The Squamidian Report – Nov. 21 / 15
Issue #704
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
The west coast has been having some pretty impressive November storms
over the last few weeks. And west coast storms can be very impressive.
Massive amounts of rain dropped from the rolling clouds causing
everything from mud slides to localized flooding to deep snow in the
mountains. They also caused massive power outages as trees brought down
power lines all over the lower mainland. Incidentally, up here in
Squamish we missed most of the wind component and just got the rain.
Last Tuesday evening I headed down to Horseshoe Bay to my usual Tuesday
meet with my riding club. We meet all winter because well, why not. Its
is after all a social riding club as well as a riding, riding club.
Anyway, once I was out on the highway and driving along the exposed
east side of Howe Sound I could feel the full blast from the howling
winds. Every once in a while a tree branch would go sailing by and it
took two hands on the wheel as the gusts buffeted the truck. At the top
end of the Sound the waters were relatively calm but from about Porteau
on down they were whipped into whitecaps with spray shooting from the
tops. Down at 'The Bay' the wind gusts were wild. Our turnout was
pretty low, just four of us due to the storm but that was ok, we had
fun. Many parts of the city were without power making it hard for most
people to go anywhere so I didn't expect many to be there. We sat at
our usual outdoor table which is in a bit of a sheltered corner under a
roof, and watched as chairs, garbage pails and the occasional tourist
was blown down the street. As the wind intensity increased, we realized
that Starbucks had neglected to bring in their big outdoor umbrellas
which were now in imminent danger of taking off even though they have
big heavy basses. It took a couple of us to wrestle the umbrellas down
and closed. The way the wind was picking up it would have only been
another minute or so before they would have been airborne and gone.
'The Bay' was one of the few places in West Van that still had power so
the lights were still on and the businesses were still trying to be
open. We had dinner in one of the local restaurants but by the time we
were done the lights were starting to flicker. There really wasn't much
point in hanging around so we all headed home. My friends had to head
into the affected area, I headed back up the highway. It was stormy
until I dropped down into Squamish where the rain had stopped and the
wind had never really done much at all. Next morning dawned clear, cold
and totally calm. So, after walking the dog etc I headed down to the
ball park and flew my little R/C. Flying conditions were as perfect as
it can get. Not a ripple in the air and the snow covered Mt Garibaldi
in the background.
I've been out flying the R/C whenever conditions have permitted over
the last couple of weeks. Its good to practice that sort of thing,
eye-hand coordination, flight control and so on. And of course its
rather fun. Best time is when the air is still, as stated, but its also
good to fly in a bit of a breeze because that is more challenging and
requires a higher level of skill and concentration. These small, very
light planes do not handle much wind at all and if you try to fly in
anything too gusty they simply get blown around like a dry leaf. I've
been flying when the wind has picked up to the point where my landing
approach was actually a vertical decent instead of a glide slope. That
would never happen in a real plane but it looks pretty cool when you
pull it off with an R/C. Its also a good indicator that the winds have
picked up enough to call it a day. Which I do. Then I charge my flight
batteries so everything is ready for next time. And speaking of next
time as in 'next weeks Squid', I just might tell you about a sound
system that Ryan has helped my put together. Next week that is. Maybe,
perhaps. Or I might keep it a secret because I really don't need one or
even have that much use for one for that matter but face it, 'The Wife'
is going to find out about it eventually so no harm in everyone else
knowing about it as well.
doug
****
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Before I continue with the adventures of our trip, I’d like to say that
our hearts go out to the people of Paris! We were in shock at the
terrorist attacks that took place last week in Paris, as I’m sure the
rest of the world was! We consider ourselves so very fortunate to have
visited such a magnificent city without incident. To think that we very
well could have been in the middle of the terror of last week is indeed
nerve wracking. Let’s hope that this world-shaking nonsense comes to an
end before the Muslim Extremists gain control of any significant city
in Europe or anywhere else in the world! They are nothing more than
animals without conscience and their religion is not a true religion in
the normal sense of the word but teachings in an effort to perpetrate
evil for the purpose of ridding the world of any and all decent human
beings. I believe Islam is pure evil incarnate!
*
Once again I’m back to the continuation of our trip!
After completing our week in Paris we were thinking of taking the train
to London where we would complete our holiday by spending 10 days
seeing the sites of the home of British Royalty! We checked into taking
the train and how we’d manage to get all of our luggage to the station
and onto the train. We had three huge suitcases and three carry on bags
and Carole also had a large sized purse that was especially constructed
to protect our documents from identity theft and also guard against
purse-snatchers and pickpockets. With that purse alone weighing in at
around 7 to 8 lbs it was a load to carry! Anyway, we realized that we
would have to do all the lugging of our belongings direct to the train
and we’d have to make sure it was loaded onto the train personally.
Whereas at the airport check in was a mere formality and the airline
looked after loading it and unloading at the other end. So that alone
was cause to fly to London rather than take the train. Also the cost of
travel by speedy rail from Paris to London was double that of taking a
45-minute jet ride. So we stuck to our original plans!
