Vancouver B.C.

BC is of course British Columbia, but for us the BC stands for 'Becoming Cloudy' as Vancouver lost its nice spring weather the day we arrived. We have spent a few lazy days with nephew Andre and wife Nicole, their two year old Daniel and two week old Madeleine and of course with neice Rachelle and partner Sheldon.

We have only made one foray downtown. We spent a good time exploring Vancouver last time we were here in 2003 - when the August weather was a good deal more inviting. This time we just made a short shopping trip - Tess needed some socks and leggings against the cold - and also visited the art gallery where we saw two exhibitions, one on abstraction (left us Barely Concious) and another much better one of four landscape painters (Bloody 'Complished). Mind you for the 12 dollar entry fee each we felt that here BC stood for a Bit Conned as only half the galleries were open.

We had our first encounter with a Canadian eccentric in a shopping mall (drinking Black Coffee) when a character came in with his hat and jacket covered in home made large wooden badges - each poker worked with a different political or health issue slogan and then varnished. This BC (Badge Covered) resident than of course made a bee-line for us and we actually had a good chat with him. He was from Port Alberni in the middle of Vancouver Island, a place we have spent a few hours in, and told us how his family had emigrated from Scotland just before the war, having visited Germany and become convinced of the inevitability of war. It is our experience from our last visit that there is no-one on the islands without a long and interesting back story.

We are off shortly to the Sunshine Coast BC for a couple of nights - standing here for Better Climate as it gets its name from its rain shadow location just a ferry ride away to the north of Vancouver. But judging from the weather forecast for us it will stand for Bloody Chilly and Better Cancel. We will let you know how we get on!

Brian