Christmas in Blighty

Well well, has it been a year already? I guess so. After successfully completing my third semester at Kwantlen I headed back to the homeland to spend Christmas and New Year with my friends and family.

It was Mum's birthday on Christmas Day - the big six o.















And I finally got to meet my Sister Jane's new bloke, Mark - seems like a very nice chap. Just to add to the fun over Christmas Lunch he popped the question to Jane - everybody: Awww!















Jane has been pretty busy since I left - found herself a great bloke, AND is expecting her first baby in the spring - and one more time everyone: Awwww!


It wasnt all family though - far from it, I managed to see just about all my dear friends and no less than four bike rides - it was more like a training camp!

Here's Sara studying the info board that explains the background is actually an ancient moated thing - I say "thing" because I cant remember if it was a fort, a settlement or an early Tesco!!? But ancient it is, and moated it was.





This is looking the other way - it's funny how the mud doesnt look so bad in the photos - I guess it wasnt THAT bad but I'm not used to it anymore (mohaahahaha!) ......oh sorry. Am I rubbing it in.....again! ;-)










...and somewhere in Hertford Heath - this bit was the fast downhill of the ride - mainly cos it's been surfaced - I remember when this was unridably muddy before they surfaced it

(yes Sara, I know you're bored reading this)










Muddy bike - thank the lord (well Ed actually) for mud tyres :-D













About a day before I came back I decided to start taking people pictures - it occurs to me now that perhaps I shouldnt have been in them all!!

Anyway, here's my favourtie Welshman, Adrian with the looooong suffering Esther









...see what I mean!


















...Chris wasnt at all sure about having her photo taken in the middle of a cafe in Hertford












...and Pauline thought taking a photo in a garden centre car park was completely ridiculous!












Sara yes I know I said I wouldnt put this on the blog but we both knew I was lying right?










and last but by no means least Holly, Joe and Rich (thats Hols on the left)

Unfortunately I neglected to get any photos of mine or the Fisher family :-( ah well, next time)

Thank you to all my friends and family for making me very welcome despite me leaving them all for Canada. Special thanks to Edwin for loaning me some mud tyres even if you didnt come riding! Sara for sharing the old trails with me just like the old days, Ade & Es for looking after me as always and Ma for putting me up and giving up her car for two weeks!
But extra special thanks to my little sister for making it all possible. Thanks Sis :-D

Weather, Weather and more weather, and oh yes.......Whistler

We've had a lot of weather here lately.

Round One - Rain: Following the amazing summer which lasted into October, we had the wettest November on record. Now you'd think in a city with such a reputation for rain that they'd cope amazingly well with it. Hmm. You'd be wrong. The reservoirs were so full of run-off from the mountains it contaminated the water supply with silt so we had a ban on drinking the water for three weeks. This was accompanied by power outages all over the place which in turn meant the roads were a nightmare - no traffic lights y'see and they do like their traffic lights here!

Round two - Snow: Once all that was almost done with, the weather turned cold and we got a dump of snow, which made most roads impassable on normal tires and saw even more power cuts and what traffic there was pretty much stood still. I think there was about 18in over a weekend. And living as I do on a big hill, I resorted to bussing it to college for the first couple days. That was about three weeks ago and there's still snow lingering.

Round Three - Storms: The latest round was a bit more aggressive with storms off and on for a couple weeks - in a kind of mini-review of the past six weeks, one day I was awoken by heavy rain, the next hail and the next peeked out the curtains to see more snow! Unfortnately though, with the ground so wet combined with high winds, there were a lot of trees down. In fact the highway through Stanley Park (from the Lions Gate Bridge) to downtown had something like 25 trees across the road, cutting off the city from the West Van.


BUT..... the storms did also bring snow. You couldnt ski much on the local mountains because of power cuts but the storms subsided in Whistler on Friday so a bunch of us were up at 5am saturday to get some freshies! :-D


It was still pretty cold -10 to -15 but I had my woolie socks on...





Of course, I was out with the locals (I include Jon in that as he's lived here two years and did do a couple seasons in Alps) so it was off the lift and into the trees!

Now I can ski alright but in 2ft of pow I find it very hard to pick my line - pretty important when you're threading through the trees!






...and its pretty steep (this bit was out of the trees but the photo does show the gradient pretty well)

thats Jon by the way















And again


















and again.....he was the sympathetic one who'd wait for me as I stumbled my way down the powder



















by the end of the day the wind was picking up a bit and to me delight other people were getting tired (I was knackered hours ago!) so we headed down....


....with just a quick stop for coffee (or hot cider in my case) on the way down.



Another brilliant day at Whistler.

Whistler day2 :-]

Yesterday was a last minute thing. Today was the actual trip we planned. Just for a change we went to Whistler ;-)

It was Jon and Michele's (left) first day on snow this year but rumour had it they were pretty good - especially that Guimond bird!







...and the rumours were true!