Upon arrival in London the weather once again was a beautiful 17c in
temp and sunny! Our hotel looked like it was one of many row houses in
central London. I was told that it was indeed an old residential block
that had been purchased by individuals and also by several hotel chains
from around the world. There were even some American chains that had
their names over a few of the pillared entrances. The hotel was located
in central London and was only ten blocks from Buckingham Palace. We
were also very close to Victoria Station, which is one of the main hubs
of London’s transportation systems. You can catch both the “Tube” and
surface double-Decker buses as well as trains to all parts of rural
England in Victoria Station. We would walk for 10 minutes to Victoria
Station and then choose our mode of transportation for the day to take
us wherever we wanted to go. Our first days adventure was a walk to
Buckingham Palace. We were in luck that day as the Queen and her family
was vacationing at Balmoral castle in Scotland. This meant that the
Palace was open to the public for a twenty-room tour while the royal
family was absent. We lined up for about twenty minutes to pass through
security and purchase our tickets. I think they cost about 15 pounds
per ticket. The tour took us through the most interesting and palatial
rooms in the palace. The palace staff members were all in royal
blue uniforms and were standing by in every room to answer any
questions the visitors might have and also to keep an eye on the
contents of the rooms. We were in the fourth room of the tour and I was
amazed at the beauty and condition of each of the rooms along the way.
I thought this room was particularly interesting and “royal” looking
and I stopped and asked one of the lady staff members “What do they
call this room?” as I stood by a large velvet rope separating the
visitors from two large red and blue velvet chairs framed in bright
GOLD carved framework. She looked at me without hesitation and with a
motion of her hand toward the chairs she said, “This is the THRONE ROOM
sir!” needless to say, I was a tad red faced at her stating the
obvious! LOL! I thanked her and quietly moved on. The next room we
visited was the Royal Dining Room. This room was very large and
contained the longest dining table I’d ever seen. The table was set for
dinner and would accommodate at least one hundred guests. We were
allowed to walk around the table but not to touch anything in the room.
There were gold chandeliers with about a dozen lit candles each set
every so many place settings on the table. There was even a measuring
“square” sitting on one end of the table that was used to make sure
that every piece of silverware and dinnerware etc was perfectly spaced.
The chairs were also measured to make sure they were only so many
inches from the table edge as well as from each other. It was set with
military precision for sure! As we made our way to the far end of the
table, Carole mentioned to one of the Staff members that the table was
beautifully set but that many of the tall candles in the candelabras
were crooked and leaning to one side. The lady thanked her for pointing
that out and I said to Carole “Watch her now, she’s telling one of the
other staff members what you pointed out and they’ll be going around
re-measuring all of the candles to make sure they are strait.” Sure
enough, that’s exactly what happened! LOL! After all, one can’t have
crooked candles at the Queen’s dining table can one!
The tour lasted a couple of hours and the palace is indeed magnificent.
There are many more rooms in the palace than we were allowed to see but
to go through them all would have taken most of the day I’m sure. The
tour ended by having us exit through the central doorway that leads out
onto the huge stone patio that stretches across the entire rear wall of
the palace. The patio is level with the main floor of the palace and
has a stone wall surrounding the edge of it with a stone staircase that
takes you down onto a beautiful 20-acre grass field at the rear of the
palace. I guess they play polo or something on the field. There is also
a café and tables on one end of the patio (Terrace) where you could sit
and have “Tea” if you wished before leaving the Palace. We then walked
about half a kilometer around the rear grounds of the palace where they
had a souvenir shop and washrooms for the public. A short distance past
these two buildings was a gate that allowed you to exit back onto the
street beside the Palace grounds. I believe entire royal estate
consists of 37 acres in the heart of London. It also contains a 15-acre
lake. We walked out to the front of the Palace and took some photos of
the beautiful front gates and of the Royal Guards out front of the
palace. There were also soldiers inside the gates at various points
that were patrolling the palace front grounds. They were carrying fully
automatic machine guns and didn’t look like they were in any mood to be
fooled with, very serious looking soldiers indeed!
After we finished at the front gates we walked up the other side of the
palace grounds. We completed a walk around the entire 37-acres by the
time it was time to head back to the hotel. We decided to take a bus
back to Victoria station and to walk from there to our hotel. On the
walk from Victoria we found a nice little restaurant, I believe it was
called the Giraffe. It was the one meal that I truly enjoyed while in
England. I had BBQ’d rack of ribs and enjoyed every morsel. Up until
that meal I hadn’t been too impressed with the food in Europe.
Ireland’s food was good, France’s food was so so but I could hardly
wait to get home and have a real home cooked meal that didn’t cost me
20 pounds ($30.00). Yes, every meal including a breakfast cost us the
equivalent $100.00 Canadian for the three of us, so it amounted
to almost $300.00 per day to eat. Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t
begrudge spending the money while on vacation, I just wished that their
food tasted as good as the food we were used to in Canada. Carole and
Adam both enjoyed the meals and food in all three countries but I found
it didn’t compare with the food here at home! We went over knowing that
the cost of things would be more than here at home but when a breakfast
of eggs, bacon and hash browns or something similar and a cup of tea
runs you 17 to 20 pounds ($34 to $40) or in France 17 to 20 Euros ($24
to $30.00) when the same thing here in Canada costs $4.95 + $1.50 for a
tea, it’s a bit of a shocker. I find it hard to realize how the average
folks over there can afford to live and believe me, they eat out almost
every night judging by the crowds that were in every pub or café every
evening eating full meals and drinking bottles of wine and beer by the
pitcher or pint! I guess there average wage must be twice that of ours
here in North America/Canada. I’m surprised that most of them aren’t
living on Kraft Dinner and potato soup!
Anyway, that was the extent of our first day in London and the adventure will continue next week!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Aren’t you as glad as I am that there’s a huge ocean between Canada and the trouble in Europe? At least, for now!
If PM Trudeau doesn’t wise up soon, it’s going to be too late for
Canada too! I am of the opinion that he’d better rethink his
immigration policy and maybe close the gates for a couple of years
until he sees how the world is going to control the ISIS problem!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
|