Kayaking up Indian Arm

Steph has uploaded a bunch of kayaking photos (yes, Steph! Who'd have thought? :) ).

Some of them are from a disposable waterproof camera that we used several times this year, so they span quite a period of time. So we added a few to some older sets for Steph's parents visit and Deep Cove kayaking.

The rest are from a day trip that Steph and a bunch of our friends did last Sunday. They started at Deep Cove again and paddled up Indian Arm. It was around 33km in all which is impressive, and I think everyone had a good time. Check out the photos here.

I didn't go that day, as I've been having some problems recently with my right hip that has made it uncomfortable for me to sit a long time. I'll probably go to the doctors this week about that.

Mini Film Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

More of the same, which made me happy because I loved the first two movies. The camera was even wobblier this time around - perhaps a little too wobbly. I liked the fact that the film had a really minimal script, and did a lot without much dialogue. I particular liked the relationship between Jason Bourne and Julia Stiles's character - few words, lots of moody glances. Great fight scene too (as always). Oh yes, and the car chases down Italian streets made me a little homesick for Europe - everything's a grid here. Shame this is the last movie. And Bourne would obviously kick Bond's arse (though it would be close).

Back to nature (sort of)

Last weekend was a holiday weekend here in British Columbia, celebrating BC Day on the Monday. We were very lucky to be invited by our friends Tim and Carla to spend the weekend in Tim's cabin near Vernon.

We took the Friday as a holiday so we could have four whole days off, and drove up with Tim on the Thursday evening. The journey is about 6 hours by car, and was made more exciting thanks to Tim and Carla's cat Maggie which roamed loose in the car at times and tried to bite me and Steph :)

The cabin lies on the edge of Kalamalka Lake which is just south of Vernon itself. It's a gorgeous location. It's very comfortable, but what we didn't know before we arrived was that the cabin has no electricity or running water, so we'd packed a little inappropriately. Still, it was a surprise when we got there!

On the Friday it was just the three of us, but on Friday evening Carla arrived with another couple, Katrina and Ivan, who were good friends of Tim and Carla. They were very nice guys, and we all got along nicely I think. On Saturday, Tim and Carla's neighbour Mark arrived too. He was good fun, and told some excellent stories.

We pretty much spent the whole weekend engaged in arduous activities such as:

1. Eating large meals
2. Preparing large meals to eat
3. Drinking (anything we could, from mid-morning onwards)
4. Lying in the sun
5. Swimming in the lake

Sounds pretty tough eh? Well, it wasn't - it was sweet! There was also some sailing too, when the wind permitted. I thought I wouldn't get on too well without my creature comforts, but really the lack of modern trappings just made it all the more relaxing - no TV to distract or anything. Steph and I even spent a couple of nights sleeping out in a tent for the hell of it which was fun, especially when I woke up one morning to find the inner mesh layer of the tent surrounded by mosquitoes. It was like starring in GNATS! The Movie! Thank god they didn't find a way inside.

So yes, a good time was had by all I think, and us especially. One of the best holidays we've had here in Canada. I've uploaded our photos, and hopefully I will get my hands on some more as there were two other cameras taking snaps.

Mini Film Review: Transformers

+ The robots were pretty cool to look at.
+ Shia LaBeouf was great, but totally wasted. This guy has lots of talent, and a strong presence on-screen. He could be the next big thing if he can find the right movies (like not this one :) ).
+ Lots of bangs to keep you awake.

- Too many inappropriate comedy moments
- Too long - learn to edit, film-makers!
- Not sure if I was just sitting too close to the screen, but all the blurred motion and fast cuts made me dizzy at times.

OVERALL: Entertainment for a few hours, but quite forgettable. This film satisfied, but probably isn't going to make anybody's Top Ten.

