business but also to visit the Bill Reid Gallery. For those who know nothing about this seminal figure of west coast First Nations art I commend to you the ‘About Bill Reid’ section of the above site. Should you further wish to see an example of Bill Reid’s exquisite sculpture then you need look no further than the facsimile of ‘The Raven and the First Men’ that you will find the top of this post.
The current exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery – ‘The Box of Treasures’ – features amongst other wonders the extraordinary masks of Beau Dick – whom I have eulogised before in this post entitled ‘A sense of place’.
I most strongly recommend both artists to you – as I do the gallery, should you find yourself in Vancouver.
Much of our cultural month – however – has been given over to the arts dramatic. More – much more – of that in part two of this post.
Tags: Art, British Columbia, Culture, Victoria
Though the last two weeks have found us near to our busiest we have found the time for a little relaxation. Naturally the Fuji x10 tagged along.
We had a bite to eat in Estevan Village on the east coast of the peninsular north of Victoria. I particularly liked these boxes that hold free magazines and circulars.
In Bazan Bay there is a splendid and relatively recently opened farm centre/bakery/bistro/winery called The Roost, where one can feast on very un-North American wood-fired oven-baked pizza and sup the local nectar, whilst relaxing in a sun-drenched courtyard. This chicken ruled the… er…
Last Wednesday evening found us at Pioneer Park in Brentwood Bay for one of the summer season’s ‘Music in the Park‘ sessions. These splendidly bucolic and completely free concerts – at which the locals and visitors alike picnic and chill in the warm evening sunshine whilst appreciating some good beats – are a regular feature of life on the peninsular. This particular occasion featured regular performers, the ‘Pretzel Logic Orchestra‘, who offer an evening of Steely Dan tunes. The Kickass Canada Girl has always somewhat snootily delcared the Dan to be a ‘boys’ band’ and she was not best pleased when I caught her ‘bopping’ along (though I will doubtless get ‘bopped’ myself when she reads this!).
Finally some more shots of Sidney, which regular readers will know that I love dearly – for (hopefully) obvious reasons – and have eulogised before.
Here is Mount Baker across the water from Sidney. Gorgeous!
Tags: British Columbia, Fuji x10, Music, Photo, Victoria
Strange the way things turn out…
As I posted on Friday of last week, we were off on the Saturday morning to look a 4×4.
My choice of vehicle is based on the firm conviction that – within the next year – I will purchase some sort of small power boat so that I may indulge my piratical whims about the Gulf Islands.
Much research and diligent enquiry suggested that the ideal vehicle for the job was the Toyota 4Runner which has – in its V8 incarnation – sufficient power to drag around some 7000lb in its wake. Furthermore, the truck is built like a tank and will pretty much go on forever – making it entirely possible to find a ten year old model with yet plenty of life in it. The only downside is that this famed longevity keeps the used price somewhat on the high side.
Such it was that we viewed on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, through the vehicle was itself sound it had not been loved and the interior was in a pretty poor state. We decided to pass.
4Runners of the requisite vintage are in short supply and it looked as though a long trip to the interior might be necessary to effect a purchase. Then, almost by chance, the Kickass Canada Girl – on glancing through the online version of ‘Used Victoria’ came upon an advert for a twelve year old Lexus GX470. Aficionados will be aware that the Lexus is basically the 4Runner platform with a rather more luxurious facade atop. Even better, this particular specimen was but a few streets away. We paid a visit.
Though being of a considerably higher mileage than we would have liked, the Lexus looked pretty much as though it were fresh out of the showroom. Not only had it clearly been well loved, but it was also complete down to the least detail – the handbook and service record au naturelle, but also the comprehensive original Lexus toolkit and first aid kit.
The owner – the vehicle’s second – had advertised it at a very reasonable price but had no bidders, so had just dropped the price by $2,500. The Girl – as is her wont – enquired as to whether there might be any ‘wiggle’ room. The owner – without so much as a proper haggle – stated his bottom price, some $1,500 lower yet.
We asked if we could get the vehicle checked over – the which we did on Tuesday following – and were informed that the brakes needed renewing. The owner most kindly went halves to the tune of a further $500!
