Friday, 16 October 2009
Bowen Queen returns to Gabriola
For the next 6 months or so, the Bowen Queen has once again replaced Quinsam on our regular ferry link to Nanaimo. Here she is, fully laden, entering Descanso Bay at 4pm today.
A fine vintage
A range of fine wines from British Columbia........?
........not quite; it's the product of 40 years of sediment in the 1967 hot water cylinder which I've just moved - and that's after I've flushed it through with a hose for an hour. The range of fine tipples (above, from the right) - 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes and an hour after reconnection. The fifth glass came from the cold tap as a comparison!
(left) where the tank was since 1967 (right) it's new home for the next 40 years
They don't make them like that any more! Pity the same can't be said for the compression joint purchased yesterday to make the new connection. It collapsed an hour later, sending water everywhere! An unscheduled trip back to Home Depot tonight to get a different fitting. So far so good......
Friday, 9 October 2009
New laundry open for business
Back at the house, any excuse for dirty clothes is now over. There's even space to store the ironing board. Two different floor surfaces - one for the wet, one for the dry. Nice effect, don't you think? Both machines are, of course, being road tested this evening!
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A little creativity was needed to get the dryer to vent through the floor.
Long way home
It's just after 7pm, and pretty much every ferry from Tsawwassen tonight is now fully booked.
This was the view from outside the Tsawwassen terminal
.....and for those lucky (?) enough to be inside.
There may be more than one person reminding David Hahn that he promised "to sail through the night if we have to" to get everyone to their destination.
No fun in Tsawwassen
By lunchtime today, 4-6 hour queues were building for ferries to Vancouver Island at the start of the Thanksgiving weekend. By 2pm, it was a 4 hour wait to get to Victoria and a 6+ hour wait for ferries to Nanaimo. Happy holidays!
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Challenging times for BC Ferries
Last week it was the washrooms aboard MV Quinsam being closed, following the apparent failure of the sewage disposal system installed just a few months ago during the first part of the vessel's mid-life refit.
Yesterday, BC Ferries announced reduced capacity on its Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route starting 13 October, while the giant S-Class vessel Spirit of British Columbia (410 cars, 2,100 passengers) is taken out of service for annual maintenance and recertification. In its place the 45-year old Queen of New Westminster will accommodate only 270 cars and 1,300 passengers.
Just as the Thanksgiving weekend gets underway, a generator fire aboard the second S-Class vessel Spirit of Vancouver Island has resulted in the cancellation of 4 out of the 14 round trips today on the busy Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route. Holders of Assured Loading Tickets on that route today will find that they are not being honoured, meaning that they will have to join the line-up like everyone else. With 1,600 fewer car spaces each way today, that could be a pretty long line.
Yesterday, BC Ferries announced reduced capacity on its Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route starting 13 October, while the giant S-Class vessel Spirit of British Columbia (410 cars, 2,100 passengers) is taken out of service for annual maintenance and recertification. In its place the 45-year old Queen of New Westminster will accommodate only 270 cars and 1,300 passengers.
Just as the Thanksgiving weekend gets underway, a generator fire aboard the second S-Class vessel Spirit of Vancouver Island has resulted in the cancellation of 4 out of the 14 round trips today on the busy Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route. Holders of Assured Loading Tickets on that route today will find that they are not being honoured, meaning that they will have to join the line-up like everyone else. With 1,600 fewer car spaces each way today, that could be a pretty long line.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
The ultimate cruise?
Okay, so I don't have time to read the Boston Globe online. But if I hadn't, I could have missed the opportunity of a lifetime. Maybe the final opportunity. Let's see if I can remember the detail - I'll probably get it wrong.
A trans-Atlantic cruise is being offered in April 2012 to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Fred. Olsen's cruise liner "Balmoral" will follow Titanic's wake from Southampton, England on April 8 and arrive at the spot in the North Atlantic where Titanic sank on April 15. Icebergs permitting, a memorial service will be held onboard exactly 100 years after the liner sank, between 11:40 p.m., on April 14, 2012, and 2:20 a.m. on April 15.
Survivors will then head to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they can visit the three cemeteries where Titanic's victims are buried. With luck, the final stop on the cruise will be New York, Titanic's intended destination.
