Tea, Tickets and Raw Food

Just a reminder that anyone can call me at the local 935# I have set up in Niagara. It will ring both my home and cell at the same time; if I don't answer, it's because I am at work... but leave a message anyway. :-)


June 16th - People Watching and Tea

Opened the store today, another lovely one by the looks of it. One thing I like about this branch's location is that it is at a busy intersection, with a major bus stop out the front. As a bonus, there is a coffee shop and a tanning salon in the plaza; all that combined means there is always steady stream of people passing by. The big windows here means that people-watching is very easy and often fascinating. Today, for example, I saw a little old monk go by in his brown robes, at a steady pace with his walker which he does regularly. Too, I saw the unhappy woman with her drawn face, whose hair is in a perfect pageboy-bob every time. Then there is the older woman with the small child she takes for walks each day, who claims she is the daughter of Paul Sr. from the TV show Orange County Choppers - she comes in for laundry change fairly often. These are a few I know of the many passers-by, quite a few of whom I admit are very pleasing to the eye. Especially those who frequent the salon: a fitter, sleeker bunch I have not seen.

I took my parents out to the James Bay Tea Room( see the Virtual Tour here ) today for High Tea to celebrate Father's Day - a day late, but so it goes when we both work a weekend. It was a new experience for all of us, though I am sure it would have been absolute heaven if we had been monarchists, given all the images of British Royalty that covered the walls. The place was very relaxing, with a nice view along the road and a tasty assortment of finger-sandwiches for each of us.

June 17th - Clouds? No Sweat

The weather changed today, clouds rolling in from the west and the sea as they always do. I am pleased to say that weather changes here do not cause me nearly as much grief as they did back in Niagara. There, any major changes in air pressure would set off headaches; in Victoria, I feel a little discomfort most times and that is a wonderful change. Also, the temperatures are milder in the spring and summer; as I have mentioned, it seems COLD here, but I would still rather that than have to sweat my way through each day to and from work. Heck, I do that already... I might pass out if I had to do it at thirty-plus-degree heat. Not to mention the usual humidity that plagues Niagara most days...

June 18th - Daze Off

Again, I awoke early around 7am and started the day running... well, not literally. Lots to do, including getting my book collection sorted, finally - they're all grouped by genre, instead of haphazardly tossed on the dozen bookshelves I have in this place. It's been frustrating to go back to read a series and have to HUNT for the next book in line all over the place, but no longer... THAT took a few hours. Later in the day I helped out my mom with some maintenance at her condo, including some back-straining blind-swapping to make it easier for my parents to reach the cords. Some of these are half-million dollar condos and you'd think the details like that would have been better designed. Also, securing bookshelves and tall objects against earth tremors is an ongoing job; we had a small 4.0 shaker today, which I didn't even feel.

Amazingly, it was past dinnertime before I got home to relax...

June 19th - Ticket Miracles! Writing Wonderment!

HOLY COW - What a deal! My mom sent me an email late last night about a 2-day sale from Sunwing Airlines, a company I'd never heard of. After checking it out, I almost broke the phone this morning, I dialed so fast - $99.00 from Victoria to T.O. One-way with NO fuel surcharges? After the dust had settled and I had secured a round-trip ticket, the total after all was said and done was less than $400.00 ... 1/3 what I had been expecting to pay given current rising prices( heck, even the Russians are worried ). I was so happy I did a jig on the sofa... and didn't fall off, for once. YAY!!!!

On another happy note, I have been contributing steadily to Cyberwalker now for almost a year, and I am pleased to say it has been a completely lovely experience( thanks Mike! ). Knowing that one's articles are being published on a website seen by millions of people a year is a heady thought, and the fact I can write articles to both help and educate others is very liberating. Along with this blog, it has helped to hone my writing skills, as has my growing ability to dissect and learn from the many written works that I devour every week as time permits.

