Happy New Year (did we miss it?)

Happy New Year to you all,

It's not quite here yet - tis early New Years eve (although we only realised it was New Year's Eve at about 4pm today!). It'll be highly surprising if either of us make it to midnight, so I like to think of myself still being on British time today - that way it's already 2008 as I write this and I can go to be with a clear, non curmudgeon conscience.

Christmas went well, the early morning Christmas ski was lovely. Rather than head to Peter Lougheed Park, we mosied on up to Canmore and skied a couple of hours along Goat Creek. Brina, in all her wisdom thought that just because she'd got new warm socks for Christmas that she only needed sandals...

Whilst I was content to flaunt my 'Manly' chocolate - you've gotta love Yorkie Bars! English chocky on a Christmas morn' is such a treat - one of the few things Blighty still gets right these days!

Even the sun managed to make an appearance...

And what better surroundings to get the festive feel....
And it's off into the trees.....

Keeping on track....
And for the obligatory 'lovey duvvy' Chrimbo shot...
That's somewhat of a picture fest. The rest of Christmas day was spent tucking into Turkey washed down with Guinness at the neighbour's house. Since then Brina has ended her reign as the Coffee Queen, we've skied a couple of times, and have been fighting the flu for the past 2 days (having stayed up until the unearthly hours of 11.30pm 2 nights ago for a curry with a couple of Brits who've moved into Cochrane - we're blaming the late night which is why I'm not optimistic about seeing in the New Year tonight - it's just another day).

But here's wishing you all a Happy New Year and looking forward to seeing you all (not at the same time) in 2008.

Humming Auld Lang Syne with as much enthusiasm as possible,

See you next year,

S&S.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all (or "Happy Holidays" for the politically correct/insane).
As promised in the last post I saved my festive cheer for today.... And there it was, hope you didn't miss it! The whole "Happy Holidays" nonsense really gets on my nerves - what's offensive about Christmas?!? - Even if don't believe in Christ or Mass then surely your beliefs are strong enough to indulge the Santa loving fraternity (Santa was one of the three wise men right?!?). The servers in Starbucks aren't meant to wish their customers "Merry Christmas", Christmas Trees are now only to be referred to as Holiday Trees!! - The only trees I want to see on holiday have palms and coconuts, stretching down white sandy beaches! The height of this PC absurdity stretches beyonds the realms of North America. The Brits banned hot cross buns at Easter time and Nativity plays in Primary schools are a big no no - wouldn't like to subject anybody of another ethnic descent to a different culture. But the most surprising addition to getting involved in the PC craze is Australia - the most chauvinistic, beer swilling, piss taking, not quite in the modern world kind of society, you could imagine (all in a wonderfully positive way, by the way!), and they're banning Santa from saying "Ho, Ho, Ho". Apparently it can lead to great uncertainty amongst the children sitting on his lap thinking that he is pointing out three hookers stood in line!

Well that little diatribe took me by surprise, I was only wanting to wish you all Merry Christmas (oops, there I go again with that festive cheer). Brina and I are off on our Christmas morning ski tomorrow - hot chocolate, Cadburys and croissants at the ready. Then around to the neighbours for Turkey and Guinness into the evening.
Got the first day at Sunshine in with Brad yesterday - snow was good, rusty skills were swiftly ironed out by both parties for much fun dashing through the trees, the piccie above almost illustrates the airbourne capabilities of Brad's skis - didn't really stop all day and the legs feel it today (I forgot that my bike legs don't transfer so easily to snowboarding). The only snag of the day was a bit of flat light which made for that terrifyingly hilarious sensation of sometimes not actually realising which way you're moving - up, down or arse over tit. Good to be back into the mix of winter though - still trying to accept the chilly Canadian temps (my blood refuses to believe that it isn't summer any more!).

So here's wishing you all a wonderful Christmas,

Happy Holidays,

S&S.

p.s: Here's a piccie of two foreigners trying to pretend it's not too bloody freezing sat on the chairlift!

Slacker!

