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October 2018

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Bob!

Public Domain Image from Max PixelThis peaceful neck of the woods has recently been the scene of local elections and in the weeks running up to polling day – as it the way in these parts – verges, hedgerows and lawns slowly disappeared under a plethora of campaign signs and placards urging the local electorate to get out and vote.

In this day and age – and with times being what they are – it is hardly surprising that it is not always easy to encourage people to exercise their democratic right, no matter how important it might be for them so to do. I am certainly saying nothing against our local politicians – if for no other reason than that I lack the necessary knowledge of them – but on the wider scene the political classes have done so much damage to themselves in recent decades that it should be no surprise that the whole damned lot of them have become anathema (or an anathema – to your taste!).

Now – I cannot yet in any case vote in Canadian federal elections – I would needs be a citizen so to do – but I have a feeling that I could have voted in the recent local poll. That I did not do so is a sign that I am not yet sufficiently ‘au courant’ with the ins and outs of local politics, which is certain a failing on my part that I intend to rectify before the next such occasion.

One of the more prominent placards planted on the roadside not far from here, near to one of our bigger intersections (always a relative term of course) advocated the re-election of a man who apparently goes by the name of ‘Bob’ (that indeed being his name) whose surname I will not reveal (to protect the innocent!). Having dealt with the matter of the man’s name the sign simply read:

The only Bob on the Ballot!

Given the current febrile political climate in many parts of the globe it occurred to me that this might indeed be just as good a reason to vote for the man as anything else that might have been said.

It is not often that one gets a laugh from politics these days!

Go Bob!

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It has been – I feel sure – a widely held notion now for a considerable time that retirement means days spent lounging in an armchair or on a chaise watching daytime TV and scanning the popular press for things about which (righteously!) to complain.

If the boomers have managed to dent this injurious impression at all it is surely merely to replace it with an image of silver-haired gadabouts cruising their way around the exotic destinations of the globe burning their way through the planet’s fossil fuels and their progeny’s inheritances with equal abandon.

Now – I know that I am not currently one hundred percent retired – though in my heart I have certainly already taken up my commission in that distinguished regiment. Thinking back over the last three years – since my arrival in this congenial country – I find that my own particular focus has not been on day-time dallying, nor on intercontinental adventuring, but more on matters cerebral and intellectual.

In short, I have been learning… Loads!

Contrary to any notion that this be a pursuit only for the young and that as one ages one becomes more and more content with that which one has already assimilated, my recent experience is that there is nothing like both retiring and moving to a different continent to ensure that one must needs keep the brain constantly engaged just to keep up.

Herewith – in no particular order – just a few of the things I have learned since we moved to Canada:

  • How to buy a boat
  • How to pilot a boat
  • How to navigate (including charting and conning)
  • How to tow a trailer (including reversing into tight spaces)
  • How to replace trailer brakes and wheelhubs
  • How to launch and retrieve a boat single-handed
  • How to replace a boat’s sonar depth finder
  • How to operate a marine VHF radio
  • How to replace the wet-end seals on a hot tub pump
  • How to maintain the chemical balance in a hot tub
  • How to barbecue (a huge topic: I am just a beginner!)
  • How to maintain a supply of propane for a barbecue
  • How to maintain a garden irrigation system
  • How to replace heads on a garden irrigation system
  • How to operate a gas (petrol) mower and string trimmer (along with other garden power tools that I have not previously owned)
  • How to paint and decorate (to a much higher standard than I have done previously)
  • How to build bass traps for a music studio
  • How to record the human voice (at a far higher level than I have ever done before)
  • How to be a board director for a non-profit organisation
  • How to organise a 50/50 raffle
  • How to fund-raise
  • How to teach computer literacy to post-secondary students
  • How to drive on snow and ice
  • How to stream TV from other parts of the world

Plus – of course – how to navigate one’s way through all of the bureaucracy associated with everyday life in a another country!

“Travel broadens the mind” – as Mark Twain didn’t quite say. Well – so does starting afresh in foreign fields. I am grateful that (semi) retirement has given me the opportunity to exercise both the mind and the body in new and unexpected ways.

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In the midst of a brace of posts on the closely related subjects of teaching and learning – comes this life lesson from the world of rugby…

…to be specific from last weekend’s opening round of European Champions Cup matches…

…and to be even more specific, concerning my favoured club – Bath Rugby.

Bath were hosting French multiple-championship winners Toulouse at the Rec in front of more than 14,000 enthusiastic home fans. The game had been tight throughout and as they went into the final few minutes the French side were a mere two points ahead.

Bath were attacking hard and their fly half – Freddie Burns (who had just moments before missed a penalty kick directly in front of the posts) finally broke through the defence and crossed the try line.

All he needed to do was to touch the ball down and the game was won.

What he actually did was to slow down, ball in one hand, and to blow a kiss to the home crowd with the other. What he did not do was to observe the French back Maxime Medard rushing at him from behind. The Frenchman knocked the ball from Burns’s hand, the try was not scored and the game was lost. Burns was – understandably – distraught.

