Day 135 - Quad

Up and out for jog and I don't think I've ever sweated as much as I did this morning! I missed the JW workout as I wanted to get the pool cleaned and water back in it as soon as possible.

I had a quick shower, fed everyone, grabbed a bag filled with snacks and drinks and got everyone in the car to head up to the yard to see Nanny and Grandad.  We didn't know who else might be there although I know the boys really wanted to see their cousins.

I really need to get my hair trimmed!  It looks like the hay the horses are eating!

We had a really nice time up the yard.  It was very chilled considering the heat!  There is a lovely spot under some trees and a breeze hits you straight in the face.

Auntie Katie and the cousins did turn up, apart from Kamron who was still at Nanny and Grandad's house working on some project.  I fed Jude and had snuggles while his Mum caught a few zzzz, Owen played with the water and Cherry played horses and hide & seek with Leo and Oscar.

Dad got the quad bike out again for Ellis who was super excited and Leo was really looking forward to having a go too.  I let Ellis take Leo round as he is very, very sensible.  Ellis let me have a go with him on the back and he ended up screaming at me to stop 😂😂  I took Oscar round too and he loved it and asked for me to go faster, which I didn't of course.

We got home a lot later than I thought we would which was fine and the pool was still filling up!  Ellis cracked on with dinner once Rob was home from work, which received an 8/10 tonight.

I haven't really settled this evening.  I've been doing chores, pottering around, putting kids to bed, doing the blog and once I've finished I need to put electrics away from the pool and get myself to bed! Doing my long run tomorrow and need to pick up the food shop before 9 so I'm going to have to get a move on.  We have friends over tomorrow afternoon for some food and a few drinks.  Really looking forward to it and I'm not going to stress about sorting food for everyone. 🤞  Also hope the weather is good for us so we can sit outside and the boys can go in the pool. 🤞

Where they to? - 31st July 

Thirteen and a half hours, that's how long the bus from Vancouver to Banff takes. To put that into perspective, it's roughly the equivalent of getting a bus from Bristol to Carlisle and back, via London. It's so far that we passed a sign for a Subway sandwich shop that read "Subway - 125km". Strictly speaking, it was only twelve and a half hours but, we crossed a timezone and we're bloody well having that extra that hour, we've earnt it; I don't care what the official rules are.

13.5 hour bus journeys give you medical implications to consider. Firstly, there is the risk of a deep vein thrombosis due to a lack of circulation from sitting in the same position for a long time. The solution to this is to take an aspirin to thin the blood, drink plenty of water and take regular walks up and down the aisle of the bus. Secondly, there is the risk of travel sickness. This is remedied by eating ginger biscuits, wearing Nei-Kwan pressure-point wristbands and concentrating on the road. The third health risk is that of your bumhole healing over. I can't speak for Mush, as she's nodded off, but I'd say, from the way mine feels right now, that it only has a 50/50 chance of re-entering active service again in the future. I suppose we'd better get used to it. Imagine a 20 hour ride on a rickety bus with no air-con on crap roads in Chile. Just the thought of it makes me wince.

At least, on this occasion, we had some of the most awe-inspiring scenery that our planet has to offer to take our minds off things. Namely, the Canadian Rocky Mountains. To begin with, I was pretty disappointed by the Rockies. We were driving along and I kept thinking to myself that if you closed your eyes and clicked your fingers you could imagine you'd been teleported to the M74 on the way from England up to Scotland; the landscape is almost identical. But, it turns out, that we were just travelling through the Coastal Mountain Range. You don't hit the Rockies, proper, until after about 8 hours of driving and, when you reach them, you know about it. You simply run out of superlatives to describe the views. Majestic peaks, chasmic drops, shimmering lakes, none of them do justice to witnessing the spectacle first-hand. As we wended between the peaks, along highways carved into the hillside, the scene just rolled on and on. The sun the last few days has been so strong that I am now the proud owner of a white pair of shorts, a white t-shirt, a white wristwatch and a pair of white wraparound sunglasses and yet, the peaks of the mountains are still topped with snow; it almost betrays the senses.