June 20th - Raw Food, and a Raw Deal

After opening the store today, I stopped at the local Thrifty's to pick up some veggies - I was invited to a raw food potluck by my downstairs neighbour and I had to pick up something to bring As it turns out, I picked the perfect things( mushrooms and broccoli ): there were a TON of dips and little else to dip with. It was a wonderful evening, as the most interesting people showed up to talk, including one young guy who travels Canada as a storyteller. His memory astounded me, as he recited numerous works, composed himself, with only his mind's eye as a record. We're going to correspond, as I am eager to see how he relates his first-hand knowledge of our fair country using the written word.

And did I mention that for the entire night, we were ALL throwing puns around? I was in heaven... and I held back, so as not to overdo things. Wonderful....

Of course, there has to be balance... as I found out when I finally returned to my apartment after four hours downstairs. I discovered that the NWN Nordock storyline had had a MAJOR EVENT while I was at the potluck, wrapping up the last year's major plot line WHILE I WASN'T THERE. Needless to say, I was ticked.

June 21st - Savory Saturday

Still feeling full from last night, I took an extra shift today( overtime! )so I had to cut short my first visit to the Moss Street Market, that runs 10-2 every Saturday just up the road from me during the warm weather. One of these days I'll do more than just drive by.

Reading through the local tourism mags has been very educational for me - there is SO much to do here that I feel guilty some days for not taking advantage of it all. Well, the free stuff anyway; I've yet to wander through Beacon Hill Park, or along the shore at Clover Point( some lovely pics here ) - the breezes there are PERFECT for flying kites( check out these two pics ). Given all that there is to do here, from art galleries to restaurants, parks, cycling trails and dozens of other activities, I am going to have some serious free-time angst, hence my decision to cancel my cable - I just can't justify spending time inside around here. Heck, with my PDA, I can compose articles anywhere I feel like it, except in the parks when it's raining.

June 22nd - Sunday Revolution

My only real day off this week... and of COURSE I woke up early. I put that early wake to good use though, getting my laundry done before anyone crowded the machines, as well as finishing all the usual home-chores by noon and so freeing up the day. I spent part of the afternoon playing Civ: Revolution with Lucas, as we actually got the multiplayer part of the Xbox360 demo working - on the first try too! It was fun, and the second game left us on a cliffhanger: my capital of Rome was poised to be invaded in a HUGE fight... when the game crashed. Argh! I was reminded of the old PC game Empire, back in the days of DOS...

Some of the rest of the day was spent watching B5( of course! )and doing some writing... though that tapered off fairly quickly for some reason. A few hours of NWN brought me to the close of the day, where I updated this before bed. Tada!


All in all, a pretty good week. You should also know that I do put some thought into the daily titles, to try and reflect the events of each day. Reflective...

Plain Naked Janes, Bikes and Ships Ahoy!

I've posted a new FB album with many of my favourite shots from the last 6 months from the Victoria area. I may add some more, but for now those are the ones I like. I'll be adding a separate album showing the 'city' shots, both old and new - soon. Plus: Lots of Links!

June 2nd - Happy Birthday Mom!

Doncha hate working in the mornings? What is it about Mondays that make one feel this way? At least my morning sickness seems to be a thing of the past( insert jokes here )as I've cut out dairy completely from my diet. Let me tell you that soy-based cheese products are NOT the same in any sense, unless you count just the visual. But if it means no nausea, then I'll have to suck it up just like when I discovered those lovely gallstones. Cold turkey again, literally.

I took my parents out for dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday today. We went to the Penny Farthing Pub in lovely Oak Bay, on the same block as The Blethering Place - both places are iconic locations in Oak Bay, as well as being Properly British in all the right ways. The gravy, for example, was proper thick British gravy that smelled like a meal unto itself. Yum!

