The Imperceptible Immigrant – Page 54

Astonishing…!

March 19, 2019 by admin

It seems odd to be able to argue that the European ‘Six Nations’ rugby tournament is one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

How can that possibly be true given that rugby is, in worldwide terms, still a minority sport – that its leading exponents (arguably) play in the southern hemisphere and thus do not compete in the competition – and that unlike many other sporting events the component parts of the UK play (passionately!) as separate teams.

Now – it is true that, according to EUFA figures published last year, the average match attendance table for world events was topped by the following:

Best-attended sports events
Event	Average attendance per match
Six Nations	72,000
NFL (American football)	64,800
Fifa World Cup (football)	53,592
Rugby World Cup (rugby union)	51,621
Source: Uefa’s European Club Footballing Landscape report

…but bear in mind that some of the keenest (not to mention most keenly followed) and most intense fixtures take place between small Celtic nations on the fringe of the continent and that doubts must thus be sewn in any minds rash enough to try to argue the case.

But then – every once in a while a match takes place which leaves one in total awe that any such endeavours are possible on the sporting field – and all bets are off!

I refer, in this instance, to last Saturday’s Calcutta Cup fixture between the ‘auld enemies’ – England and Scotland.

Now – Scotland have had a dreadful run in this year’s championship (due in no small part to a debilitating injury list) and – though they enjoyed a mixed season – the English had looked unstoppable in parts. It was no surprise therefore that they ran in their first try within about a minute and showed no sign of stopping thereafter. Aided by some truly dreadful Scottish defence the English approached half time some 31 points to the good.

When the Scot’s hooker (and captain) Stuart McInally charged down an English kick ten metres inside the Scottish half and miraculously held off the attentions of England speedster Johnny May long enough to get over the line – it looked like a consolation try. England duly jogged out after half-time confidently expecting to complete the job and to rack up a ‘cricket score’ in the process.

What transpired was rather different…

The Scots – with nothing to lose – suddenly re-discovered their mojo. The English – on the other hand – fell apart. Scotland ran in four further unanswered tries and by the sixty minute mark the scores were level. Then – with about ten minutes to go – the mercurial Scottish fly half, Finn Russell (man of the match) released centre Sam Johnson with a sweet delayed pass a little beyond the halfway line. Johnson beat two defenders with one extraordinary step off his left foot and reached the line with two further Englishmen hanging off him. Nothing was going to stop him diving over to score what looked for all the world like the winning try.

This being Scotland, however, you will hardly need me to tell you that after an extended period of pressure and deep into added-time George Ford crossed the line for England to tie the game… 38 – 38. The scoring had been symmetrical: the first half went to the English 31 – 7… the second to the Scots by an identical total.

I have been following Scotland for a long time – as I have the Five/Six Nations – but I don’t think I have ever seen such an extraordinary turnaround, or a more bizarre – but fascinating – match…

…and since the Scots triumphed last year in Edinburgh they now get to hang on to the Calcutta Cup for another year.

Pure dead brilliant!!

PS – congratulations to the Welsh for their Grand Slam. Can’t argue with that!

O Canada (post!) – 2

March 13, 2019 by admin

(The second in what I fear may become a less than occasional series…)

Whereas The Girl and I do have a TV component to our cable contract (the big fat broadband connection being our prime concern!) I think it is fair to say that the majority of the content that comprises our televisual viewing is in fact streamed across the InterWebNet. The exact ‘what’ and ‘where’ of that which we stream is immaterial and will thus – for the purposes of this anecdote – remain an enigma!

The TV that we acquired with our property is plenty big enough (in my book) and whilst it may not be equipped with all of the latest bells and whistles (and indeed may not run at the sort of resolution that seems de rigueur nowadays) does plenty well enough for an old Luddite like me. The Girl may well disagree (she does!) and I feel sure that – at some stage – a fancy new device will be purchased.

For now, though, streaming video to the TV screen requires the intervention of a separate box of tricks and we have – since our arrival in Canada – utilised for this purpose an old computer that one of the terribly smart techie chaps in my team at my last school kindly refurbished for me. This device was pretty long in the tooth even then and is a lot older now. As is the way of such things it eventually developed a fault – the which manifested itself in the display of random lines across the screen at vital moments. This grew steadily worse until the challenge became to spot what was actually going on on the TV behind a blizzard of random visual effects.