On the Greyhound buses, they put videos on to help you while away the hours. Needless to say, Mush watched all 4 films that were put in front of her. As we were passing through the pretty, but uninspiring, Coastal Mountains, she watched Inspector Gadget and Mickey Blue Eyes. At least she had the judgement, however, when we were passing through the Rocky Mountains, to turn away from the screen and soak up the views. Some passengers, instead, chose to watch Vertical Limit. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's a film about people running and jumping around in a snowy alpine range. Even better than the real thing, it would seem.

I decided to pass away some of the time by reading the manual that came with my camera - I've only had it a few months. It turns out that there is a fireworks mode. Pillock.

We finally broke our McDuck today and had our first McDonalds for lunch at the Greyhound service station. We've been eating pretty healthily up to now and one thing we've noticed is that our appetites have altered. I assume it's all of the activity we've been getting up to but we don't seem to crave junk food very much. I have had a thing for fruit smoothies since we arrived and we've eaten either pasta or rice for most meals.

We've only been in the town of Banff for a few hours but I already much prefer it to Vancouver. There is a really friendly atmosphere in town and, unlike Vancouver, the place doesn't seem to be trying to be something that it's not. It's a beautiful, but tiny village in one of Canada's most celebrated National Parks and it just seems to embrace that and get on with making it's guests feel welcome. Apparently, due to attempts to try to reverse the ecological damage to the area, a limit of 10,000 permanent residents has been set; a limit that is rapidly being approached. Despite that small number, 4 million tourists stay in Banff each year. I'm not quite sure how they manage it.

The view from our window is one you'd love to wake up to every morning. 2 mountains, covered in a patchwork of pine trees, reach up and touch the clouds. To one side, the River Bow, about 80 metres wide and fast-moving like the rivers that you see salmon leaping up in the documentaries, flows by. In the morning, we are going to hire out some bikes again and get a guide book of the bike trails to help us find the best spots. I can't wait...

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Night peeps xxx

Day 134 - Alone!

Wow it's a warm one today and going to be even hotter tomorrow!  The chlorine arrived for the pool and I put it in straight away but think it's going to take a couple of days to work.  Fingers crossed it hasn't gone too far. 🤞

I did the usual exercise, chores and shower routine first thing and then Lucy arrived.  She changed for the morning instead and we sat in the garden and had an undisturbed chat for a couple of hours which was lush!

After lunch I told the boys I was kicking them all out.  Rob is in the office and Ellis was meeting up with friends too.  I told him not to bring his mates back this time as I wanted some peace and quiet. 👍

I had an eating afternoon where you start but just don't know when to finish so raided the cupboards for a bit until I sat down to do this, feeling rather sick and annoyed with myself.  Ah well. 🤷

I rescued a lovely cricket from our garden today. 🦗

As you can probably guess the boys didn't actually stay away that long and although I got to start my book, I was disturbed quite quickly.  I got a couple of chores done instead.

So the decision was made to empty the pool, clean it, change the filters, rinse out the pipes and start again.  We have plenty of chlorine now and hopefully this time "we" will be able to maintain it better.  It takes ages to empty, clean and fill again so quite possibly won't be ready for tomorrow afternoon but I spent at least 2 hours getting the water out and wiping it round and trying to get it nearly sorted so that I can start filling it again in the morning.  My back is killing me.  It's just gone midnight and I've managed to sort the pool and put the kids to bed with my evening.  I've just necked a beer so could do with going to bed but really want to get the blog finished, so I'll try.💪