Well hello all,
This is the first time in a week that I've had the computer cranked up at home - the dark evenings have been slipping by without a hint of feeding the hamster who turns the wheels which powers our ever decrepit hp laptop. I would attempt to update the blog at work but fear at having previous, very incriminating posts read by administration - seeing as though my teaching certification still holds by a thread, it's probably best I merely while away the school day surfing general trash and soft porn on the Internet rather than making snide remarks about my wonderful employers (if you're reading this work folks, the porn thing is obviously a joke!!!) - note to self to remember to delete computer history at work tomorrow!
Enough of such nonsensical babble - what's been going on in Cochrane? Well, not a great deal! Thankfully the school holidays begin tomorrow, Brad and I are off to drown in Sunshine's metres of powder with which it has been blessed this week, Brina is closing up shop at Starbucks pretty soon (much to her relief), and with the thought that tomorrow is the shortest day a light panic has set in that I've not really applied myself as much as possible to the winter thus far - but alas, seeing as though it runs through to May we can still make the most of it!
Evenings have been whiled away cycling, biking and riding.
I've no piccies but will upload a bunch on Sunday from Sunshine, and Brina and I have got the usual Christmas morning ski all planned so we'll get a good few shots to Blog up then too (I'll make up for being a slacker over this past week!).
I'll wish you all a Merry Christmas in the next post,
In the meantime be good and expect the Christmas cards we haven't sent yet to arrive in June 2008.
Have a wonderfully light deprived winter solstice,
Crank up the heaters,
S&S.

Where did that week go?

So another week slips by without much notice being taken of what happens in those dull days from Monday to Friday. Friday evening saw a beverage or two make for some wobbly sideways walking - not a good comination when the wife then proceeds to instruct you that it's time for Christmas shopping in the Mall. Desperately fighting a Guiness fuelled giddy drunken head, the best I could do was to put all of my efforts into pedestrian avoidance - more than once did I whack into somebody's shopping bag with my errant, Bambi like, alcoholic legs (looks of annoyance were welcome - the look of terror from an old biddy thinking I was a mugger about to take off with her purse, was a little more embarassing). Needless to say shopping was not overly productive, although I was informed in the morning that I'd purchased a new pair of jeans and a couple of shirts - as well as Brina's christmas present (I did? I asked myself, frantically trying to recall what the hell I'd bought her and more importantly, where the heck I'd now put it!!!). At least the weekend was a little more rememerable than the week.

Brina and I headed out to Banff on Saturday to ski the Spray River Loop, a nice little shuffle on the skis for a couple of hours through fresh, crisp snow. It was still rather chilly (we saw a warm day today however, high of minus 5 and it really was a welcome relief - felt almost tropical), although we didn't hit the trail until midday when the sun was dropping behind the western peaks. There weren't many people out, and some thoughtful soul had parked a picnic bench at the midway point of the trail in an ideal spot for hot tea and hobnobs!Even the air looks blue in the photo above (can't believe the river behind isn't all iced up though - seeing as though Jumping Pound Creek in Cochrane hasn't melted for two weeks and has been a resident ice rink for the local kids every night).

The ski loop was rather picturesque as it came out right at the Banff Springs - although the golf course which you ski over doesn't look too playable in December.

Ooops - I inadvertently added two piccies of that above, and still I have not figured out how to remove photos from a post once they've been added!

The final shot here is from Banff Ave. They've been digging it up all summer to put drains and the like in, and nothing has changed drastically - albeit the sidewalk (yikes, that sounds like American talk, I meant to say "footpath" or "pavement") is a little wider. I look forward to the day the entire street becomes pedestrianised.

So that was Saturday. Sunday was left open for a day in the back country with Bradley USA. Fortunately it was decided that avalanche conditions were far less than favourable (ridiculously unstable to be frank) and a day on the windtrainer was called for. An avalanche killed two guys in the place where we'd talked about heading to on the weekend - Note: It's only dicking around in the snow on a board, there's always next time, and I think we'll be hanging on for "super safe" conditions to be issued before we get too carried away. Grim note to end on...
Anyway, hoping to twist the finale of this post onto a more positive theme, I wish you all much happiness in the days leading up to Santa's delivery day. I'd best be off to search around and see if I can find what I supposedly bought Brina for Christmas.
Big pre Christmas bear hugs to you all,
S&S.

Now We're Talking!

At last, the ball busting, brain freezing - Oh I forgot how painfully cold this can be - winter has arrived in earnest. We haven't seen temperatures pop much above minus 10 in the past couple weeks. It's generally been highs of minus 14 or so (with wind chills way up into the minus 20s). Due to this, all cycling activity has been kept to a very basement level - our basement infact - although it's not too much warmer down there which is why the nightly wind trainer session requires dressing up in this warm garb....

Now for those of you unfamiliar with the rigours of the indoor bike trainer, let it be known that it is one of the hottest tasks known to man - somewhat akin to sumo wrestling in the desert wearing nothing but a garbage bag, and a big hat. However, even the heat of the trainer is lost in this cold snap we're having (nothing to do with the fact that the cheap Williams' don't put their thermostat much above the 'can just detect a pulse' level).