June 3rd - Headphones and Bikes

I've just learned that wearing headphones while riding a bicycle is illegal in B.C. - great. While I agree in principle, I have to ask if it's necessary to pass such a law to protect those idiots who want to remove themselves from the gene pool by cranking up the volume such that they block out the rest of the world, including traffic. Then again, considering my job and who I deal with sometimes, it's perhaps a rhetorical question. But, it means my headphones will get used a lot less.... maybe I can bundle them with my HD-DVD player and sell them for $19.99 on eBay. So my rides to and from work will be less entertaining, in that regard.

June 4th - "Are you thinking what I'm thinking...?"

I've been recording episodes of 'Pinky and the Brain' and I have to say, it's great. Hailing from the mid-90's and running for 4 seasons( didn't know that, did you? ), the show garnered numerous awards, including several Emmy's. One thing I've been looking for( and not found to date )is a compilation of all of Pinky's non-sequitur responses to Brain's famous line: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?" - most of them are fall-down funny, folks: "I think so Brain, but the scratching just makes it worse." *grin*

Just an evening shift today, but some good news: seems I've been doing a good job of late, as I've had no less than THREE positive comments sent in to our Head Office this month, one of them from a customer known to be, er... difficult. Nice to hear, after all the other annoyances I've had to deal with of late at work.

June 5th - The Pennsic War

The other day I was reminiscing about 'The Good Old Days' and recalled that during my time in the SCA( back in my early university days ), I never managed to attend the Pennsic War. This huge medieval camping event was quite amazing in many ways, not the least of which was the feeling of going back in time( see photos )with thousands of others to the Middle Ages( or other eras )for a few weeks in the summer. But as with all things, time has moved me on other paths.
Though I do hope to take up my archery once more, as time permits me here in Victoria. It's good to have a hobby, and this one beats the hell outta stamps.

June 6th - Happy Frosty Friday

DAMN but it's COLD here. The nights have seen temperatures drop down to hover near ten degrees C, and not much more than 16C plus sunshine during the day. Being used to steaming-hot weather back in Niagara, it's been eye-opening to bike to work while shivering...

Lucas sent me an invite today about the new 'Civilization: Revolutions' for the Xbox360. Though I barely played the rest of the series over the years, I may pick this one up, as the multiplayer aspect looks to be a good fit with the rest of the game. Where to find the time though... oh right, I can stop playing NWN. Like that's going to happen. Maybe I can give up some sleep... ? Hmmm.

June 7th - A Busy Sat and ... Naked Bike Ride?

I forgot about the Moss Street Market today; a shame, as I only get every other weekend off to attend. Two weeks from now, I'll set myself a reminder, as this is something I want to do soon.

Speaking of which, I came across this List of 100+ Great Things to Do In Victoria. Some really good suggestions on this, so I'll be trying to cross off some of these as the summer ticks on.

I attended the Oak Bay Tea Party 2008 today with my mom. It was very similar to the many summer carnivals that usually dropped into Port Dalhousie during the spring and summer. Fewer people though, in a smaller space... so the effect was much the same. Lots of lineups for rides and food, with a loud( but good )band blasting away at the crowd. Surprisingly, the beach was not crowded at all. The walk through the neighbourhood there and back was great too; I know I rhapsodize about the gardens here in Victoria, but I say again: they have to be SEEN to be believed.

From there, I went for a walking tour of downtown Victoria with a co-worker's boyfriend for a few hours. We started from a spot next to the Victoria Conference Centre, which was appropriate given it was the first thing in Victoria that I took a picture of( and so sits as the title picture of this blog ). We walked north along Government Street, with its many century-old English buildings, most of which have been preserved. The area is very pedestrian-friendly and a delight to the eye with its varied architecture. The brick sidewalks are nice too.

Of course, I have a great sense of timing. Apparently, my walking tour time coincided precisely with.... the World Naked Bike Ride. Shortly before 3:30 pm, a pack of screaming naked bicyclists tore down Government street heading north, leaving stunned locals and picture-snapping tourists in their wake. Boring, this city is NOT, I tell you. And it has some HAIRY cyclists too!