What a bargain – and a completely unexpected one.
And ‘Lorelei’?
Well – a vehicle as sophisticated and elegant as this one can only be a lady, though perhaps one with a mischevous spirit. The Lorelei was – of course – a siren, luring innocent(ish) men to their doom.
Seemed like a pretty good match…
“It’ll be just like starting over – starting over”
John Lennon
Wow!
This has been quite a week. Having stripped our lives right back to the bone in the UK before we departed those shores we are now frantically putting them together again here in Victoria. I don’t know when the relaxation part of retirement is going to kick in, but it sure as heck ain’t gonna be just yet.
The days have thus far been just too busy for me to be able to find the time to post, but this end of (working!) week catch-up will hopefully hold back the rising tide of impatience amongst those readers who want to know just what the devil is going on with the immigrants and homecoming queens here on the Pacific northwest coast.
Well – this is what the Kickass Canada Girl and I have done this week.
We have:
- visited the Victoria Canada Service Centre to acquire for me a Social Insurance Number (SIN). This is necessary should one wish to work in BC or to be able to access other government services.
- been to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) office to trade our UK driving licences for temporary BC equivalents.
- paid a visit to the bank to set up a chequing account for me and to apply for credit cards.
- commenced our search for somewhere to live (or rather, moved our previous online search onto the real streets of Saanich).
- sent off registration details and applications for Health Insurance Cards (BC Services Cards). Though these will not come into effect for three months (meaning that we had to take out three months travel health cover before setting out) when the cards arrive they can be used as proof of identity to turn our new temporary driving licences into permanent versions.
- completed and posted the application for my UK pension incomes to be taxed in Canada.
- had a meeting with a mortgage broker to get some advice regarding the existing mortgage on the Girl’s son’s condo (apartment).
- been to view – and shortly thereafter to purchase – a convertible for the Girl, to replace the much loved vehicle that had to be traded away just before we left the UK.
- been to view a suitable 4×4 for me. The vehicle concerned had not at that point been staged, so a return trip is on the cards tomorrow.
- viewed yet more houses – including paying a second visit to one that we liked a great deal and on which we subsequently made an offer! At this point we discovered that the real estate market in Canada is just as non-functional as that in the UK, though in different ways. At the point of writing it doesn’t look as though we will actually get this house, but this would appear to be because the vendors – although they have gone to the trouble of listing it – do not actually seem to want to sell it!
Well – I think all might agree that this represents rather a good week’s work. We – at any rate – are quite worn out, though at the same time really somewhat impressed with the progress that has been made.
Phew!
And so to bed…
Tags: Immigrant, moving, Settling in, Victoria
Perfunctory
pəˈfʌŋ(k)t(ə)ri
adjective
adjective: perfunctory
- <(of an action) carried out without real interest, feeling, or effort.
“he gave a perfunctory nod”
My apologies if recent posts have come over as being a little on the – er – perfunctory side. If I may plead an excuse – there is quite a lot going on at the moment! I do have a fair bit to report and much upon which to elaborate, but that may all have to wait until we actually find ourselves with some time on our hands.
Much of last week was given over to a series of fond farewells which – as you might imagine – caused no small amount heart-string tugging. For emotional relief we indulged ourselves with a long wished-for trip to town to observe the taping of one of our favourite satirical TV shows – “Mock the Week“. The Girl has been applying for tickets for this chuckle-fest pretty much throughout the whole of the last decade – to this point with no joy whatsoever. Pleading that she was about to leave the country, however, seems to have done the trick and around a month ago a pair of priority tickets popped through the letterbox.
Mock the Week is a spoof news-based quiz show purportedly pitting against each other two teams of three comedians. The show is hosted by – and is in large part dependent for its success upon – the estimable Dara O’Brean. Whereas we never doubted that the twenty nine minutes that go to air each week are in fact culled from a considerably greater pool of material, we had not imagined for a moment that what the audience in the studio is actually presented with is more than three hours of inspired riffing on current affairs topics, a fair bit of which is completely un-broadcastable. The show is taped on a Tuesday night and broadcast the following Thursday and I for one have no idea how they manage to produce a coherent and highly entertaining program from the chaos with which the studio audience is presented.