This was – naturally – causing some friction within this happy home so I contacted said tech wizard (the one who had put the system together) and – as is the way these days – he connected to my humble computer from the other side of the world and investigated it remotely. He gave me his diagnosis:

“It’s f*cked!“, he told me.

Time to buy a new machine. Naturally it is now possible to replace the hulking tower that we had cobbled together with a tiny wee box about the size of a paperback novel, which will do everything and more at three times the speed. I ordered a prime example of same and sat back to await delivery.

Over to Canada Post…

Now – being keen to be able to follow the rugby again (and indeed to indulge in food ‘porn’) I carefully followed the online tracking most helpfully provided as part of the service. I was delighted to see my package on target to be delivered ahead of the advertised schedule. I watched it make its way across from the mainland in the middle of the night and saw it leave Victoria to head for Sidney before finally being delivered into our community mailbox.

I happily trotted up the road and unlocked our box.

Nothing!

Now – the way the community letter boxes work is as follows: each house has a letter sized locker and at the bottom of each stack there are a couple of larger lockers for parcels too big to fit in the normal one. If one receives a package it is placed in one of these larger lockers and the key thereto is posted into one’s normal locker. One retrieves the package and pops the key back into the posting box.

In this instance there were three possibilities: the package had not after all been delivered – or it was in the locker but no key had been posted – or it was in the locker and the key had been posted into the wrong mailbox! Naturally I called Canada Post and opened an enquiry. I also visited my local Canada Post office and pleaded with them and I repeatedly scanned the online tracking to see if anything further had been logged. All told me the same story. They would look into it but it might take three days or so to figure out what had happened.

Sure enough, three days later I had a phone call – from Canada Post. They assured me that the package was indeed in one of the bottom lockers (where it had been all along) and that a key had now been posted for me. All very well – I thought – but that means that a postman had visited the community box three days running and stood within inches of my sad, cold package and not done the decent thing and provided me with a key.

Now – how difficult would it have been to check this on the day that I reported it?

Hmmm!

Going… going…

March 10, 2019 by admin

We had – the gentle reader may recall – our first smattering of snow here in Victoria this year on around February 6th. This was just a taster for what was to come over the following period and by February 12th we had experienced what was confidently declared a ‘once every half decade’ level of snowfall.

Should the aforesaid benign bibliomaniac wish to refresh his or her memory as to what that all looked like – then you need go no further than this snow covered post.

And that was pretty much that – at least with regards to the descent of frozen precipitation.

The temperature – however – remained rooted on the lower part of the scale and, as far as the snow that had already fallen was concerned, it stayed pretty much where it had landed.

Now as of today – March 10th – we hear that this week (finally!) – the temperature is likely to rise for the first time since the start of February into double digits!… which means that the remains of the snowdrifts should finally disappear. The small patch of snow in the accompanying image is the very last that remains on our little estate here in North Saanich and I confidently predict that it will be gone within a day or so.

Unfortunately this will mean that I must needs get out and start clearing up the debris that the winter storms have left behind. I spent a couple of hours in our back garden yesterday and it was a far from painless experience.

Ouch!

I wish

March 4, 2019 by admin

Though I habitually listen to a great deal of music, the gentle reader – as least those who know me at all – will be unsurprised to hear that I long ago stopped following the ins and outs of the popular music scene. As a result I have only the most tenuous of ideas as to who Lady Gaga is.

Yes – I am well aware that she has clearly sold a lot of ‘records’ (if such one still does in this digital age) and made a lot of money, but I fear that I could barely name one of the tracks on which that reputation has been built. I am also aware that her career has involved acting, though the fruits thereof have likewise passed me by. I get the impression that she was all over the Oscars this year – though that too failed to register on my radar (save for the award won by UK National Treasure – Olivia Coleman).

I was moved the other day, however, to go online to track down a version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Wish‘, so that I might remind myself how the bass line goes. It is a relatively simple walking bass part – the fundamental spine around which the song is built – but it is a wonderful exercise because it is simply relentless. Once you drop a beat you have an absolute beast of a time recovering the rhythm.

