Vancouver Diary 17

[Loerie 0]

When I went for a walk this morning, we had light rain and snow on and off.

The temperature was 1 C.

Around 11h20

By the time I was a block from home, it was snowing (12h10).

It is not snowing at the moment. The lawn is mostly white, but not the shrubs and trees.

[Snoepie 0]

Harry so sorry to hear about the accident. I had one too 3 years ago, my 1 st accident ever, I did it in grand style and hit 2 stationed cars that were waiting at a downhill red light. I simply could not stop on the ice. I felt horrible for weeks after that. I know you will be good to your wife, its a really bad thing to go through. Luckily my 2 victims were wonderful and didnt blame me at all they were both so graciously human at the accident scene. I could not believe what the minor damage amounted to here repairing a car is big bucks, little scrapes and what looked like minor damage was $ 3 000 on one of the cars.

Now when I drive by an accident scene I truely feel for everyone involved, its such a shock. If ever, heavens forbid, someone drives into me, I promised myself I will be as gracious then as those people I hit, was to me.

[Andy & Yvonne 1]

Take care, Harry

Swami or not, we need your wisdom and love your Vancouver Diaries! This snow has a huge impact on the lower mainland's electric load - particularly the high-rise apartment and office blocks. As it hits the walls and windows it just instantly sucks the heat out of the buildings - and the thermostats all come on together. At least it gives us some 'extreme' weather events to work with.

Andy

[Harry 52]

What can I say?....we had our Safety people at work send out a warning yesterday because we already had a bunch of people in the First Aid room as a result of falls in the car park as they arrived at work.

We've now had snow on the ground continuously from 26 February over here. This is unheard of in Vancouver. Yesterday afternoon, just as it approached rush hour, an unexpected/unforecast very dense snowfall hit us yet again. 1,500 students at Simon Fraser University got stuck at the campus on "Burnaby Mountain", because the buses could not get to them. They had to "sleep on the mountain" on sleeping mats and stuff.

Will the good folks on Prairies please read that bit again. I know they are unimpressed with snowfalls like this....but, 1,500 STUDENTS SPENT THE NIGHT ON SLEEPING MATS. This $%& does NOT happen on the Prairies, mostly because they have no slope to worry about.[ WINK...my favourite smiley has disappeared]

I managed to only but just get my car safely down the hill, but by the time I got back up to the house (some 200yards up the hill), the snow had trapped everyone else. The wife took 1-1/2 hours to make the 12km home, taking two buses, which got stuck in locked-down traffic.

I repeat...this place comes to a standstill when it snows. The City Engineer is complaining that they have now had twice as many snow warnings ( meaning they have to go out and salt the roads) as they have in a typical year. I notice that Al Gore has entirely and completely shut up...he now only mouths off in summer when the ice melts naturally. What a total lard-brain. I'd give my remaining agtertande for 30 minutes with him. His mother will cry for his soul by the time I've finished with him.

This morning everyone is taking the hell out of poor Mark Madryga, the forecaster on the main Vancouver TV Channel.

[Snoepie 0]

Harry thanks for the update 1500 students stuck .. what was the temps like ? Couldnt they just walk down the road and get transport where its not so steep? As I recall Vancouver does not get cold and its not a long walk down the hill from the university to where its more flatter?

Still the snow is a a big nuisance ! But hey its Feb 7 today, this miserable winter will also pass ... a month from now the days will be so much longer already.

We went on a all incl 7 days to the Mayan Riviera, the jungle south of Cancun just before Xmas. It was a wonderful break from all the snow and the cold. It does break up the winter a bit to be in 30c hot sunshine and swimming in the Caribbean sea and just forgetting for a week about the frozen north.

Something else I want to mention...check if your fireplace is closed up... ours it seems was now open for years, and its like having an open window in your home. I could not believe when someone checked for us and said wow you must be paying a lot to heat your home with this open latch. There is a little thingie you pull and thats all it takes to close that vent. I could not believe that we didnt pay attention to something as simple as this.

Sterkte daar vir julle in Vancouver. Soos hulle se : Elke hond kry sy dag :-)

[Harry 52]

SNoepie,

Walking down: That's what our son did....but it took him ages to get down. It's a long distance.

[Adele 16]

Well since my little snow induced accident on the 27 December, I have now been given the go ahead to get my van repaired.

I will be without a vehicle for 1 week. Courtesy vehicle will cost nothing except a long wait - 3 weeks to 'book' one! Will have to wait for the repair to happen in 3 weeks. Which is also about the time we are planning on going away.

My deductible is $1000 which the other person, who was 100% liable, will pay for. She will also be getting a $500 fine for following to closely which is considered unsafe driving practices especially in bad weather conditions and will be fined for leaving the scene without exchanging proper details. She will get 6 demerit points and her rates will go up 45 percent on her insurance. And her insurance will cover my damages 100% - Ford Aerostar, about $2000 to repair my tow hitch and realign my bumper. The only medical costs (because I am not such a money sucker) is limited to the one Dr. visit and the prescription pain killers I got.

So will update when I get my car repaired!