One could feel sorry for the fly half – but he is a professional and a well remunerated one at that.

Moral of the story?

Do the job properly – celebrate afterwards!

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At this point one year back we were just about to commence the intensive two week process of moving all of our furnishings and other goods and chattels into the basement of our North Saanich home preparatory to handing the main floor over to our contractors for the three month renovation for which we had been patiently planning for the preceding couple of years.

It seems like just weeks ago!

Of course – we have now been living with the completed and very lovely main floor since March and enjoying every minute of it. Somehow one doesn’t mind spending significant sums of money (quite so much!) if the results engender such happiness on a day to day basis… which in this case they do!

There was also something else on my mind at this juncture last year. It had become clear that 2018 was going to be the most challenging of our early years in Canada – financially speaking at any rate – because my final pension (that provided by the state) would not kick in until part way through my sixty-sixth year. I had as a result started looking – in an admittedly somewhat desultory fashion – for a job. This was complicated by the fact that I really only wanted to work one or two days a week for a limited period and I couldn’t imagine quite who would want to employ an aging geezer such as me!

As it turned out I didn’t find the answer to this question until we were already into the new year and a mere couple of days later I was standing in front of a class of slightly startled students at one of Victoria’s finest post-secondary educational establishments, about to launch into a fourteen week course in Computer Literacy.

In my End of Term report in these postings on the outcome of that experiment in returning – albeit on a part-time basis – to the workforce, I indicated that I had been offered a further term contract for what is here called the Fall Term (which would in the sort of school to which I am accustomed be known as the Michaelmas Term) and that I would not be averse to considering a further outing in what Canadians call the Winter Term, but which we Brits more optimistically refer to as the Spring, Easter or Lent Term.

Time passes rapidly and we are already approaching the halfway point of this term’s teaching. I have indeed been offered another contract for the start of next year – the which I have gratefully accepted. Truth be told I am rather enjoying this teaching experience. My forty years in the business has equipped me with a considerable stock of both knowledge and anecdote and the part-time, limited-contract nature of the job means that my responsibilities are pleasantly restricted.

Other benefits clearly include what seems to me (probably because I don’t need to live on it!) a decent level of remuneration for what I do, which not only pays my tax bill and covers any other shortfalls but will also facilitate some travel abroad during 2019.

I feel – as ever – most supremely blessed!

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The Kickass Canada Girl – who loves her BBC comedies (quite understandably!) – brought this Tracey Ullman clip to my attention. It caused me to laugh hugely – so those of you who have not already seen it get a chance to do so now.

 

Enjoy!!

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Here in Canada the weekend that has passed was Thanksgiving  – and thus a holiday or long weekend.

There are – in British Columbia – five national and five provincial statutory holidays, plus Easter Monday – which is a bank holiday (statutory for government employees only) and Boxing Day (which is not actually a stat holiday but is widely observed).

By comparison public holidays in the UK vary from eight (for England) to eleven (for Northern Ireland).

One fact that is indisputable is that public holidays here in BC are more evenly distributed throughout the year than are the UK equivalents – and certainly the English ones (two holidays in May – nothing until the end of August!)

One other seemingly inescapable ‘fact’ is that if there is to be bank holiday in the UK it is probably also going to rain. Now – statistically this probably isn’t actually the case, though it is true that the English weather stats do demonstrate that the end of August is a particularly poor choice of time for a day off, given that the rainfall then is often greater than it is during equivalent periods in the winter months.

However, one need only feed Google the inquiry “Does it always rain on bank holidays?” to be left in no doubt at all that as far as the English are concerned the answer is resoundingly in the affirmative.

It hardly need be said – I feel – that though the weather here has been reasonably good of late and the sun is shining once again as I write – over the holiday weekend itself the clouds scudded in and it rained steadily and determinedly throughout.

This expat felt right at home!

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“Walking is man’s best medicine.”

Hippocrates

We live in such a blessed corner of this bosky peninsula that we are surrounded within a few miles on all sides by an abundance of places in which to walk – many of which we have not yet had time to explore. Both of these walks – enjoyed just the other day – are within a mile or so of our front door:

This is the small but beautiful park at Coles Bay – on the west side of the peninsula.

Feeling in need of more vigorous exercise than was afforded by Coles Bay Regional Park we went on to visit John Dean Provincial Park, which lies just above us here on our slope of the peninsula’s backbone. This park is extensive and we will have to take more time to explore it properly in the not too distant future. For now it offered us a much needed workout.

Being a local high point (in the sense of altitude if no other) the park houses a variety of mysterious installations:

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“They say it’s your birthday
We’re going to have a good time
I’m glad it’s your birthday
Happy birthday to you”

‘Birthday’ – Lennon/McCartney

I guess that – if they say it’s your birthday – they probably know what they are talking about.

So I guess it must be so!

Who am I kidding? Of course it is…

A very, very happy birthday to the Kickass Canada Girl.

Have a wonderful day!

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