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The cruise will include menus from the original voyage, a live band offering music and dancing from that era and, for those booking the cheaper inside cabins, the opportunity to watch passengers from suites and balcony staterooms sail away in their lifeboats as the ship goes down.
A trans-Atlantic cruise is being offered in April 2012 to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Fred. Olsen's cruise liner "Balmoral" will follow Titanic's wake from Southampton, England on April 8 and arrive at the spot in the North Atlantic where Titanic sank on April 15. Icebergs permitting, a memorial service will be held onboard exactly 100 years after the liner sank, between 11:40 p.m., on April 14, 2012, and 2:20 a.m. on April 15.
Survivors will then head to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they can visit the three cemeteries where Titanic's victims are buried. With luck, the final stop on the cruise will be New York, Titanic's intended destination.
The cruise will include menus from the original voyage, a live band offering music and dancing from that era and, for those booking the cheaper inside cabins, the opportunity to watch passengers from suites and balcony staterooms sail away in their lifeboats as the ship goes down. Apparently all lower-grade inside cabins and some suite categories are already sold out. For those of you with an insatiable desire to re-live the tragedy, there's still time to visit http://www.titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk/
Ironically, it was Fred. Olsen's parent company, Harland and Wolff, who built the Titanic.
I feel we should offer a free holiday in Gabriola to the first passenger to swim ashore?
I feel we should offer a free holiday in Gabriola to the first passenger to swim ashore?
Monday, 5 October 2009
Before and after
It's not in my nature to cut down healthy trees, but sometimes it has to be done....
..and the logs will be warming the family next year.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Trains, Planes and Automobile - but no bus
Long distance travel either works, or it doesn't. It only takes one slip up to throw the whole journey into disarray. Delays, queues, missed connections or just bad weather. They can all turn an adventure into a mysery. This morning, the air traffic control computer at Prestwick, Scotland, broke down and grounded all transatlatic flights from the UK. But that was today, and by the time that chip got fried I was catching up on my sleep back here in Gabriola.
My journey from home to home (Aylesbury, UK to Gabriola, BC) actually went remarkably well - despite learning 24 hours before departure that Pacific Coachlines had suspended the direct coach between Vancouver Airport and Nanaimo from this week because of poor usage. Plan B was now required.
The plan was to travel by train to Gatwick Airport; fly with Thomas Cook to Vancouver and get to Gabriola before the gate closed at 11pm.
Stage 1 : train from Aylesbury. Must check that Leaf Fall hasn't started, as trains all leave 3 minutes earlier for 3 months of the year, just inviting you to miss them. No, leaf fall starts Sunday 4th October, so the 07.15 train will indeed leave at 07.15. Next week it will be 07.12! The wheels under my luggage hold out all the way to the station this time. Good omen.
Stage 2 : Across rush hour London. "There is a good service on all London Underground lines" says the PA system. And there was. Train at the platform when I get there; another just pulling in at my interchange point half way to Victoria. If only the underground wasn't underground, I wouldn't have had to carry the luggage up so many stairs.
Stage 3 : My journey planner had told me to catch Gatwick Express at 09.00 from Victoria. I was there in time to buy a coffee and catch the 08.45 with ease. Great service, pity about the smell from the toilets on the train.
Stage 4 : possibly the most tedious. The last time I flew out of Gatwick with Thomas Cook, the queue for check-in went halfway round the departure hall. "They only paid for 4 desks" said Servisair's ever-patient floorwalker. This time, the same 4 desks - plus two check-in clerks working the queue to pre-scan the passports. As I get to the front of the line, 4 more desks are opening and my luggage disappears down the belt in less than 10 minutes. Security takes just 5 minutes - and, for their own comfort, they decide I don't need to take my boots off today. Plenty of time for elevenses, as well as a browse through duty free.