I found Stevie’s own version on the YouTube thing, but also another by the aforementioned Lady Gaga. This latter was one of a number of artist’s tributes to Stevie Wonder at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors Gala Event.

If I knew nothing about the Lady beforehand I certainly do now. Holy cow! She can sing and she – and the band – totally smoked it!

If you want to give your ears a bit of a treat – or if you are in need of little exercise – fire this up, whack up the volume, and make some room for dancing (or find something on which to drum!).

Bass players may care to play along!

Rugby roundup

March 2, 2019 by admin

Having threatened a few posts back to bore everyone rigid with rugby related updates the gentle reader will be no doubt wondering what could possibly have happened to that eagerly awaited content. (No – no, he or she is almost certainly wondering no such thing!).

Previous experience might suggest that should I not be forthcoming on such (important) topics it is most likely because the subject is just too painful to mention. Well – I don’t know about that, but it must be said that the fortunes of the sides that I follow have of late been rather – er – mixed!

The Scots have really not got going at all in this Six Nations. They warmed up against the Italians well enough but then let current champions, Ireland, get the better of them at home. The trip to Paris – even given the current woes of the French side – was never going to be easy. That the Scots were suffering from a surfeit of injuries didn’t help and the bravehearts are thus no further forward. They now face the cocky Welsh – who last week outsmarted an English side that had won its first two games convincingly. The final game is against the English themselves in their fortress at Twickenham. Hmmm!

Bath Rugby are busy doing that thing that all evidence suggests they are currently the kings of – namely all but winning games only to throw them away at the death. For the last two weeks now they have lost the match on the final play deep into overtime. Given that they have done this three times this season already it is no surprise that they are beginning to get themselves a reputation.

The Girl and I have ventured twice in as many weeks to Westhills to catch Canada playing their home fixtures in the Americas Championship. As I reported in the aforementioned post Canada started their championship run also by losing at the death to Uruguay and they repeated the feat the following week away to Brazil (of all people!). What is it with the teams I follow not being able to go the whole eighty minutes?!

Anyway – last week they entertained Chile at home on a night which was distinctly – er- chilly! It certainly was for the visitors who didn’t get a look-in, as Canada wreaked revenge (of a sort) by trampling them 56 – 0. This week they faced the Argentinians – albeit only the Pumas second string (the first team being far too busy losing to the All Blacks to worry about small fry like Canada!).

Even the Argentine second strand is a very dangerous prospect and the Canadians were expected to lose handsomely. It was, as it turned out, a most exciting game. Having given the Pumas a head-start by gifting them a charge-down try in the first minute the Canadians did well to stay in touch until near the interval. Unfortunately they then gave up a couple of soft-ish tries. Whatever was said during half time certainly had an effect because after the break the Canadians threw themselves at the Argentinians with a ferocity that I don’t recall seeing from them before. With fifteen minutes to go it was a two point game. Sadly the superior fitness of the Pumas – assisted by some dubious decisions by the officials (including a frankly ridiculous penalty try to wrap up proceedings) – told in the end and the Argentinians won the game 39 – 23 and the championship with a match to spare.

Oh well – there is still time for all concerned to furnish us with outrageous feats of derring-do – to win those David/Goliath battles against all odds and to bring unlooked for joy to us long-suffering supporters…

…and because we are optimists we believe that it will indeed be so!

State of the Union

February 27, 2019 by admin

A couple of weekends ago we were fortunate enough to be invited by splendid friends of ours to dine with them at The Union Club in Victoria.

Those native to Victoria will – of course – know of The Union Club. It is – as their website describes it:

“A landmark institution in the heart of downtown Victoria, with an imposing neo-Georgian design inspired by the classic clubs of London.”

The club’s position adjacent to The Empress hotel facing the Inner Harbour is a prime location and – as you can see from the photo galleries that grace the club’s website – the building and facilities do not let it down. Those who know The Girl and I will not be the slightest bit surprised that the whole ambience appeals to us enormously.

Much as I have cast envious glances in its direction many times, however, I have always felt somewhat guilty about my attraction to the place. The whole institution feels somehow redolent of privilege and entitlement, which sits rather uncomfortably with my left of centre inclinations. Friends and acquaintances will scoff at these sudden scruples, pointing out that I worked at several extremely ‘posh’ boys schools in the UK and lived in a Georgian Manor (part-of anyway).

