Archive for December, 2008

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Christmas Past and Presents

December 30th, 2008, posted in Random Musings

Christmas was five days ago? How did that happen? We had a good Christmas but we thought it might not happen. We were pretty sure we were facing a serious case of deja vu. Ten years ago we flew to Prince George on the 24th, and we sat in the airport for 12 hours because it started to snow heavily on the 23rd. Well…we booked for the 24th again…and the snow started to dump down on the 23rd.

We got up stupidly early and headed to the airport in fear that the Park and Fly would close due to snow (apparently they did, but after we got the truck put to bed). We headed for South Terminal, glad that we had chosen to fly out on Pacific Coastal and thereby avoid the chaos in the Main Terminal where flights had been delayed and cancelled over the past week and the carnage was still evident.

South Terminal was quiet. Only a few people were there ahead of us. The gates were still closed. The ticket counters dark. Even the coffee shop was still closed. We sat and waited. Our flight was to leave at 8:20 am. We arrived at 6:30 am. At 7:30 am the Pacific Coastal ticket counter opened and a woman reported that all flights were delayed indefinitely. Well, that’s more upbeat than simply “cancelled”. Meanwhile, at the Main Terminal, Air Canada announced that it had cancelled ALL regional flights. Period. End of story. Go home or see if you can find a bus to where you want to go…

So, we checked in and discovered that there was no guarantee our luggage would be taken along with us…if we got off the ground. While the ticket said we were each allowed 50 lbs, the company would only guarantee 25 lbs per person…so pick a bag between the two of you please. Oh great…my bag has all the presents, Kirk’s has all his clothes and our boots. Well, Kirk could always borrow clothes from my brother so my bag was to fly….if we flew…

We parked ourselves in the now open coffee shop and ordered breakfast. Called family to let them know we might not make it. Warned that luggage might not arrive. We bought a deck of cards and began our wait. Amazingly, we were called through security at around 10 am and loaded on the plane at around 10:20 am. A long taxi, since only one runway was open, and we were off the ground! We arrived two hours late, no too bad, all things considered, and all our luggage came along.

We had a great Christmas, gifts were kept under control this year, charitable donations took centre stage. Really…who needs more “Stuff”? Not us.

On our trip home, we arrived at the airport in Cranbrook, checked in (last apparently) and discovered the flight was running about 15 minutes behind. Both of us had luggage flagged as “Pullable” and both were pulled. The security woman had a great sense of humour and pointed out that we would not have any laundry to do when we arrived home. Glass half full! Indeed, although we arrived about an hour late in Vancouver, our luggage took another day. But when it arrived, Pacific Coastal put it on a courier and it was delivered to our doorstep. Nice! On the news….they showed Main Terminal and the piles of late luggeage…good luck finding your black bag in a sea of black bags…what a nightmare.

Pacific Coastal definitely gets our business in winter over Air Canada from now on and wherever possible.

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Mother Nature 1: Vancouver 0

December 22nd, 2008, posted in Random Musings

Wow, what a weekend. I don’t know what the record is, but I’ve not seen it snow for that long at a stretch in the time I’ve lived in Vancouver. I’ve seen a greater accumulation here…but not that fast. It really is pretty though.  Looks like a White Christmas no matter where you are in Canada this year!

We were out for dinner and a movie Saturday evening with friends. The snow started falling at around 10 pm…and it’s still snowing Monday morning!

Three vehicles, and which is the one that is NOT insured? The 4Runner, of course….What DO we have on the road? Two Honda CRX’s with lousy tires. The 4Runner got insured yesterday with a 24 hr permit so it can be air-cared. I’m justifying it because we will need it to go skiing after Christmas anyway.

This morning I watched the people who run the dry cleaners across the street spin and spin and spin as they tried to pack the snow down in their parking lot. I guess they don’t understand the concept of a shovel since I saw the woman clearing the entry with a dustpan a minute later. Now one of my neighbours is stuck at the entrance to our driveway. Can’t go forward or backwards and is spinning his wheels as fast as he can…..apparently no one in Vancouver understands that the faster you spin, the slicker the ice that you create. The rest of his commute should be interesting if that’s how he deals with the driveway!

I think I’ll walk today…..

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What was I saying?!?

December 18th, 2008, posted in Travel

Here we go again. I just looked at the long range weather outlook. I love the snow! I love the cold weather! I’m a winter girl at heart and I am always amused by the inability of Vancouver to function when so much as a single flake of snow descends from above.

However, I am not amused by the weather outlook this time…for that very same reason…Vancouver grinds to a halt when it snows..even a little bit….

We are flying on Wednesday…maybe…I say maybe since the weather forecast for Wednesday is for snow. It’s deja-vu! The last time we tried to fly on the 24th we were snowed in at YVR and sat there for the whole day wondering if we would get out. We could have driven there faster (seriously, it usually takes us about 9-10 hours to drive the distance).