After that bit of fun, the rest of the tour seemed to fly by. My friend( who has lived here 15 years )and I walked as far north as Chinatown, returning along the harbour walkway. I learned a lot, and my friend did as well; the tour pointed out several small details he did not know about his city, such as the fact that Waddington Alley is still planked with the original creosote wood bricks it was made from a century ago.

We finished up at Milestone's Restaurant on Wharf St, sitting right on the water downtown( see the link's photo ). After a refreshing pint of Stella, we slugged down some gelato ice cream for dessert before heading our separate ways - I got home around 8pm, with the sun still shining and a cool southern breeze blowing. Again I was amazed at how QUIET the Fairfield area is: on the walk home, the loudest sounds were the trees rustling in the wind and the birds singing. Sweet!

June 8th - Tall Ships on the horizon

My only 'real' day off, so I'm catching up on a lot of things today, including this blog. I uploaded an album to FB with quite a few pictures that I have been picking and choosing from over the last long while. One thing I've noticed is that there are very few pictures with ME in them, so I'll try to rectify that in the future - apologies to those who have enjoyed the lack to date.

After reading a bit more thoroughly through the Oak Bay Tea Party brochure, I discovered to my dismay that the air show was TODAY at 2:30p♦m - nuts! I'm a sucker for aircraft of any kind, so I'll have to find another fix. But all is not lost: the Tall Ships are coming to Victoria THIS MONTH! I've already got my ticket, and rest assured I will be posting many amazing pictures as soon as I disembark.

A little COD4, at which I tanked badly every game. Then, some BSG. After watching the latest Battlestar Galactica, I have to say the CGI sequences are stunning. The story is good too, though it's a little hard hanging onto the thread - I mean, all of humanity's on the line, and they're working WITH Cylons to get to Earth? Seems damned strange to me. Anyway, finished the evening off writing... the weather outside being sunny and bright after 9pm - have to love Summer. :)

You may have noticed that this blog had no mention of B5 in it at all. This was to avoid overload; a good blogger knows when to back off from week to week. But not to worry, B5 fans: more next week! And I am glad you liked this week's blog, 'Anonymous'.... 72 out of 77 eh?

My First Week in Victoria - What a difference 4000km makes!

My time in Victoria these past 5 weeks has been very busy, but I have tried to be as observant as possible - I want to note all the things, big and small, that I find different about life here in Victoria B.C. . Granted, it's a sizable city, so I'm not exactly living in a small village by the sea.

***I will be updating my previous posts with Web links and pictures in the next week or so, so feel free to check back over them by the end of December to 'see' what you've missed! Again, don't forget you can Comment on on this blog down at the bottom, and the same for any other blog entry. Or, just email me. :)


Nov. 3rd - 10th, 2007 - A Week of First Impressions

I was up & out the door before 10am on Nov. 3rd, a Saturday - tired or no, we had lots to do and see, and only so much time left before we took the rental car back... but we ended up renting it for the entire week. Our first stop was at Sears, where I picked up a nice belt - on sale, no less! Needed a new one too, the others are a little tatty.

From there, we went to the Mayfair Mall, one of four area malls( the link also has a lot of info about Victoria's history too ). This one is rather unique; it has a hundred-year-old transplanted "Jeweller's" clock tower on the main corner of Douglas & Hillside, clad in shining golden metal that blazes in the sun like a beacon to shopoholics from across the city. We actually parked on the ROOF of the mall; due to the topography of the area, two of the sides of the mall are actually of a height with the surrounding roads, so the designers built the place with hundreds of additional spots ATOP the mall - you just drive on, and take one of the many stairs or the elevators down. As an aside, you can look DOWN through some of the mall's skylights from the parking lot - rather surreal, in some ways. What I liked the most about the mall( aside from it being modern & clean )is that it had BOTH an Arby's and a ToysRUs - I mean, really, does it get better than that? The food court is spacious and has a wide selection of vendors, and is done with lots of natural fieldstone designed to look like stylish stone fences.