I suppose that a component of this ambivalence comes down to the belief that to belong to such an organisation requires contacts in the right places and a fair bit of cash. Except that it doesn’t! Union Club membership is surprisingly good value, the restaurant is by no means expensive and staying in the club’s most pleasant rooms is considerably cheaper than doing so at The Empress next door. Membership of the club also rewards one with significant benefits such as attractive rates at affiliate clubs in other countries – such as the RAC in London, or Stoke Park in our old stamping ground in Buckinghamshire.

Not that I am thinking about applying for membership…

…well – maybe not anytime soon! Hmmm!

Still – it was a very good dinner and a splendid evening with our dear friends. After dinner they gave us a tour of the club and it’s facilities. We were heartily impressed…

…as you may have gathered.

Clearing up

March 10, 2019February 22, 2019 by admin

It is two weeks now since the snows started to fall and the winds started to howl…

Whereas we have certainly had clear and reasonably pleasant days since that belated and unwanted burst of winter, the temperatures have remained low enough that we are still waiting for the last of the snows to melt and/or wash away.

It is fair to say that this quantity of snow is unusual on the island – or at least at this end of it – and that if we have to wait for another seven years or more for a repeat performance that would be no bad thing.

Because the winds came early and were pretty ferocious when they did so a fair amount of detritus was blown from the trees. When the serious snows started two weekends ago they not only covered up the considerable debris field that had by then formed beneath them but the weight of snow on the taller trees brought down a number of larger branches, the which were themselves then buried in the drifts.

To this point there they have remained, since there is little incentive to try to get things properly cleared up whist there is still a great deal of wet snow around.

Foliage aside we seem to have made it through the winter storms relatively unscathed – with one somewhat sorry exception.

The good ship ‘Dignity’ is in most respects well enough designed to be able to brave all that the elements can throw at her. Sadly her canvas top – which has of late in any case been looking as though it were nearing the end of its useful life – was clearly not up to having a foot and a half of snow dumped on top of it. After holding out for a couple of days a seam split and dumped what was by then a fairly serious snowdrift into her cockpit.

I got thoroughly cold and wet cleaning her insides out and now ‘Dignity’ must suffer the ‘in-dignity’ of having to be protected by a somewhat ropey green tarpaulin until such point that I can get a replacement top made.

I suspect that she has seen worse!

Not-bad Samaritan

February 15, 2019February 14, 2019 by admin

On Sunday evening – just as the storm winds from the weekend were beginning to slacken but also as the first of the serious snowstorms was starting to dump its icy load all over Victoria and the peninsula – I was on my way downtown to pick up the three members of a Halifax-based theatre company who had been performing the previous night as part of Intrepid Theatre’s OutStages festival. My task was to run them to the airport so that they could start their long journey (three hops) back to Halifax.

As we started back up the Pat Bay highway the snow really set in and the residual winds whipped it horizontally across the carriageway, reducing visibility quite dramatically. It was shortly after five o’clock and the temperature had dipped below zero. The compacted snow that had already fallen began to freeze into ice and – though snowploughs had clearly been up the highway at some point – there was no sign of them nor of gritting trucks at this juncture.

The airport is at the top of the peninsula, about five minutes drive from us but around twelve miles out of the City. The road climbs steadily from Downtown and there are long stretches with gentle but persistent inclines – both up and down – as one heads north.

It rapidly became clear that most of the vehicles on the highway (which was quite busy with people trying to get home) were not equipped with winter tyres. As a result there was much lateral sliding as they fought for grip on the slippery slopes. We began to see accidents as cars and other vehicles slid into one another or off the carriageway entirely. We could see places where the traffic coming south had stopped completely.

The Lexus – with permanent four-wheel drive and fitted with a practically new set of snow tyres – sailed serenely through, though dodging other uncontrollable vehicles proved a challenge.

Slowly but steadily we made our way to the airport. The grateful thespists were decanted at the departure lounge and I headed for home. We had been checking continually as we progressed that the flight was still scheduled to depart on-time, but when I got home I thought I would check once more. The news was bad. The flight had been cancelled – as had all others by this point. Furthermore the Pat Bay highway had also been closed shortly after our transit thereof.

