How great to see some sunshine at last on my return to Vancouver after driving (or rather, aquaplaning for much of the time) for close to 1k kilometres over the last couple of days.
I had a splendid evening with my cousin Don and his lovely wife, Joyce and was right royally fed and watered. The living area in their house, like many in Canada I am told, is open plan
which creates a very sociable atmosphere and despite the large space is very warm and cosy. Not only was the food (and drink!) excellent but so was the conversation. I acquired more knowledge about Canada in one evening than I had probably learned in my entire life to date. In particular, I was fascinated to learn something about the native Indian ‘problem’, especially as I had driven through a reservation or two to get to Don and Joyce’s house in Salmon Arm. Many moons ago the Government (made up of mainly western colonialists) gave the native Indians some land as compensation for all the land of theirs that they had nicked in the name of progress. The land was hardly prime real estate (as this had already been ‘assigned’ to the incomers) but the Indians had to accept what was given or get nothing. So they set about making it ‘theirs’ which included, amongst other things, the establishment of sacred burial grounds. After many years it was found that this Indian land was perhaps not so worthless after all as it was either required for highway building, for example, or even for oil drilling. So the government has set about requisitioning the Indian land that they want which, of course, includes some sacred burial grounds. ‘Don’t worry’ say the government ‘We’ll give you some even more useless land in compensation so you can just move your burial site there’! This is a bit like the Saudi government saying they want to move Mecca or the Italians saying they are going to redevelop the Vatican site or even the Elvis Foundation saying they are going to relocate Graceland. It doesn’t go down too well! This is a big and ongoing problem in Canada.
Before I set out on my 4 hr drive back to Vancouver (some of it in the rain, of course), Don gave me a guided tour of Salmon Arm including a stop overlooking the Shuswap lake which should have looked like this:
but actually looked this
The lakes in Canada are huge. This particular one covers and area of 120 square miles and has a circumference of close to Ik kilometres or miles or something. It’s huge and certainly puts the Weedon duck pond to shame!
It took 4 hours to drive back to Vancouver so I’ve had enough driving for a while. So I will be taking it easy tomorrow before departing to Mexico City and onwards to Cuba tomorrow night.
Finally, congratulations to Kirsty and Steve on the arrival of their twin daughters, Sophie and Harriet. Great News. x
Hasta la proxima
Richard
but I was reminded that it is a relatively new resort thus proving, I guess, that good taste comes with old age!!
It all came to a grinding halt, though, just outside a town in the middle of an Indian reservation called Lillooet. I should have guessed there was a problem when I passed this sign
Granville Island is only a few acres in size, located slap bang in the middle of Vancouver and packed with an eclectic mix of craft shops, chandleries, a couple of micro breweries, restaurants, two or three small theatres and a sizeable indoor market
where there is an astonishing and colourful array of meats, vegetables, fish, cheeses, stalls selling only maple syrup and even one where the stallholder was making little children’s woollen hats which, at a distance looked remarkably like cakes!
Just around the corner I came across a woman weaving silk. Just the sort of thing you do on a wet Saturday!
After Granville Island, I headed off to Gastown in another part of downtown Vancouver. The place is, apparently, named after a Victorian publican named Jack Deighton who was named ‘Gassy Jack’ as he couldn’t stop talking. Mmmmm! Although, the architecture in this area is well preserved and some of it quite stunning, Gastown is just a bit too ‘touristy’ for me, even down to the steam driven clock (or so it is claimed) that emits large amounts of steam and train-like noises every half hour!
What a polite and friendly lot the people here seem to be. Lots of “Hi’s’ and ‘Good mornings’ and even the seagulls were happy to pass the time of day
Now I’m back in the hotel to rest my weary limbs before going out to sample the local ale. Perhaps I should have hired a bike for today’s exploring. This place is inundated with bike hire shops!
thelasthurrahsite 