Fortunately, with the cold has come the snow - and lots of it! Despite it having sent the avalanche risk reports through the roof, it has made for the planning of many a fine snowy adventure to come. Brina and I headed out into K country to kick around the skinny skis and it was a treat to be out again (although not having waxed the skis yet this season, last season's rather aged wax had less glide than a one winged 747). The trails were sparse, the views were good and Brina's eyelashes froze up as usual when the temps are really chilly. It's always nice to be swanning around the mountains not having to worry about the 'bear aware' issues of the Great Outdoors (although some poor old feller got eaten by a Grizzly at the start of the week - some bears clearly aren't quite ready to go to sleep yet and still need a bedtime snack).

So apart from that, things are cruising. I'm very much ready for a holiday from work (still sorely miss the October half term) and am winding down lessons already (bring out the classroom videos - I have Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade lined up for class the next few days, on the lame pretence that seeing as though we're starting a Renaissance Europe unit, you can get a glimpse of Renaissance architecture when Indy passes briefly through Venice - but we may as well watch the whole movie now that I've dug it out from the closet - that's a feet up on the desk lesson for Mr.W anyway). Cable t.v. is still wreaking havoc to my early to bed sleeping regimen. But hopefully, we'll be back out in the hills this weekend for avalanche avoiding fun.
Hope you're all cheery as binbag clad sumo wrestlers,
Look behind you - not everyone's gone to sleep yet,
S&S.
p.s. Here's another glimpse of Mrs wife cruising along Elk Pass (or should that be Wapti Pass?).

Show me the thermometer

Hi all... a busy weekend coupled with a somewhat vapid previous week have made for scant postings in the past nine days. So here's bringing you up to date with the land that is Canadia - although there is a serious photograph deficiency which I truly hope to remedy next weekend as I intend to take the camera out to the hills and actually use the damn thing.

Last week was parent teacher interview days - meet the parents, assure them that their children are little darlings and don't really get on your nerves that often - then all is good. For the few kids who you just can't help but let loose on and deliver a tirade of negative abuse to the parents because little Johnny really is a "little shit", then these fellers make for somewhat heated discussions - but it makes the day interesting. But enough of that work nonsense...

The weekend brought the avalanche course which I went on with Brad. A day at the Uni on Saturday going through the theory with the guide sowing the seed of terror and blind panic about avalanches, followed by a day up at Bow Summit on Sunday (along the Icefield's Parkway). A super setting to spend the day getting involved with understanding the big white slides - and rather apt seeing as though two guys got caught in an avalanche there the weekend previous - grim! It was a useful day to hear the expert run through the drills and show us the ropes - a good refresher before heading out in earnest to find some good powder and get some turns in - The guide was from over in B.C. where he informed us of days with metres of powder and in some cases a place over in B.C. which had a minimum height limit on cat skiers because people were sinking so deep into the snow they'd be getting lost from view!!!! Roll on next weekend!

The excitement of winter play has really hit home now - and the weather has co-operated with fuelling the excitement as the snow has been falling in town all day - and in the mountains big time. Cochrane was snowed in and my usual 30 minute commute was a whopping 2 hour commute this morning because of the snow. The temps are toying with us as today's high was somewhere around minus 14, although as I was on outside bus duty at work yesterday the wind chill had temps down to about minus 26 - nice! (shovelling the drive is back in fashion too).

Other than that, the bike is seeing a bit of action in the week - but purely on the trainer (may be set there for a few months if this weather keeps up), Brina's latte skills are honed ever finer each day, and the cable t.v. which we had installed sucks us in like you wouldn't believe - the joys of watching the NFL and the NHL have never been appreciated so much by a Brit mid-week. I just can't wait for baseball to crank up again next year.

I'll be sure to get some up to date piccies posted this coming weekend.

I trust you all have a good set of long johns,

Enormous snowboard shaped smiles,

S&S.