Much telephoning ensued on the part of the Intrepid Production Manager, to try to find an hotel near the airport that could put up our performers for the night. I headed back to the terminal so that I could transport them wherever they heeded to go. Naturally everyone else with cancelled flights was doing exactly the same thing and no rooms were be found. Thus it was that I brought a weary troupe of thesps and their equipment back to our now snowbound house, where we entertained them, fed them and put them up for the night.

When we struggled from our cosy beds the next morning (Monday) to be faced by a veritable winter wonderland outside, the first order of the day was to hit the phones again. We heard a sniff of a flight leaving within the next hour and a half so we rushed to get ready, dug out the Lexus and headed once more to the airport. After much frazzled to-ing and fro-ing it was determined that no seats were to be had after all and that many other flights were once again being cancelled. This time Intrepid managed to find our new friends a room at an Inn in Sidney and having deposited them there I headed for home as it once again started to snow in earnest.

They were now scheduled to leave on the Tuesday mid-morning. At around nine o’clock I received an urgent text telling me that they were struggling to locate a taxi. Once more I set to work digging the Lexus out of the snow. Fortunately word was received of a suitable conveyance having been found and I didn’t need to venture forth again. We anxiously watched the flight status online and traded texts with our new theatre-buddies as other flights were again being cancelled, before breathing a sigh of relief as theirs finally took to the air.

We heard later that the storms had extended all across Canada, that their flight had been diverted to Fredericton and that they had been put into a taxi for a four hour drive through the night to get back to Halifax very early this morning (Wednesday). Blimey!

The real hero of this whole adventure was a Lexus called Lorelei. I am completely in awe of this incredible machine which – equipped with the right tyres – is simply unstoppable. It goes about its work with the minimum of fuss, simply floating over anything that gets in its way. A fabulous piece of design and engineering!

A grateful thanks – say I!

Weather event – 2

March 10, 2019February 12, 2019 by admin

Experiencing this level of snowfall in Victoria is pretty unusual. CTV News reports thus:

“After another 23 centimetres fell on B.C.’s capital Monday in a coastal snowstorm, Environment Canada confirmed the region has seen more snow this month than any February since records began in 1941.”

Even on our little plot I can attest that the snow levels are up to the top of one’s Hunter wellies (and sometimes beyond) – in places drifting several feet and more deep!

Now, inhabitants of other parts of Canada – some of them not very far away – have a jolly good laugh at Victoria’s expense when it comes to the City’s inability to process even mild amounts of snowfall. Boy, are they chuckling now! We would naturally point out that we have plenty of other things on which to waste our tax dollars rather than investing in expensive snow-clearing machinery that would sit idle in its garage four years out of every five.

No matter.

These photos show how the snow built up over the last few days:

I am trying to keep up a constant supply of unfrozen nectar for these little fellers:

The good ship ‘Dignity‘ handles well in most weathers, but this goes well beyond her design capabilities:

Weather event – 1

March 10, 2019February 12, 2019 by admin

Turns out that – following my last post on the subject of Arctic Outflows – there is much more to say on the subject of the weather. The ‘event‘ (meaning as far as I can tell ‘stuff out of the ordinary‘) referred to in that post is still ongoing, but here is the tale thus far.

On Friday we had our first dusting of snow – merely a taster as it turned out – and the first day of high winds. The forecast for the weekend promised more serious snow to come and The Girl advised me (to no resistance at all on my part) that I should try to get the snow tyres fitted to the Lexus. This I duly did and it turned out to be a really smart move.

On the Saturday our power was out for a couple of hours in the morning but we were – as so often – amongst the lucky ones; others lost power for more than twenty four hours!

Come Sunday afternoon the serious snow set in and everything started to disappear under a proper blanket of white. Another snow storm swept across Greater Victoria on Monday and a third this morning (Tuesday). The forecast looks more promising for the second part of the week, but there is a lot of snow on the ground (and on everything else) which I can’t see disappearing any time soon.

So – here are a whole bunch of snow pictures. We don’t get that much of it here so it is a source of serious fascination.

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