Celebration of Light

This year, Spain, Canada and China held firework displays to music. Steph and I watched Spain and China from the beach at English Bay, and it was great - very loud. It seemed busier this year than last year too, especially for China's display. We saw Canada from our friend Jon's place - he had a barbecue with some other friends too. Jon has a pretty good view of English Bay from his flat in Kitsilano. We thought that China was by far the best fireworks display this year, but in the end Canada won the competition. There are more photos from the fireworks here.

A few photos from Steph's parents visit

These are pretty old now too - I haven't updated the blog in a while. Anyway, here are the photos.

More Tug-Of-War

Very belated, but I've uploaded a bunch more photos of the Radical summer barbecue, and in particular my double tug-of-war victory.

Tug-Of-War

This was sort of ages ago now - on Friday 13th July in fact. We had our company barbecue at Trout Lake Park, which included lots of food. No drink though - it's a family affair and also it is illegal to consume alcohol in public here. Always feels strange for an English person to be outside in the summer time without booze :)

Anyway, after food there was a tug-of-war, or two in fact. The first was Europeans vs. Canadians, and the second was ATG (the tools and tech group that I work in) vs. Game Teams. I took part in both, and we won both times! This is a clear indication that I was the best at tug-of-war. See the attached photo which proves this beyond any doubt. I'm the angry-looking one.

(Not So) Mini Film Review: Live Free Or Die Hard

Yes, I made Steph go see it too! I was in the mood for some mindless action. The plot certainly plucks a lot of comtemporary elements from today's headlines, and then mixes them together into something a little ridiculous. Don't even start looking for the holes either: it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Just sit back and let it wash over you. There are some excellent action sequences (gawd bless computer graphics), and Willis does his wise-cracking cop bit once again and quite adequately while he gets the crap beaten out of him. Surprise takeaways for me from this movie were:

• The geeky sidekick character (played by Justin Long) who stayed just on the right side of irritating with his sharp dialogue - I thought he would quickly irritate but he was a great addition to the film. Kudos to the scriptwriter(s).
• Mindless violence. Something didn't sit right with me while watching this movie, and afterwards Steph hit the nail right on the head - the killing in this movie is frequent and extremely casual. Life is cheap, and people get wasted left and right by the "good guys" without pause for thought. Even for an action movie, this seems to lack some sort of moral backbone. I must be getting old :)

Warm weekends :)

Summer is back - woohoo! I am delighted to report that the weather forecasts were wrong for last weekend. We had sunshine and only a little cloud, and lovely warm temperatures. It was awesome. We got in several hours of walking over two days, and some good food. We even watched part of an exciting bmx championship. A very good weekend. You can see some photos of it here.

Since that weekend, the good weather has stayed. It has been a great week with really warm, summer weather and this weekend has been the same. Steph's parents visited the Okanagan this week while we were at work, and had an excellent time I think. Yesterday, we did some kayaking again at Deep Cove. We hired two double kayaks for three hours in the afternoon. It was pretty hairy at first as there was a lot of boat traffic. Fast-moving boats create big wakes that can really upset a kayak, though they don't seem to appreciate that - damn them!

Once we had gotten away from all the boats, things were much more pleasant. We stopped off at Belcarra Park and relaxed on the grass for a little while. Steph and her mum took a quick dip in the water but it is cold so they didn't last long. The paddle back was much better as a lot of the boats had disappeared. It was fun afternoon, and John and Ursula really enjoyed the experience I think, though it was hard work. We took some photos, but they are on a waterproof disposable camera. I think there are about 7 photos left, so at some point fairly soon we can develop the film and upload them.

Today, we've taken it much easier. We went out for coffee and lunch, and then popped over to Granville Island to buy some food for this evening. We have some lovely fresh tuna steaks to accompany another nice bottle of BC wine. Superb! My gum graft is pretty much recovered completely now, and I am really enjoying my food again.

Next week, Steph's parents are away again: Vancouver Island this time. They will be back on Thursday evening for their last few days, and we'll probably have a nice posh meal next Saturday before they leave - possibly at Bistro Pastis. Yes, definitely enjoying my food again!