We have the technology

Just a quickie for Sunday morning, but thought it prudent to make people aware that we have stepped into the 21st century in the Williams household by getting our t.v. hooked up to cable. Now, those of you already in the space age who have never known television without cable, this was a big step here. Not having had cable granted us time to do other stuff, but now it's going to be a real test of willpower to see if I can drag my sorry ass from in front of the box to do more than just make a cuppa when the commercials are on - which incidentally, seem to be on all of the time. I quickly realised yesterday that cable means 60 plus channels of commercials interspersed with tantalising snippets of t.v. shows. You end up never seeing a complete program if you have my limited attention span (or maybe it's a lack of patience) as when the third set of adverts comes on within ten minutes you can't help but flick channels and get sucked into some other show/lingerie commercial, and by the time you remember you were watching something else, you've lost it in the myriad of channels. There are some shows which can keep my attention for the entire duration though - as cable now delivers shows that I never knew existed but which transfix me, mouth wide open, as I ask why is this on tele? Shows such as a French Canadian show where smartly dressed men play Jenga; A show with woodcutting lumberjacks stood on a chunk of log racing to cut it in half between their legs with very fine axe wielding skills; and a show dedicated to airing camera footage from police cars, of horrendous car crashes as villains attempt to flee from the law. And I've only had cable for a day, so just imagine what I've yet to find; what delights of useless broadcasting are going to hypnotise me into a drooling puddle on the couch this Sunday afternoon! All these shows that I never knew I needed. You've gotta love the space age!

Asides from that, my bike has gained the technology of a cadence computer (a little clock that counts how fast your feet are pushing the pedals around). It seemed like a good idea at first, but it's an evil little bugger that I'm convinced is trying to kill me as it constantly sends me a guilt trip suggesting that I could be pedalling a bit faster, no a bit more, just a little bit faster - I was close to ripping the bloody thing off my handlebars yesterday as I rode (rather quickly) along Horse Creek - but fortunately for the cadence killer, my seat fell off (not for the first time) and my attention became more focused on not kebabing myself onto my seatpost.

Work is still what it is (not happy holiday time), the weather is becoming a little more November like - highs of 1 and 0 forecast this week with snow late on, and I'm off on the avalanche course with Brad next weekend which should be good - then into the wilds.....

Hope all you techno geeks are well,

Now where's the remote?

S&S.

p.s. Make sure you wrap up really well if you're camping in the cold...........

O Canada!!!

"Our home and Native Land, true patriot love... blah, blah blah blah blah blah". For those back in Blighty unsure of such a lyrical begining to this post, this is part of Canada's National Anthem - and alhtough my home and native land remains the dark side of Warrington, I feel some obligation to be aware of the "O Canada" tune, seeing as though I was handed my residency status here in the big white north last Thursday. It took a rather long time to get all of the papers processed - as like all government departments in any country, speed is not of the essence when it comes to filing immigrants - and also my medical after medical after medical tests put a spanner in the works for a while (forutnately they now see fit to let me and my testicle live here unobstructed by paperwork for the timebeing). After dashing around in the morning to get more photographs taken (I'd neglected to read the back of the sheet they sent me about "things to bring to the interview") Brina and I showed up at immigration central in downtown Calgary for a 1.00pm meeting. The immigration meeting (for the officer to make a final decision on whether I could stay here as a resident or be shipped back to the industrial wastelands of northern England) was scheduled from 1.00pm to 1.15pm. Only there were 50 other people with exactly the same time scheduled meeting to see one of three immigration officers. Luckily I was one of the first in, and Brina had to be there to prove she wasn't a mail order bride. The officer quizzed Brina quite hard about having sponsored other people into Canada - we both got a bit edgy, but it turned out that the officer was having a bit of a customs Canada wind up joke (the cad! - for "cad" read "tosser", but I can only print that now that they've handed over the papers!!!).

Apart from fighting off a killer bug last week (bug as in sickness and fever, not as in giant bumblebee) and writing lots of reports this weekend all is very steady here. It's still getting colder, although is really mild compared to this time last year (check out last years posts, it was bloody freezing last November). Had a couple of wee stints on the bike and am shackled to the windtrainer during the depressingly dark week nights. This month is just a blur and I'm not too sure where it has all gone to.

Shall leave you with the lovely news that Sunshine opens tomorrow (Lake Louise was open last week) - so here comes the good stuff of winter..... (struggled to post a webcam shot of Sunshine as it's dark there right now - so you just get the shot at the top, taken from Goatseye if my geography serves me correctly).

Keep fighting the authorities you anarchists,

Forever your illegal alien,

S&S.

TransRockies!!!!!

Hi all,
A summer shot to remind us how warm things can be (Moab for those lacking knowledge of Utah's geography).

As winter slowly creeps into Cochrane I already have my eye on next August, the 10th to the 16th to be precise. The big bro and I are entered into the TransRockies Challenge; a 580km mountain bike stage race with over 20,000 metres of climbing, from Panorama BC, to Fernie BC. It's going to be awesome and already I'm picking the training up as I feel I need to, seeing as through Big Willy has just won the overall yellow jersey in the 5 passes stage race (road) of NZ - good lad!!!!!!