[Harry 52]

So, it seems to work out in the end, Adele?

However, it also demonstrates how everything in Canada is governed via insurance.

That's why Canada will never declare war anywhere....cannot find insurance for it. So the don't know what to do.

[vinceb 13]

My sympathies to you and your wife, Harry.

To my chagrin just more than a year ago in Edmonton, I pulled away at a crossing that totally bamboozled me and hit a Subaru and ended up with thousands of dollars of damages. I was clearly at fault and my undoing was largely due to my lack of familiarity with the crossing - mind you this was after I had driven the same route the previous night to familiarize myself with the road.

I did not realize that modern day cars have so much plastic in them - the front bumper, grill and so on just fell apart And the Subaru had very little damage compared to the jeep.

Everybody was so nice about it, and I felt like an idiot.

Hope you and the car are soon back to full health again.

[Harry 52]

Thanks Vince,

It'll be OK. The car goes into the shop on the 12th. As you say, one sneezes at the car, and the entire bumper has to be replaced or some massive unit containing the headlight. There are no more components in cars...only sub-assemblies that cost ten times as much as the broken component. That ensures an entire layer of "sub-assembly-suppliers" make a living, I'm sure.

[Dedré 120]

Adele,

Sorry to hear you had a run-in with the snow as well. Glad to hear you are also sorted out.

[Toni 0]

Dear Harry, your photo of the mailman really made us laugh this morning!

Great to see the photos and the differences in weather in an around Vancouver. Helps us "newbies" to get a better idea of what to expect.

Antoinette & Bobby

[Toni 0]

Dear Natalie H,

You can see which one of your dogs is the "native" and which one is the "immigrant"! I swear the huskie is smiling!

[Loerie 0]

Ons weer was 'n bietjie grou vroeër vanoggend.

View from White Rock towards Vancouver Island, at 10.35 am today. The three photos are overlapping a bit. The flat and darker areas on the horison (2nd and 3rd photos) are of Point Roberts - a part of the US that is not connected to the rest of the US, but to Canada. The mountains on Vancouver Island lie behind (west) of Point Roberts.

[Harry 52]

Happy to oblige, Toni! I just point the camera, then the funny stuff kinda jumps in front of it.

Every day, the kids at Point Roberts take a bus through Canada to go to school at Blaine in the contiguous part of the USA.

There is one single other part of the USA that is like that ( Excluding Alaska, of course). They threatened some years back to join Canada.

I wonder if folks actually know where that is? Long-standing SACanada members should know, because it came up before.

[Harry 52]

Seems no-one noticed

Mount Ioco over here seemed to get some life of its own over here over the last while. SO I thought I'd post a picture. We see this fairly regularly, especially in winter...when the steam condenses more easily

[i really hate this autosizing feature we now have on the new forum s/w. It really makes me not want to take pictures anymore.]

[dieulefit 3]

Harry, keep your toys in your cot and keep on sending those (fabulous) pictures - blame the 'issues' on that %#$@ who sabotaged our site recently... . Since then there are quite a few changes to get used to... . Always enjoy your photos though!

Here on Dieulefit the wind is blowing the air out of your lungs and it is a total miserable day! I went out early this morning to feed the birds (my children) and somehow the wind blew off (and away) the top of one of my most expensive feeders! I used my boots to kick around some ice and snow - could not find it - yikes. This is the only feeder that the squirrels can not help themselves to and the Blue Jays can not get all the seed out, like what they do with the others!

[Harry 52]

Hmmm...weird!.....no comment about our volcano(!!?)

Is the smaller picture format doing it?

Am I losing my touch?

[Loerie 0]

Harry, die formaat pla nie. Dit is regtig 'n besonderse foto!

[Island Life 1]

I noticed it, but also noted your comment that it was mainly due to condensation, so I figured you are safe and no need to evacuate just yet!

[robert 10]

Hey Harry

Should I be seeing the same volcano as you are?

If so, where do I look (besides in front of me )

[Adele 16]

I am now more the wiser! Did not even know we had a volcano so close to us! I mean, I knew about the ones in the US! But how many more are so close to my comfort?

Harry?? Is it really nothing to be worried about? Any activity around a Volcano would be a cause for concern in my books!

[Harry 52]

Ahhh...finally reaction! It tends to be more clear when the skies are clear. Then it does not make quite as big a cloud, though!

[Dedré 120]

Now, with a nice little "kaggel" like that, who can be cold in the winters of Vancouver...? I think you guys are just lying to keep us all from coming to your favourate place in the whole wide world! This little guy is really stunning.

Adele, I don't know much about these little smouldering mountains myself... They do actually classify and keep an open eye on these oaks. One can never be too sure, but I suspect a country like Canada will not allow citizens to build close to an active volcano. Where are our specialist in this field? Please help!

[Adele 16]

Dedre,

Where Harry is 'pointing' his camera is rather close to 'the Canadian people'. A Native Reservation in fact! So I am wondering if Harry is having us on! I am going to go and check this out myself. Still have not found information on it though!

Harry up until now you have never mentioned that this was an ACTIVE volcano! What is with that flame?