In an abrupt change of gear, this – for those who are interested – is how the remainder of this week pans out.
- Wednesday – our movers arrive to start packing.
- Thursday – our movers finish packing and start moving! Having no bed we spend the night in an hotel.
- Friday – we (and our cleaners) clean the Berkshire apartment, and our carpet cleaner then cleans the carpets. Obvious really. Still no bed, so back to the hotel we go.
- Saturday – all done at the apartment and now just the cars to dispose of (to those who have kindly already agreed to purchase them from us), haircuts to have and odds and sods to deliver to all and sundry. Thence to another hotel – this time on the outskirts of the Airport.
- Sunday – check in… and check out! Apparently this ain’t the Hotel California and we can – after all – leave…
BC here we come!
Tags: British Columbia, Canada, Leaving, moving, Victoria
On Saturday last the Kickass Canada Girl and I enjoyed a really rather splendid day in town. ‘In town‘ refers – of course – to ‘The Smoke‘… to London! I don’t normally feel much inclined to drive all the way in to town again at the weekend – having done most of the journey each and every day during the working week – but on occasion exception must be made – and made it was on Saturday.
We lunched with good friends in what was probably the first of a number of such ‘farewell’ events at one of our favourite eateries in St James – The Wolseley. We then indulged in a little retail therapy in one of London’s iconic department stores – Selfridges – before heading for the West End to see a show. This latter – David Mamet’s ‘American Buffalo‘ starring John Goodman and Damian Lewis and currently playing at Wyndham’s – was a late addition to the day’s festivities in that we only decided to try for seats on the morning itself.
Why – you might wonder – am I regaling you with this directory of Dionysian delights?
The answer is that it occurs to us – as it must do to others in a similar position – that we might, subsequent to our departure from these shores, rapidly come to realise that we miss terribly all the cultural and epicurean delights of the big city. We might even compare – unfavourably – our new home with that which we have left behind and become – as a consequence – ‘homesick’.
I decided to get my comparison in first!
The Wolseley is indeed lovely and serves one of the three best ‘Eggs Benedicts‘ in the world (from my admittedly somewhat limited experience). The second such of these may be obtained just a few hundred yards further along Piccadilly at The Fountain restaurant at Fortnum and Mason. The third – at John’s Place in Victoria!
You might cavil that this latter is clearly an entirely different proposition when compared with the pomp of London’s finest, and you would be right… the ambiance is very different. One need only – however – look at the testimonials on their website to realise that John’s is a very special Place, and that their food really is of the highest order. That one has to fight to get a table for Sunday brunch tells you all you need to know.
Victoria can also offer plenty of other good dining experiences and you will doubtless find me waxing lyrical as to their qualities in future posts.
Could The Bay in Victoria really be compared to Selfridges? There is no denying that the London store is really rather flash and that if one is searching for what the younger folk might at some juncture have referred as ‘bling‘ – then it is probably the place to be. Of a weekend – however – it is also jam packed, overheated and extremely noisy. Frankly I prefer my retail experiences to be a little more civilised.
It will come as no surprise that Victoria cannot hope to compete with London when it comes to the theatre… but then – nowhere else in the world can either (not even the Big Apple!). We did see – however – only a few years ago Eric McCormack in Mamet’s ‘GlenGarry, Glen Ross‘ at the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver. Certainly we could not reasonably wake up of a morning and expect to be able to book tickets for a hot show starring internationally respected talent that same evening! Both Vancouver and Seattle are within range, but serious planning would be required to mount an expedition to either. We will just have to spend more time on preparation. Fortunately, time will not be in short supply…
On the other side of the equation – driving into London from Berkshire can take up to two hours of traffic-crammed grind – and one must then repeat the odyssey on the way home later. The public transport alternative is no better – hot, exhausting and very, very long. From Saanichton into central Victoria takes around 20 minutes by car, and one gets to look across the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the Olympic mountains for much of the way.
Hmm! Not much in it by my reckoning…
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