Stage 5 : Flight had arrived an hour early this morning, so boarding starts promptly and we're off in good time. Captain warns of strong headwinds, so expect to arrive Vancouver 20 minutes late. Oh well, let's hope the food is good. Actually is was good - both meals were hot, tasty and recognisable - always a bonus with airline catering. I choose not to pay £2.50 for a headset, and instead try and recover my beauty sleep. Yes, I know it will take more than 10 hours to recover my beauty, but at least I can catch up on some sleep. Touch down at YVR is just 16 minutes behind schedule. Almost before we can undo seatbelts, the luggage is being unloaded. Could this be a good sign?
Stage 6 : The immigration hall is strangely empty. There are new self-service desks for Canadian Citizens, which have the same effect as they do in the supermarkets. Anyone over 55 walks straight past them and joins the queue! It's looking good. Flight TCX84 is the first international arrival for 40 minutes and we've slipped in just ahead of a flight from China and another from the US. Immigration complete in little over 5 minutes. Match that, Seattle! Baggage is already on Carousel 23 and on the second circuit I have my bag. Touch down 14:56; leave terminal at 15:25. Is that a record?
Stage 7 : A check online last night confirmed all seaplanes from YVR were fully booked Friday afternoon, but the word from England is that there are still some spare seats on flights from Vancouver Harbour. A chance to sample the new Canada Line! If I work this right, my $3.50 ticket will be valid for long enough to get to the Harbour, check the flights and (if all else fails) catch the bus from downtown to Horseshoe Bay. Canada Line train in 4 minutes; ticket machines working well (unlike earlier in the day when they had failed apparently). I forget to validate my ticket as I board. Oh well, never mind, I can do it next time! As the Canada Line train whisks me through the suburbs, I ponder why they thought it necessary to build an escape walkway alongside the whole line. Do they expect that many train failures?
Stage 8 - A brisk walk from Waterfront station through Canada Place to the harbour. God, this case is noisy when you're wheeling it over decorative block paving! It's 1 hour 15 minutes after touchdown at YVR and I'm checking it with West Coast Air in downtown Vancouver! I'm in luck. There's one more seat on the 16:30 flight to Nanaimo, and despite the look of distain from the pilot as he eyes my 20kg bag, within a few minutes we're boarding the 6-seater DeHavilland Beaver. Yes, my bag is in the hold, not in the harbour. That's ok then. Wisely, our pilot let's the 16:30 to Victoria take off first (2 engines, lots of spray and much faster...) and we're away. Should have brought my earplugs. Unlike Tofino Air, WestCoast don't issue ear defenders on board their Beavers.
Stage 9 - MV Quinsam is just leaving Nanaimo as we touch down, so I have an hour to replenish my caffeine levels and check out the next stage of the journey. I opt for a taxi home from the ferry, so as not to disturb the cousins from their evening meals. A quick phone call and that's arranged. Gabriola's one Taxi will be there. Quinsam docks a little behind schedule, resplendent with Portaloo cabins at either end of the car deck. Acknowledgement to the fact that their plumbing and disposal arrangements are not what they should be. Oh well, the Bowen Queen arrives in 2 weeks so I expect we shall survive until then.
Stage 10 - Taxi is waiting and by 18:30 I'm in the house. That's 19 hours 30 minutes door to door, and the sun's still shining! A quick run back to the shops and I can have milk in my coffee. Now what's happened to my car keys?
My journey from home to home (Aylesbury, UK to Gabriola, BC) actually went remarkably well - despite learning 24 hours before departure that Pacific Coachlines had suspended the direct coach between Vancouver Airport and Nanaimo from this week because of poor usage. Plan B was now required.
The plan was to travel by train to Gatwick Airport; fly with Thomas Cook to Vancouver and get to Gabriola before the gate closed at 11pm.
Stage 1 : train from Aylesbury. Must check that Leaf Fall hasn't started, as trains all leave 3 minutes earlier for 3 months of the year, just inviting you to miss them. No, leaf fall starts Sunday 4th October, so the 07.15 train will indeed leave at 07.15. Next week it will be 07.12! The wheels under my luggage hold out all the way to the station this time. Good omen.
Stage 2 : Across rush hour London. "There is a good service on all London Underground lines" says the PA system. And there was. Train at the platform when I get there; another just pulling in at my interchange point half way to Victoria. If only the underground wasn't underground, I wouldn't have had to carry the luggage up so many stairs.
