Whistler

Just a quick post for all you skiers out there who are thinking of 2010... (last weekend of the season here tomorrow - boo hoo!)

Whistler 5 day passes are only $309 if you book before 1st May (10 days is $564)- with the way the Euro is going Canada might be cheaper next year!
www.whistlerblackcomb.com/save

Our new home...in a while...

Another piece of good news this week was that we have exchanged on the house in Lyndhurst! We have a cash buyer who is looking to run it as a holiday rental and we should complete once our tenants have left at the end of May.

Also we have had our offer accepted on a house just a few doors down on Maki Road. This was about the second house we saw and we couldn't believe we could find such a great house so quickly...so we looked over the last few months at loads of others and I have to say we couldn't beat it for location, looks, layout or feel, plus it means that Shaun gets to walk to work and we don't have to buy a second car.

Its definately a house for entertaining as there is a deck around 2 sides with room for eating out, hammocks, sun loungers, we have a bar (!) downstairs which lends out into the back garden and the pation which is partially covered to you can BBQ in the unusual event of rain, or we have heard that its known to BBQ your Christmas turkey!

Upstairs is the lounge/dining room which opens onto the main deck, kitchen, bathroom, guest bedroom, master bedroom with ensuite, balcony and a jaccuzi tub in the bedroom!

Downstairs we have another bedroom, a second lounge with a fire place, another bathroom, bar (!) and office - 2500sq in all, so plenty of room for visitors!

Outside there is a double garage/workshop and even a space to put Matilda....

Moving in date is the 16th June! Fingers are going to stay permenately crossed until then!

The Other Woman!

Humpf! A new floosie has arrived on the scene, personally I think she is a bit beamy and could do with a good scrubbing but Mr R loves her....!

Her name is Matilda and she is 20' 8" long/loa (apparently the extra 8" is important?!) trailer sailer (a Pippin 20 in the UK) which has been resting at the nearby yacht club for the last 2 years. However Professor Higgins saw her potential and is convinced that she will be the belle of the Embassadors Ball (or Maki Road BBQ)!

So as soon as his job was confirmed we sent a cheque of for the princly sum of £1000 and Rik and Shaun towed her back home.

The past week has seen much cleaning, sanding, paint removal, varnishing and the odd bad word. He would now make an excellent cat burglar as he has no fingerprints left and we have learnt that the instructions to wear gloves with stripping varnish aren't just a helpful hint!

Unfortunately the pictures below make her look a lot cleaner than she is at present !

Cherries...

Shaun starts his new job as Operations/H&S/Sales Manager for Coral Beach Farms on Monday!

CBF is a local farm, and by local I mean 5 mins down the road, but they own cherry orchards all over the area. They were advertising for a logistics coordinator and Shaun sent in the cv. Couple of long interviews later Shaun didn't get the logistics job however they liked him so much they made a post for him!

The cherries are marketed under the brand name Jealous Fruits (www.jealousfruits.com) and these are PREMIUM cherries - they get helicopters flown over them to blow the water off them if it rains!! They export mainly to the US but have big markets in China and Japan as well as UK and Europe.

He can walk to work, shorts and t-shirt seem to be the office uniform, in non peak times starts at 7am (so not my job!) and finishes at 3pm so plenty of time for sailing in the afternoon, and we get free cherries! Whats not to like....!!!! Oh, and day 2 is tractor driving!

Although July and August sound manic with 6-day week and 12 hours in order to get the harvest in, but again, silver lining.... 3 day week in the winter....allows plenty of skiing time!

Old habits die hard...

First walk in his new home and he finds a tennis ball within 30 secs!

As of today, current count is 4 vintage tennis balls so averaging one a day...not sure what is going to happen when they start playing tennis in the public court on Coral Beach....

.....still should be a replacement for Match of the Day!

Otter's Adventure Part 3 - the Reunion!

The second half of the journey, back to Kelowna, was smooth and uneventual. We flew back via Westjet who take Otter in the hold as he's too big to sit in the space under the seat in front of you.

You check in as per normal baggage and then his kennel goes through security- did have a brief worry that everyone was so relaxed about him that they might forget to put him on the plane, but did hear a little whimper before they closed the door so rested easy on the way back. (NB, another great flight, you go out over downtown Calgary (skycrapers etc) and fly in over Silver Star and Vernon and south over Kalmalka Lake, Wood Lake and Duck Lake. I could see the top of the hill we live near, Predator Ridge Golf course but our house was over the other side)

Shaun met me at the airport and we were finally able to release the hound in the car park and promise no more flying for a while! Fortunately Otter was equally enthusiatic with Shaun as with his mum!

Took Otter back to the house where Nina (Rik and Janneke's dog) was soon a smitten kitten with the dashing new arrival from the old country....although still has a lot to learn about Otter's ball obssession!

Otter's Adventure Part 2 - Calgary

So arrive at the hotel, somewhat flustered trying to manage crate, suitcase and a very very eager dog! Think Otter's first impressions of Canada might be somewhat muted by the unimpressive industrial estate surrounding us, lacking the wide vistas promised in the brochure but I think he was just glad to be out of the box!

He came out happy as a happy thing - no 'accidents' and surprisingly no pressing need to stand by a bush for 10 mins! Hotel was fine and we had a room on the ground floor for ease of access.

