We have just spent a fabulous Easter weekend in Victoria, our first visit to Vancouver Island. Billed as the provincial capital, the home of the provincial legislative government and the earliest site of white settlers to British Columbia, Victoria has been described as "more English than England". Well, the buildings are certainly grander and older than most we've seen in Canada and the government buildings are pretty impressive. The BC museum is excellent and the city has an English Riveria feel to it with a developed inland harbour, lots of waterfront property, houseboats and lots of greenery, parks and spring flowers. The kids had a great time at Victioria's Bug Zoo. Karenza got to hold a Tarantula (I was far too afraid). The kids enjoyed feeding the harbour seals at Fishermans Wharf, where Houseboat living had never appealed until now. We caught the harbour taxi to and fro and enjoyed High Tea at the Empress Hotel which was very grand, formal and colonial in both style and atmosphere and who served us one of the best cups of tea we've had since we arrived in Canada.
Victoria is a lovely place to visit and most attractions are located centrally so it's easy to walk to everything. It was nice to get away from the snow of the north and browse around some different shops (Victoria has some great bookshops). But was it more English than England? Not really, but I can see why people would say that. Our previous house in Worcestershire was older than the oldest settlers' house in Victoria and the service in the shops and hotels was far too good to be in England but over this last week back in PG I did miss England a little more than I have for a while. Maybe it had more to do with the piles of snow that are still sitting outside our house.
Next up, Vancouver. We're heading down there for a long weekend next week so keep a look out for a blog update after then.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Welcome to the pot hole capital of the world
Well we're finally in the new place and settling down. Although we've only moved across the city, the amount of organizing, the number of people to inform and the stress involved, you'd think we'd moved continents again. Still, the new place is nice, the views fabulous and now we have internet, cable, phone and our washing machine plumbed-in, life is resuming normality. The kids can also walk to school now which is a boon. The house is a bit bigger than our rental place so our furniture is rattling around a bit but that's easily remedied with some shopping.
I've managed to get the full 4 days off work at Easter so we're heading down to Victoria, the provincial capital, for a few days R&R this weekend which will be interesting. They're well into their Spring down there so it'll be nice to see some flowers and get away from the snow which, although melting fast, will still be around here for a bit. Our kids are still sledding down the hill at the back of our garden can you believe. It's warming up though and last night stayed above zero degrees for the the first time since I can't remember when.
The mood is changing too. Everyone wants to see the end of the snow (it was still snowing on the first two days of April) and are now looking forward to the summer. The shops are full of lawnmowers, barbeques and patio furniture. I even saw someone wearing shorts last week. The bad news is that the winter has had it's toll on the city roads and it feels like we have now become the pot-hole capital of BC. The main city routes have become giant slalom courses and drivers everywhere appear be driving enebriated but are simply trying to save their undercarriages as they swerve across the roads avoiding the holes. The same city crews which spent the last 4 months snow-ploughing the roads are now repairing them with a 24 hour pot-hole patrol in effect. Not only that but the melting snow has turned roads into streams and snow blocked drains everywhere result in very large puddles further impeding driving. Pickup trucks and SUVs are handy not only for winter but all year round in PG it would seem.
I've managed to get the full 4 days off work at Easter so we're heading down to Victoria, the provincial capital, for a few days R&R this weekend which will be interesting. They're well into their Spring down there so it'll be nice to see some flowers and get away from the snow which, although melting fast, will still be around here for a bit. Our kids are still sledding down the hill at the back of our garden can you believe. It's warming up though and last night stayed above zero degrees for the the first time since I can't remember when.
The mood is changing too. Everyone wants to see the end of the snow (it was still snowing on the first two days of April) and are now looking forward to the summer. The shops are full of lawnmowers, barbeques and patio furniture. I even saw someone wearing shorts last week. The bad news is that the winter has had it's toll on the city roads and it feels like we have now become the pot-hole capital of BC. The main city routes have become giant slalom courses and drivers everywhere appear be driving enebriated but are simply trying to save their undercarriages as they swerve across the roads avoiding the holes. The same city crews which spent the last 4 months snow-ploughing the roads are now repairing them with a 24 hour pot-hole patrol in effect. Not only that but the melting snow has turned roads into streams and snow blocked drains everywhere result in very large puddles further impeding driving. Pickup trucks and SUVs are handy not only for winter but all year round in PG it would seem.
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