First week

The animals are settling in and we have found a great trail to walk Buzz. Bit by bit we are buying all the stuff we need to live. At the moment we are hunting for mobile phones, PC and printer, vacuum cleaner (which is 3 times the price of a European one!), folding bed for Kes, who sleeps on a mattress on the floor at the moment etc. etc. We have visited 3 garages to test drive a car, Chrysler, Honda and Toyota. I think we will go for the Toyota Sienna, Mini Van. So much to do in our first days in Vancouver. A car is vital here and a second car as well, which will be a little run around car. As well as getting organised we fitted a visit to a bear festival in and picked up useful information, what to do when you encounter a bear.

Today I wanted to register the children into school and apply for a SIN number (social security number), but Tony had taken our visas to the bank, so I will try again tomorrow. I have not decided on the school yet, a difficult decision, as we do not know where we will buy a house. Yesterday we have seen half a dozen houses with the realtor. There were a couple of really nice ones, but wrong location or just not practical. One was a real tree house, which Rudi loved! We have also seen some horrors. Wednesday we will visit a house, in a very nice location, right next to Lynn Canyon, a big forest with lots of walking trails. It is reasonably priced for the area and we already fear what it would be like inside.

Ton 

After 7 full days in Vancouver I have to say that it was an eventful week. Every day is packed out with things to do, some fun, some interesting, some painful, and some dramatic. Life has changed radically, although will probably settle into some sedate rhythm eventually.

On Friday it was off to hire a car, as usual, being a cheapskate, I went for the cheapest one. Fortunately, they didn’t have any small cars so we ended up with a PT Cruiser of Chrysler. Nice car, from the outside, but once driving, it is a typical gutless automatic that you find here. Still, it will do and we are mobile.
We found a nice trail to walk Buzz. Got some serious shopping in. days are long and we go to bed exhausted.

On Monday I went off to Harrison Hot Springs to discuss the building permits with the administrator at the town hall, followed by a long talk with my partner Gary.

Tuesday was a fun day. Tonnetje was asking when we were going to get a small car to run around in. What she didn’t know was that I had organised the purchase of a Mini Cooper. I just told her that I would take the kids downtown to see some play areas and shops, thus she could have the afternoon off. After sorting out all the paperwork etc, we then met up with her at a shopping centre; I got Rudi to take a photo as I handed her the keys. She was gobstruck!! Very funny moment.

  

On Wednesday we had our first setback. Following the family euphoria of the arrival of the Mini Cooper, we let zeg the cat out for the first time. He came back, but then went out on his own at night and didn’t come back. Tonnetje was in tears as she saw the end of the cat as he must have got lost. This was not helped by torrential rain, but after touring the districts, we concluded that he cannot have gone far. Tonnetje went out late at night and eventually heard some meowing. Despite my slumber I came out as well and we both began to localise the cat high in a tree. Zeg tried to come down and then got stuck. After some waving of a big stick at the branch, then down came Zeg and inside for lots of eating and drinking. Tonnetje has now locked the cat flap until we get our own house, hopefully soon.

On Saturday we had our first family visit to Harrison Hot Springs and our park Tugboat Junction. I was interviewing staff and going over the development of the park. The staff are all very young, 15-16 years old, but generally very enthusiastic.

Tony