After lunch at the Mayfair, we went to the local WalMart( there's always one around ), where we stocked up on all the 'essentials'. From there, it was a quick hop to a nearby TD Bank, where the bank manager himself took the time to open up a new account for my parents for their pensions. We stopped across the parking lot at the large Save-On-Foods grocery store, where we picked up more essentials and had to stop my dad from overbuying( as always )on foods. Just next door was the Saanich branch of the Victoria Greater Public Library, where we signed up and took out some reading materials. It wasn't a huge branch( that's downtown )but it was well-appointed, and about half the size of the St. Catharines Central Library - not bad for just a 'satellite' branch. Again, both the staff and patrons were very friendly.

It should be noted that so far, everyone without exception has been friendly and relaxed. A great many people my parents have talked to have enthused over how wonderful Victoria is, and welcomed us effusively to the area with genuine warmth. I must say, it is extremely gratifying to have total strangers smiling and chatting with you within five minutes of meeting you - when this happens again and again, anywhere in the city, you begin to glow and grin as well.

We ended the day on the 3rd rather tired, putting away our shopping swag and relaxing in the evening.

November 4th dawned as a beautiful Sunday morning. We decided to take a drive up the Malahat highway, a winding mountain two-lane road that curves west from Victoria into the gorgeous scenery. The view to the south from Victoria was amazing as well; the peak of Mt. Baker was quite clear, its snow capped top gleaming in the bright sunlight. Too bad I don't have a telephoto camera, or I would surely have snapped some awesome pics. Maybe next year...

The Malahat drive was stunning; huge trees a hundred feet high at the smallest dominate the slopes of the mountains in this region's wilder sections and in the parks that cover the lands. The drive was a spectacular vista of stunning views and shadowed corridors of trees, recalling many a nature documentary and summoning thoughts of primeval forests that humans stepped lightly through. The brilliant sunshine was a muted green glow filtering through the vast wooden spikes of the trees, whose lower sides were often covered with masses of soft green moss.

Another neat thing going on was the annual Salmon Run. The highway parks were simply bursting with parked cars and crowds of people under the massive trees, all of whom were there to see the local salmon spawning run. Tons of kids running around in the water, which can't have been all that warm. Given that the road curves like a snake on speed, I found it somewhat frightening that so MANY people and cars were packed along the shoulders, with so little room to maneuver for passing vehicles. Still, I put it on my 'to do' list for next year; looks like fun.

We had lunch at the Malahat Mountain Inn, which is perched on the side of a mountain at the side of the highway and affords spectacular views of the Findlayson Arm of the ocean inlets. The lunch was excellent: I had a spicy broccoli soup that was unlike anything I'd had before, light and tasty yet very filling. Not too expensive for lunch either, considering the view. Too bad the only camera I had was my parent's new cell phone - I took some shots, but they'll be rather pitiful.

On the way home, we drove by Beacon Hill Park, where another crowd of people were enjoying the fine weather by planting trees. Seems this is another annual thing that goes on around here; a ton of families were out, as were many environmentalists clutching spades. Add the many joggers, cyclists, walkers and other folk, and this place is quite the outdoor mecca.

The evening of the 4th was another quiet one; I added a quilt AND a blanket to my window with some creative use of nails and clothespins. Tristan seems to be quite happy here now too.

The 5th was a nice Monday, for my first day of work. I walked down the road to arrive for my am shift, which only took a few minutes through the heart of downtown Victoria. The day at the store was quite pleasant, as all the staff there are very friendly. They seemed to let me fit right in, and actually appreciated some of my modest attempts at humour - no serious Sams or prudes there, I am glad to say. Method-wise, the procedures and such are going to take some getting used to in terms of day-to-day operations, as there are many things that differ from what I am used to doing back in Niagara. Still, the basics are the same, and if my co-workers are any indication then there will be little internal staff-stress to deal with - which is good, as the customer stress is more than enough to worry about daily.