Unfortunately 30 mins later nearly lost him under a truck as the unimpressive industrial estate sprang a few surprises in the form of a couple of snowshoe hares...this is the dog that is so uninterested in bunnies that the local rabbits in the New Forest just used to stand there whilst he wandered past....well hares must have some pheramones cos he went mental at the first sniff and tried to hurtle across the road! Fortunately the collar held (tightened up afterwards!) so I didn't have to explain to Shaun how we have spent over $1,000 for about 40mins of dog!!

Deep sigh of relief when we got back to the hotel!

Otter with IoW chew bone and the infamous 'house'

Spoiled mercilessly at dinner with half a burger, chicken strips off my cesar salad, garlic bread off the salad, plus the croutons, basically I had lettuce! plus his pasta and chicken.....well, we have missed him!

Someone's had a busy day!

Otter's Adventure

Well, um, 'later today' seems to have extended itself by several days but do have the excuse of alot of things happening...however if you are reading this blog 'top down' hopefully the number of other posts will back me up and also spring has sprung here so lots of skiing to get in before the snow vanishes.....

Anyhoo, back to the tail (sorry!) of the young Otter and it is a tale of 2 halves and i will start with the Blighty bit....

...as is the curse of an very early morning start, you get no sleep the night before as you are constantly springing awake thinking 'was that the alarm' 'OMG have I missed the alarm', 'will X stop snoring and let me get some sleep' ...perhaps the last one is just me and perhaps not restricted to early flight days...but I disgress.... the point was that the parents spent a rather restless night before arising at 4am to take the pup to the 5;30am ferry, one plus point of the time difference was able to give them a call at the perfect respectful time of 8pm Canadian! Don't think my chipper tone was the best thing at 4.10am but the thought was there!

Transport crate was in the boot and Otter on the backseat curious about the early hour but ready for an dawn run on the beach with balls....no doubt there was some confusion about boarding the ferry and the run up to Heathrow but the pup was ready for anything.

Air Canada Cargo at Heathrow were great, having been told horror stories of dogs being turned away at the gates of the plane, he was accepted with copiuous amounts of documentation to prove that a) he was a dog b) wasn't foaming at the mouth and c) wasn't going to conk out and joined the doggy choir angelical mid Atlantic!

M&D also managed to get £100 off the flight so shipping him became expensive downgraded from extortionate! He arrived at check in at about 9am but his flight wasn't until 13:30 so he was able to go for a hour's walk and get a few treats in before being shut in the crate canada-bound...

M&D then went for a WELL deserved rest in Kew Gardens although am given to understand that concern was raised with the rather short text message 'in Kew without dog' which could have been taken to mean either a) utter disaster, dog missing, but nice flowers and can nick some cuttings or b) all's well, Otter's on flight, nice daffs....

Meanwhile, across the Altantic, I was having a similar night to the earlier one in the UK, imagining a doggy popsicle if they forgot to turn on the heating, or a wonderful combination of doggy outputs if the flight was a bit bumpy....and who would be there to tell him to swallow when his ears popped (and those are some ears!).

But my flight wasn't until 10:30am on Saturday (4th) so plenty of time to pack the doggy treats, new lead and collar (with $50 dog licence! per year!), bowls,etc etc, stop for a Timmy Hortons (just hot chocolate, no donuts, v good!) and on the plane to Calgary.

Recommend the Westjet flight to Calgary as you fly below the clouds and we had a perfect day - you fly out over Big White Ski Resort and you can see all the tracks/mountain roads up to the lake on the top of the hills around Kelowna where you can go camping and kayaking in the summer. Then east towards Alberta, over the Arrow Lakes and Nakusp which is famous for its hot springs and down into Calgary - what is most amazing is the space and the total absence of people....

Landed in Calgary at 12:30 so had a bit of time to kill before Otter arrived at 15:30, checked out the customs process and as suspected it involved alot of paperwork, unfortunately matters were not helped by the fact that the Air Canada Cargo office was 10 mins from the airport and nothing could be done until Otter arrived. So had lunch, saved half a burger for Otter as a treat.....waiting, wandered up and down arrivals, bored...told it would be an hour after the plane arrive that Otter would be at ACC...more waiting...getting excited/impatient...

Finally take taxi to ACC office ($12!), nice lady called Laurie, can't see Otter (boo!), have to take papers to Customs back in the airport and then come back to collect Otter (Boo!), but Ziggy from ACC drops me off saving $12 (yay!). Forms stamped and $31 in customs fees later can go back to Otter. Note: Calgary taxis are surprising un-dog friendly! Eventually find a nice chap who will take Otter and wait for me at the ACC office. More forms stamped, told I can go to collect him next door....why are they taking so long to answer the bell...!...fortunately Laurie sees that I am about to break through the wire with my bare hands and lets me in! Otter!!!!! And he's fine, having a bit of a fit in the crate so either he remembers me or he's gone mad! Unfortunatly can't take him out of the cage for the taxi so try to explain that its nearly over (don't think I am believed!). 20 mins and $40! later arrive at the dog friendly Travelodge!

He's here!

Just a quick post to let you know that Otter has arrived safe and sound after 2 plane trips - he bounced out of his crate/house happy and healthy and completely untramatised - M&D did a grand job in making his crate a 'happy place' with trips to the beach etc in it before he left....they also manage to charm £100 discount from Air Canada Cargo at heathrow....v. impressive!

Will post the full saga later today with pictures and all the other news especially re Mr R and his new floosie....