Where they to? - 30th July Vancouver

We went on a couple of beautiful scenic cruises today. At least, that's the way I'm trying to dress it up for Mush as, if the truth be known, the day was a bit of a farce. The capital of the province is a city called Victoria. Getting there from Downtown Vancouver involves getting a bus to the airport, changing there and getting a bus to Tsawwassen ferry terminal, getting a ferry to Vancouver Island and then getting a bus to Downtown Victoria. We were advised that the total journey time would be 4.5 hours. I'd assumed that the Tourist Information people were giving us a worst case scenario when they told us that so we set off just before 9 with the aim of getting to Victoria in time for a late lunch followed by a visit to the trumpeted Royal British Columbia Museum. Just over 6, yes 6, hours later, we arrived in Victoria.  The first thing we did was get lost but not on the epic scale of the last couple of occasions so it only cost us about 15 minutes or so. However, once we got our bearings, quenched our thirst and filled our bellies, it was nudging 4-o'clock. The museum was a 10 minute walk away, was due to close at 5PM and charges a fiver admission so, feeling pretty sorry for ourselves, we considered the facts. We had a 6 hour journey to make back to our accommodation.  We have a 5:30AM start the next day as we have a Greyhound bus journey to Banff, our next stop. With our new frugal spending, we couldn't really justify £10 for 50 minutes in a museum. It all pointed to one thing.  Get straight on the next bus back. Which is what we did. We were quite disappointed as the RBC museum is considered to be one of the best in North America and Victoria is a picturesque city that would have been nice to wander round. Still, I suppose we can say we've been there now.

The ferry crossings of the Georgia Strait were something of a high-point in the day's proceedings. With my record, or perhaps that should read my stomach's record, for travelling on boats, this was not something I was looking forward to, but, I needn't have worried. I saw my breakfast only once today and was even comfortable enough to read a book for part of the crossing.

The bus back to Downtown Vancouver was half-filled with lesbians on their way into town for the Pride Celebration this weekend. I am now able to confirm, once and for all, that they look absolutely bugger all like they do in the films. Sorry chaps.

We don't have a great deal else to report today. Looking forward to Banff, though. It is in the Rockies and, in that general direction, we can see what look to be snow-topped mountains despite the fact that it's breaking 30 degrees in the midday sun. We'll see tomorrow whether or not our eyes are deceiving us.

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Boys have all been good today, Ellis is very late going to bed, he's still faffing up there now as I type this but Leo and Oscar are fast asleep after a late night for them too.

Plan for tomorrow is run, workout, sort pool and start it filling up, head to yard for visit and picnic, back home to chill for a bit.  Ellis didn't do dinner tonight so he has to do one tomorrow.👍

Right I'm done.  Snoozeville for me hopefully. x

Day 133 - Wild Place

Well I didn't quite manage to get up as early as I had hoped but I was still out running by 7:30am which was pretty good.  Did the long run of 7 miles today and it was sticky! Think that's only going to get worse over the next couple of days as the weather is supposed to be getting warmer.  I've been freezing though!

The chlorine still hasn't arrived for the pool and it is now a very dark green which is such a shame for the boys as they would have loved to be in it with the hot weather coming.  So annoying to have it there all this time and then they can't bloody use it!  Lots of exclamation marks today! 😉

Fed everyone, did the packed lunches, managed to get Leo dressed finally as he was not feeling it this morning and left on time. Think he needs a morning off, which he'll get tomorrow.  Ellis was moaning as didn't really want to come but it was tough as I'd already paid for him to be there.

We left and made it the car park for just before 11, which was our allocated time of arrival.  We walked through with no problems and waited for Saskia, who arrived shortly after, without Keira who had decided she wasn't feeling it today either. 😊

The park have set up a one way system and they give out maps on entry.  It was very clearly sign posted and staff members stood at certain points to make sure you weren't going the wrong way.  I must admit it was very calm, quiet and orderly and I actually quite liked it.  The only problem was that so much was closed! No play areas, maze closed, lemur walkthrough, bear windows and giraffe house all shut.  This meant that including sitting and having our lunch we were done in under 2 hours!  Saskia and I didn't even get to sit with a cuppa and chat. 😕. A very expensive couple of hours at nearly £50 but hopefully that will feed an animal for a bit.

Gelada

Fur matches Saskia's hair according to Oscar

Lynx with 2 babies!

I quickly popped to The Mall to take back some trainers and the boys all stayed in the car.  It was my first time there since lockdown so I didn't know what to expect.  There is a one way system in place with ample markings on the floor and it was quite quiet and everyone had a mask on.  I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. 👍

Dinner tonight was ...