The 6th was an uneventful day at my new store, and later on I started to look for apartments here too using the local paper and search websites. While there is a large selection, I found right away that 2-bedroom units are not only scarce, they are expensive. But I will keep looking.

November 7th brought an unexpected surprise after an early 7am work shift: my sister called to say she was ON the island, as she had caught a ride down this way with a friend who runs hos own trucking business. So we piled into the rental and drove back north up-island to the ferry port of Sidney, where we managed to meet her at the local Saveway foods - all this without being able to get her on her cell phone. Unfortunately, we only had about fifteen minutes to see each other before they had to leave again to catch the ferry back to the mainland, but we did a lot of catching up, hugging and generally being a whole family again. It was great.

Nov. 8th was a typical Victoria winter day: grey and drizzly. Unlike Vancouver, our area does not receive heavy rains for weeks at a time; more like morning and afternoon showers that fall gently, unlike the usual driving rains I've grown up with. I worked this afternoon, while my parents spent the day driving to Langford to check out the various 'big box' stores up in that area, as well as scouting some furniture stores along the way.

Friday the 9th opened with us having breakfast at a lovely place called Brannigan's, which though excellent did not have the cozy atmosphere of the Sunrise back in St. Catharines... and of course, only my family was there, and not the usual crowd of friends. Still, it was good. Since it was a day off work for me, we then went on to London Drugs, which is a large chain of stores out here in the West that carries a large variety of goods, like a mini-WalMart in many ways. But less evil... anyway, I purchased an amazing little camera from Fuji, an F50 with a 12-megapixel resolution and a ton of great features all packed into a pocket-sized metal body. Now I could really start taking some decent photos of my new home. After that, we stopped by a place called Dodd's Furniture across from the Mayfair Mall, where we saw some great pieces including some new mattresses that I think both my parents and I will end up purchasing. Not cheap though, but at least I managed to secure some backup funding only a week before our move, enough to meet our many needs until my parents are settled into their pensions come the new year. Kudos to me, and my good luck! We ended the day by stopping in at the license bureau and getting new ones for all three of us, which was remarkably stress-free.

November 10th was another day off, and the weekend to boot. So of course, we went shopping... again. Good thing I love my parents, as I am no fan of shopping for anything save tech. We ended up putting down payments on a pair of mattresses at Dodd's Furniture, as well as a bed set for my parents that my mother simply fell in love with at first sight - my wallet gave a lurch at the same instant. To make up for it, they treated me to lunch at a nice restaurant out on the east end of the island in Oak Bay, called the Blethering Place Tea Room. It is an authentic British Tea Room and pub, with great service and even better food. The decor left something to be desired though; I'm sure any HGTV design team would get hives at the sight of the interior. Still, I had a fantastic turkey club, and being able to sit next to the windows allowed us to enjoy the sight of downtown Oak Bay in the sunshine - it's a very pretty town, similar to NOTL.

I also purchased a GPS( on sale, of course )for my father to use once he begins his tour guide job(s) in the new year. Though he was reluctant to leave the car to see it, he only needed 30 seconds of my demonstrating the easy-to-use Garmin Nuvi250 unit before asking "How much is it again?" with a smile. I was happy too; having a GPS will allow us to navigate the city much more easily in terms of FINDING places, instead of just wandering and making notes on a paper map. The day ended with my channel-surfing the cable TV here, trying to find my fave shows...


So that's a summary of my first ten days in Victoria. As you can see, I was quite quite busy and had already started work - so much for my week's vacation at the end of October / early November( as usual I spent it in service of the family - maybe next year will be different ). All this, and our huge shipment of worldly goods STILL hadn't arrived from MultiCites - I was starting to worry, and resolved to call them up on Monday the 12th to get an update.

Seeing as THIS blog entry has run on rather long, I will put some of my 'observations' into my NEXT entry, I promise - by this point, I can imagine some folk's eyeball's have started to melt, and a very big THANKS to those of you who have read this far. As a treat, here's a link to one of the things I love the most about Victoria... more about that later. Love this place! Cheers!