There were four of us including Rich but I didnt get a photo of him cos he was always too fast and I was always at the back (again!). Wasnt so bad as last week though cos the snow was no more that 18inches deep :-D








As the young whipper-snapper of the group (not to mention being the gnarly boarder gurl), it fell to Michele to rip up the park while us old boys tried not to get too much air under the wood











more breath-taking views (yawn)


Rich was our leader today and he did a great job of taking us all over the mountain. It wasnt without it's moments though - like the mandatory drop in - its funny how you appreciate the versatility of a bike when you're stuck on the edge of a cornice (snow ledge) above a veery steeep run with only one choice - jump!







...and then there was this run which had the choice according to Rich of "going down this [the hard] way which is pretty steep or we could just go around this [the easy] way"....

we went the easy way but notice how steep it looks just after the orange sign.....








CLIFF!!

....can you imagine how steep the hard way was - I'm not sure I want to find out!

that was our last run....a good thing too as I think my adrenalin was running low! But the best was yet to come.

After laughing at these guys - Whistler's answer to sandwich boards - we went back to Rich's mate's parents' condo and jumped in the hot tub for a while -- oh sooooo good!

Thanks to Rich for the guiding, Adrian's parents for use of the condo, and Jon for driving.

Whistler!

Oh it's such a hard life.....

Whistler opened last week so it didnt take us long to line up a quick visit. I was supposed to be writing an essay but SOMEONE talked me into nipping up the road..... oh well if you insist!

Here's Kiyoka in the fantastic snow on Blackcomb





This is Kiyoka and I at the top of Blackcomb showing off our new jackets :-) and Kiyoka, her new skis!

It was a beautiful day. Clear, cold and with lovely soft snow everywhere. Hardly any fresh pow but the whole mountain was covered in the lovely snow so it didnt matter





Here's Kiyoka in action - she skis so fast, you wouldnt believe it - I tried taking a picture of her while we were both skiing and she dropped me - I had to put the camera away and haul down the fall line to catch her! Crazy girl.






but all too soon the day was over and it was time to go :-( here's me with John (Kiyoka's high school friend) before our last run











....photographic proof I couldnt catch the crazy Jap!!













Can't wait 'til I can go back.......

More snow, and more, and more and MORE!!

It's been snowing for the past 24hrs all over Vancouver so it seemed like the snow might be pretty good in the mountains. We had planned to go to Whistler but we heard it was -21 and windy with only 12cm of new snow BUT we also heard there was 51cm of powder at Mt Baker in the good ol' US of A so - no brainer - we headed off down there!


and did we find snow? Oh my god yes we did!


















it was snowing heavily when we got there and it didnt let up all day












there was actually 2-3 ft of snow on the trees!!!


















although as a powder rookie I really struggled in the deep powder. I could manage with it just above my knees, but hadn't a hope once my legs dissapeared into it


here's Rich (blue) and Dennis - Rich is not standing behind a bump - that's just the snow depth!





It was a tough day today - my first ski day this season - powder at least twice the depth I've ever seen and skiing with people way beyond my ability - hardcore! By the end of the day I could hardly stand....

Steep and deep!







this was Rich's car when we finished - a good foot of powder. We cleared it off then went inside to change - when we came out there was already an inch on it!!










Amber had a few 'moments' on the way down the mountain - actually a lot of people had 'moments' - it took us about 90mins to get down the 15min access road - oh, and about 5 hours to get home through the blizzards (inplace of 1.5h) - we didnt see a single bit of tarmac through the snow and ice.....







....back in Vancouver there was a foot of snow!
This was taked outside my appartment.

Oh, and you wouldnt believe how good snow tyres are! Awsome dude.

Thanks to Rich, Kev, Amber, Ross and Dennis for waiting for me all day

Musical Penguins

We went to the movies the other day. I was a little apprehensive when I found out we were going to see a musical cartoon about a penguin! I was, however, wrong. It was actually pretty good. Check out the trailer.....

Happy Feet Trailer

Snow!

It's well and truly scrumptious, err I mean fall - well you know, Autumn so the leaves are mostly on the plane, err, I mean on the ground.

Its been three whole weeks since I've done a day ride (thanks in part to the rain - and in part to my indifference with rain) so I was really happy to brave the weather and join Jon and Michelle for a quick lap of Fromme. It was raining a little but nothin too serious.....








...until it started snowing.....













by the time we got to the top there was about 8 inches or so settled on the fire road

cool bike rack eh? get it? Cool? Bike Rack hahahahah. This is the first decent pic of my new bike. Aint she lovely :-)









Jon taking a photo of me taking a photo of Jon taking a photo of me taking a photo of Jon taking a photo of me taking a photo of Jon taking a photo of me......well, you get the point!

.....and Michelle trying to get out of the picture!








nothin too serious today, just a black diamond run ;-)


















the trees do a good job of sheltering the trail so there was about half as much snow under cover, but still enough to make it lots of fun :-)











it kept snowing for aaaaages
(the blotches on the photo are the reflections off the snow)


















although it was kinda dark in the trees












this is about the last we saw of the snow falling and as you can see it hadnt settled although this was a long way down. Beyond this point it was just raining









and as a special treat for those of you still trying to ride a bike through the English mud - this is what a really yukky, wet ride does to your bike here - notice the wheels that still go round, the gears that still work and the essential use of 2.5inch downhill tyres

Did I mention I like it here?

