Our final day in Vancouver began with a clear view over the city, the ships waiting to berth to the mountains followed by breakfast at Al’s. A spot of washing and ironing before lunch with ex-students, Adrienne and Tricia, which Adrienne had organised. Sleep followed. Well rested, it was onto dinner with Robert and Al at an Indian restaurant before final packing, ready for our journey to Everett tomorrow. Al and Robert have been wonderful to us. Gratitude … again.... read more

It was walking over familiar ground today as we were back in the same block where we lived in ’86. We were picked up by Al and Robert from Broadway and Cambie sky train station and driven to Roberts condo on W 14th between Hemlock and Granville, where we are staying. In ’86 we lived in the condo below Al less than half a block away on W 15th. Not long after Rob drove Jane in his corvette to lunch. I had to settle for the Kia. However, on the return journey the roles were reversed. Jane locked Robert out of his condo, by locking the incorrect door lock from the inside, of which there is no key. While Robert tried to rectify the situation we were ‘sent’ on our way to walk the streets. A ... read more

Today truly epitomised exactly what travel is about … people, sights and food. Even though the sights were sensational and the food absolutely taste buds insane, it was the time we spent with people that had us on a high. Even trying to explain why or how we felt will do no credit to the individuals or the conversations we thoroughly enjoyed with them. The ‘them’ were Llorn Kylo, an ex-student from ’86 and his 2 very close friends Tom and Pete who joined us. Highly intelligent, well travelled, extremely successful in their careers but more importantly, extremely successful as ‘persons’. To sit at the same table and converse at an intellectual level as we did about many diverse subjects that were important to the 5 of us gave Jane and myself more than joy. To ... read more

Ken drove us to the ferry at Langdale. We had enjoyed our time with Ken and Joanne immensely. 29 years! … nah … just like yesterday. A beautiful morning crossing and then it was a bus into Vancouver. We made our way to the waterfront and “Steamworks”, the venue for meeting a few of my ex Champlain Heights students from ’86. Deepest thanks to Justin, Shona, Nabila, Annie, Allison, Hoai, Yvonne and Leanne for taking the time out of their day to come and say hello. We shared stories about our lives and naturally, what they remembered about our short while together in ’86. The team games of ‘leaderball’, ‘tunnelball’, ‘passball’, Aussie Rules, plus this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLWzPQmd5sc which they all sang spontaneously,how... read more

Ken, Joanne, Jane and I climbed Mt Daniel today. The trail led to the 450m summit and gave spectacular views over Pender Harbour. Switchbacks and steep grades were very common with quite a few rough sections of very loose rock and many sections of exposed tree roots so coupled with the incline it made for strenuous walking (climbing). Even though the forest enclosed the trail totally and we were walking in shade, we all sweated profusely. Coming down was definitely not a cake-walk as our knees took much of the strain. The view definitely was spectacular and after the effort to reach the summit it was our reward to stay a while to ‘soak-it-all-in’. A relaxing lunch followed by a ‘long nap’ by the 4 of us followed.... read more