And here we go again….

weather forecast.png
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Mounting Evidence…

December 16th, 2008, posted in Travel

No takers today... (by Free 2 Be)

So, years ago we moved to Vancouver..and the running joke became that when we travel at Christmas some natural disaster always strikes. Ice storms, the worst blizzard in X number of years, avalanches, rockslides, blistering cold….you name it… And because of our run of winter weather scenarios, a few friends actually try to gauge the coming season by inquiring about our travel plans.

One year we drove home to PG and when we got there…it dumped literally feet of snow while there. We had the little Topaz with two bald rear tires and two excellent snow tires on the front (front wheel drive…obviously). Highways were treacherous, but there was no way I was spending New Years in PG only a couple of years after leaving, seemed like a negative omen. So we plowed out way through and made it back to the Coast safely.

A couple of years later we decided to make the trek home again. This time with a newly purchased 4runner. When we arrived in PG the temperature plummeted to -48 oC and held there. No block heater in the truck, but it sluggishly agreed to start everyday and again, we made it home without incident.

Down the road, another trip to the North, and about the time we were to leave, hideous blizzard conditions that turned a four lane highway into something that was closer to one lane, particularly when the semi trucks were barreling down the middle at you. We were headed to Salmon Arm on the way and felt moderately secure coming into the Kamloops area since there was obviously a plow somewhere not too far ahead of us….and then we rounded the corner and found it in the ditch. Definitely a confidence crushing moment. We plowed on and transiting the road along Shuswap Lake Kirk asked me where Deadmans corner was. My response was simple “ahead somewhere…but I can’t even see the lake so I have no idea where we are”!! Another confidence crusher. Travelling the Coquihalla the next day we watched two semi trailers just barely clip each other and held our breath waiting for the inevitable pileup in front of us….luckily it didn’t materialize.

Another year we head for Cranbrook. A pleasant drive there. We think “Ah, the weather gods are going to be kind to us this year”. Unbeknownst to us my brother had burned an effigy to Oobar the snow god on a bonfire in his yard earlier. Oobar came through. Not only did it snow massive amounts every day we were there….but it did it at below -25 oC every freakin’ day! The day before we were scheduled to leave the temperature rose from -26 oC in the morning to +5 oC in the afternoon! Then it plummeted back down to sub zero temperatures again and the roads were like mirrors, you could hardly stand let alone drive. Pretty much every route to Vancouver was closed including down through the US. Not much to do but settle in until some roads opened. An extra day or two in Cranbrook.

Decided to fly to PG one year! Yes, this will be stress free. Bought the tickets dirt cheap back in September and everything was great….until the snow started falling in Vancouver on the 23rd….and through the night….and into the morning… We went to the airport on the advice of the airline which said, all is fine, no cancellation. We got there early, checked in…found a seat…and waited for the next 12 hours for a flight after ours was cancelled. We were to arrive in the morning on the 24th…we got there after 11 pm…we almost missed Christmas…we could have driven home faster! We didn’t again fly at Christmas for many years…

We drove home another year…it was supposed to be an easy drive…it was a mild year. Absolutely no way we were going to get nailed with anything this year. A rockslide at Spences Bridge happened….

Need I go on?

So here we are again…flying to Cranbrook on the 24th…really, the fall was great, the winter not shaping up to be much of anything…then the Arctic decides to pay a visit and kick the entire country into the freezer and toss some snow into the party mix. Fine, it’s still over a week away…but more snow is forecast for tomorrow and for the weekend….oh please…no repeats…please, please, please….

Anyone for Christmas in July?

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‘Tis the Season?

December 8th, 2008, posted in That's Life

We received a Christmas card the other day….I didn’t know who it was from, I mean, I could read the name, but I’d never heard of the person. I figured it was someone Kirk knew. When he came home I asked if he knew a Ralph Sutton? He said “sure, so do you, he taught us VHF radio” I said, ” No, that’s Ralph Hutton”. So, that’d be a no. We get cards from the newspaper carrier, and we don’t really know them…but neither one of us can figure out who Ralph Sutton is…a boating class student maybe? He doesn’t look familiar. Oh yeah, forgot that part, it’s a form card, with pictures of him, his family, and his house in the winter snow. Oh, and on the back it says something about the North Vancouver Riding Club or something like that….not a member, never been there. It’s a mystery really… a dig around in Google yields Ralph as an MLA for the West Vancouver – Capilano riding. Am I in that riding? Maybe, I live in lower Capilano, but in North Vancouver…so maybe that’s it, he’s our Provincial MLA…OK…mystery solved….but do I really need a Christmas card from a politician?

But it got me thinking…how many people send cards out still? I used to send out many more than I do now. A few years ago I started making cards to save money and as a bit of a creative outlet.One year I sent out a bunch of ecards, but they felt kind of fake, like it cheapened Christmas somehow. But it made me wonder why we send cards every year to people we rarely see. Lots of people seem to have quit sending them, but I persevere and continue to send them. Why? Well, I suppose that Christmas is a time to reach out and say hello, tell people that you still think about them and show it by sending a little note. I admit that I have dropped a few people off my list simply because they never respond. Eventually you give up on people I suppose..but I’ll keep sending them to many….my way of sending well wishes to those I still think about at least once a year.

And so it goes….

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