Oh what a surprise - it's raining...again!!

There's been rain, rain and more rain here for the past couple weeks with only a couple days break. It's a public holiday (remembrance Day) on Monday so we have a long weekend to look forward to but....yes, you've guessed it, it's going to rain! Not only is it going to rain but the government have issued a severe weather warning - for rain!!















I shouldn't grumble though - I'm lucky enough to live on a mountain - on the low land further up the Fraiser Valley, there are severe floods with hundreds of people evacuated - not good.

Anyway, the plan this weekend is to see Borat tonight, then ride Fromme Saturday and Burke Sunday - I've never been to Burke so I'm hoping the weather is kind.

13 days until Whistler opens :-)

Aachal's Birthday celebration

Last night I was lucky enough to go to Aachal's birthday celebrations with her friends and family at their temple

Here's Aach with Lena (name spellings now corrected by the lovely Aachal!)









obviously, Sari's were the order of the day for the women



















here's Aach looking up to me ;-)
with Andy (left) and Kaiwan











Kaiwan & Hovi














some family - from left to right Anjula, Ranga, Sashi, Aach, Kalpana & Shri, Christina













Kamesh, Manjula, Aach and Shlu (the Aunt/Uncle Aach lives with)












all the cousins














is Aachal tiny or is that a huge cake?












......(its a huge cake)




its traditional for family to feed cake to the birthday girl. This is Aach's gran (Dhana) - her favourite relative I think












one of her cousins getting carried away and getting cake on her sari, in her hair and all over her face!!












the birthday girl

Happiness?

So what is happiness? They say money can't buy you happiness, but can it? Who do you know that couldnt have a whole lot of fun given a whole lot of cash? Not many I'll wager. I got to thinking about it the other day listening to a radio competition.

"Yes Brock, you have won $100,000" was followed by a slightly stunned listener shouting and hollering (is that really a word?). Wow, I thought, what would I do with a hundred grand. The more I thought about it, the more disappointed I was that I couldn't really think of anything. Sure, I could buy a new car (although nothing special) and I could buy some new bits to hang on my bike, but it wouldnt buy me a house. It wouldnt buy an apartment. And it certainly wouldnt buy me a place a Whistler for weekends ;-) But a hundred grand is still a lot of cash!

So what's wrong with me? Why can't I think of anything worth splurging on? Well folkes, my epiphany came when I realized that aside from a place to hang my hat, I'm lucky enough to have all the "things" I want. I have two very hot bikes and would be hard pushed to better them IMHO. I have my ski gear which I'm very happy with and I have a good (when it wants to be) laptop, a nice new digital camera, an ipod (thanks Ma, Tim and Sis) clothes to wear and a comfy bed to sleep in.

So what does that leave? Well, as a Business Student I'd have to gingerly put my hand up and say "services"; or probably more accurately "activities". I can't spend it on holidays - I live in paradise. I could fly back to England more often - but I HATE flying long haul so am unlikely to pursue that. What about those expensive lift passes for skiing? - I already have my Whistler and Cypress passes in the bag for this Winter. But what of Summer? I won't need a Bike Park Pass for another eight months so plenty of time to save up for that. Ah yes, socializing. Well it's true I'd love to take my friends out to eat all the time but in reality, I have modest tastes and eating out is half price in Vancouver compared to England! Add to that the speed with which the novelty would wear off and it doesnt seem a great idea. Hmm. Can't really think of much their either then.

Short of just blowing it on diamond-encrusted crash helmets and extravagant heli-skiing trips I'm stumped. Of course, I'd share my good fortune with family/friends etc and my wardrobe and car would get an upgrade but they are just eccentricities. The truth of the matter is, living here in Vancouver with the things I enjoy available at world-class quality in my back yard, I dont "want" for much and "need" even less. I'm happy. And so I should be. Viva Los Vancouver!

Happy Halloweeeeeeeen!

Canada, well North America in fact is an odd place sometimes. It could be government organised car insurance, or stupidly complicated cell-phones and bank accounts, or maybe even just people driving really, really big trucks but there's always some new thing to freak out at!

Today (or rather, back on 31st October - by the time I get this on the blog) it's their attitude to Halloween. And to put this into context, we should remember that there isn't much of an attitude to the last day of October in England - a re-run of Jamie Lee Curtis looking a lot younger, Jack Nicholson sprouting hair and chasing after Michelle Pfiefer or even Sarah Michelle Gellar's less well-known role. But. In England there's only mild trick-or-treating and very little else going on.

Not so in Canada. Here, we've been looking forward to it for weeks on end. The shops are full of costumes and props and everywhere you go there's a pumpkin incarnation - Pumpkin Donuts was the last one I heard.

Then there's the day itself. Oh my god. Half the college was in fancy dress! My (working) friends pushed off early and EVERYONE seems to be going to a party. The oddest thing I saw though wasn't the decorations on peoples houses, or even the ones throughout the tax office (where I work most weekends now) but the business man standing at the bus stop. He was alone, minding his own business, breifcase at his side, quietly reading the paper while standing at the road side.......

.......wearing a full Superman outfit, complete with cape and red boots!! Oh Canada!