Stage 3 : My journey planner had told me to catch Gatwick Express at 09.00 from Victoria. I was there in time to buy a coffee and catch the 08.45 with ease. Great service, pity about the smell from the toilets on the train.
Stage 4 : possibly the most tedious. The last time I flew out of Gatwick with Thomas Cook, the queue for check-in went halfway round the departure hall. "They only paid for 4 desks" said Servisair's ever-patient floorwalker. This time, the same 4 desks - plus two check-in clerks working the queue to pre-scan the passports. As I get to the front of the line, 4 more desks are opening and my luggage disappears down the belt in less than 10 minutes. Security takes just 5 minutes - and, for their own comfort, they decide I don't need to take my boots off today. Plenty of time for elevenses, as well as a browse through duty free.
Stage 5 : Flight had arrived an hour early this morning, so boarding starts promptly and we're off in good time. Captain warns of strong headwinds, so expect to arrive Vancouver 20 minutes late. Oh well, let's hope the food is good. Actually is was good - both meals were hot, tasty and recognisable - always a bonus with airline catering. I choose not to pay £2.50 for a headset, and instead try and recover my beauty sleep. Yes, I know it will take more than 10 hours to recover my beauty, but at least I can catch up on some sleep. Touch down at YVR is just 16 minutes behind schedule. Almost before we can undo seatbelts, the luggage is being unloaded. Could this be a good sign?
Stage 6 : The immigration hall is strangely empty. There are new self-service desks for Canadian Citizens, which have the same effect as they do in the supermarkets. Anyone over 55 walks straight past them and joins the queue! It's looking good. Flight TCX84 is the first international arrival for 40 minutes and we've slipped in just ahead of a flight from China and another from the US. Immigration complete in little over 5 minutes. Match that, Seattle! Baggage is already on Carousel 23 and on the second circuit I have my bag. Touch down 14:56; leave terminal at 15:25. Is that a record?
Stage 7 : A check online last night confirmed all seaplanes from YVR were fully booked Friday afternoon, but the word from England is that there are still some spare seats on flights from Vancouver Harbour. A chance to sample the new Canada Line! If I work this right, my $3.50 ticket will be valid for long enough to get to the Harbour, check the flights and (if all else fails) catch the bus from downtown to Horseshoe Bay. Canada Line train in 4 minutes; ticket machines working well (unlike earlier in the day when they had failed apparently). I forget to validate my ticket as I board. Oh well, never mind, I can do it next time! As the Canada Line train whisks me through the suburbs, I ponder why they thought it necessary to build an escape walkway alongside the whole line. Do they expect that many train failures?
Stage 8 - A brisk walk from Waterfront station through Canada Place to the harbour. God, this case is noisy when you're wheeling it over decorative block paving! It's 1 hour 15 minutes after touchdown at YVR and I'm checking it with West Coast Air in downtown Vancouver! I'm in luck. There's one more seat on the 16:30 flight to Nanaimo, and despite the look of distain from the pilot as he eyes my 20kg bag, within a few minutes we're boarding the 6-seater DeHavilland Beaver. Yes, my bag is in the hold, not in the harbour. That's ok then. Wisely, our pilot let's the 16:30 to Victoria take off first (2 engines, lots of spray and much faster...) and we're away. Should have brought my earplugs. Unlike Tofino Air, WestCoast don't issue ear defenders on board their Beavers.
Stage 9 - MV Quinsam is just leaving Nanaimo as we touch down, so I have an hour to replenish my caffeine levels and check out the next stage of the journey. I opt for a taxi home from the ferry, so as not to disturb the cousins from their evening meals. A quick phone call and that's arranged. Gabriola's one Taxi will be there. Quinsam docks a little behind schedule, resplendent with Portaloo cabins at either end of the car deck. Acknowledgement to the fact that their plumbing and disposal arrangements are not what they should be. Oh well, the Bowen Queen arrives in 2 weeks so I expect we shall survive until then.
Stage 10 - Taxi is waiting and by 18:30 I'm in the house. That's 19 hours 30 minutes door to door, and the sun's still shining! A quick run back to the shops and I can have milk in my coffee. Now what's happened to my car keys?
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