Ellis did a grand job and Rob gave it 9 out of 10. 🤩

It's great to see him trying new food.

I spent the evening blogging and wasting my life scrolling through social media.  I did order a new piano stool, sorted out decorations for Ellis' birthday, arranged a social for Saturday, spoke to pharmacy and in-laws again, booked Ellis birthday party, replied to messages I'd missed, cleared up the kitchen, ordered gerbil food, tried to find some chlorine tablets I could pick up tomorrow, and made cups of tea. 😊

Rob and I watched a couple of episodes of After Life season 2 which is a very rare occurrence for us and we both enjoyed it.  We won't be watching any more tonight as he's working hard on something he needs ready for the morning, so I'm doing this and will hopefully listen to a podcast later.  Michelle Obama released her first podcast today so I'd like to hear it if I get the time.

Not much of a plan for tomorrow.  Weather is nice so will hopefully get boys out at some point.  Lucy is coming over about 2pm so that will break the afternoon up nicely and I'll try and get a couple of things done off my to-do-list, or I might sit in the sun and start my new book!

Where they to? - 29th July Vancouver

Today started by whiling away some time with a bit of people-watching while eating crepes and fruit smoothies for breakfast in a pavement café. We then spent a few more hours planning our next few weeks travel. It's surprising when you're travelling how much time you spend planning ahead; it feels like an awful waste of your time but there is no avoiding it so I guess we'll just have to get used to it and refine how we do it in future.

We headed over to a historic district of Vancouver called Gastown for lunch. It's where the first Europeans settled so the buildings there have a little more character than much of Vancouver. On our way there, we walked past some people who were surrounded by police and TV cameras. They all had long hair and looked a little scruffy. Some were carrying placards proclaiming "Free the Flower People" and they used something resembling a Canadian Maple leaf with 5 long fronds as their logo. I've no idea who these flower people are; I can only assume it's a Canadian TV show and they are rehashing the Dierdrie Rasheed storyline all over again.

Gastown is pleasant enough but once you've done 1 tourist shop selling maple syrup and cuddly moose, you've done them all. The district's centrepiece landmark is a steam driven clock. It has steam whistles on the top which sound every quarter of an hour and which climax in a little tune every hour. Today's top-tip: When taking photos of steam clocks, don't crouch down, upwind of them, trying to get a decent angle; you'll only succeed in getting yourself and your camera soaked.

We walked back to Downtown for a few supplies and saw a few acute examples of Vancouver's homeless problem. One was a man in his mid-20s who had his trouser leg rolled up to the top of his thigh to expose a gaping, rotten infection on the side of his leg. He had a sign begging for money as he was in need of medication. I suspect he'll be joining Vancouver's amputee population before long. Minutes later, we walked past a dishevelled tramp who was climbing one of the poles which carries the 40,000 volt cables that power the city's buses. He was being egged on to get right to the very top by 2 lads in their early 20s who were eating their bruschetta in a nearby café. Before a growing crowd, he safely negotiated his way past the cables to the top and then shimmied back down but it quickly became apparent that the lads had offered him some money if he completed their degrading "challenge". Cretins.

Mush was really suffering with her feet today so we decided that we ought to buy her some better flip-flops with a bit of cushioning in the soles. We noticed a New Balance shop so we decided to take a look. For those of you who don't know, New Balance is a footwear brand who specialise in Basketball but who produce a whole range of footwear. Mush tried on a few pairs when she said to me "Oooh, look, those ones there are really nice. How much are they?", gesturing towards a wall of trainers. "Which ones?" I asked. "The New Balance ones," Came the reply...

We kept a fairly low profile this evening as our accommodation is opposite the impressive BC Stadium and the BC Lions are hosting the Calgary Summatorothers in a game of Canadian football. We thought about getting some tickets but, fortunately, we happened upon some rusty spoons that we could gouge our eyes out with instead. Much more pleasurable, I'm sure you'll agree.

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Don't know what else to write. 🤷  Taking laptop to bed I think.  Nigh nights x