Registering for the TransRockies was rather fun. Entries opened at 10am online on the 1st Nov, and I had it all dialed that I'd simply log on just before 10am, and register from work! However, it was a bugger when I realised I was in a conference in downtown Calgary on the day entries opened. Not to be detered by a world class speaker and 1000 onlookers at the conference, I brazenly kicked my shoes off in the conference hall at 9.25am, laced up my running shoes, and trotted out of the hall (to many a disgusted snort and scorn from the attendees to the conference) - to run like bloody hell through the streets of Calgary to find an internet cafe by 10am in order to make sure we were registered for the race! I made it and had all the details filled in and paid up by 10.07am!!! Not bad!!! Now it was time to run like Billio back to the conference clutching my printed off registration form, slip back into my poncey work shoes, and have a conversation with the Principle of the school during the intermission, acting like I knew exactly what the speaker had been talking about during the morning session.

All was going well until I was skimming through my registration for the TransRockies, and in my haste I'd entred me and Mark as being Albanian!!!! I duely fixed this after a wee bit of mockery to United Kingdom - although Lucy has since pointed out that neither of the competitors for team R and R NZ actually live in the UK (or have done so for a considerable while!!!!). Surely there's a tax break in there somewhere!

So the conference was a write off as I was as high as a kite with the excitment of the TransRockies, although the Henry Winkler speech (see Happy Days post a while back) on the Wednesday night was awesome.

The snow is coming, Lake Louise opens on Thursday, avalanche course with Brad in a couple of weekends and then hopefully we'll be out stomping in the deep stuff.

Brina is a cheery little soul and converted coffee princess.

Work for me is in the deepest recess of my mind, the only thing I'm thinking of is next August 10 - 16th!!!!!!

Hope you're all making dates on your calendars,

Is it the weekend yet?

S&S. p.s I thought I'd finish with a picture of the big lad.

Split personality

So this is all about me, me, me....
But before we get to that, I best mention that I neglected to wish big bro a happy birthday on the last post -seeing as though it was his birthday on the day of the last post - Happy birthday bro (belated per usual and the card is in the post - via Tanganiki (obviously lost somewhere with Lucy's)).
Now back to me....
This is what cheered me up no end this Friday;

I got home with a wee box of beer (good old Big Rock Pale Ale - I just can't get enough of the stuff, I don't know if I'm losing my taste for GB ale, or whether the Canucks are actually brewing a good pint - either way, it's a treat - however, I digress....). And was greeted with a freshly made, freshly wrapped new split board!!!!! Well, I actually took custody of the board in the pub car park on Friday afternoon in Calgary when Brina was picking me up. DHL had tried to deliver the board the day before -but with scant success. Then, on the Friday, DHL turned up at Starbucks to drop off some Latte cups (or something of that ilk), Brina (Starbucks queen) happened to ask the DHL chap did he have a snowboard in his van, the response from Mr. DHL was very much in the affirmative and he just handed it over to Brina without batting an eyelid. (Clearly Brina merely flashed a bit of cleavage to the DHL man and asked for the extra long package in the back of his truck - and fortunately DHL guy took this to mean nothing but my board).

As this shot shows, a couple for beers down the line and I just couldn't be parted from my new acquisition...Note that I'd lost the specs by this stage as it was all getting a bit emotional and I was professing my undying adulation for the Prior board (it all got a bit messy when I staunchly declared that I was going to let it sleep at the end of the bed.. at which point Brina snatched the beer out of my hand, hid the rest of the crate of ale, put the board in the spare room and bid me to stand in the corner facing the wall until I calmed down).

I couldn't resist however, just posting this last shot of the graphics just beneath the Prior, Handcrafted in Whistler print...

I guess a handmade board has your name on it too!!!! Love it!!!! And seeing as though it has last years top sheet and this years base sheet, there ain't another one like it in the world!
Anyway, apart from that, work still drains the living daylights out of me, the snow is very slowly building up in the Mts (very slowly - my patience is rather thin now), there's a touch of snow in Cochrane, and when the clocks go back this weekend that's it for evening rides outside in the week!
Halloween tomorrow (all the staff at work are going in some costumed theme. I still can't get into the mood and see Halloween as a game for six year olds, so I've decided to dress up tomorrow as a tall northern Englishman who teaches Social Studies - that should go down well). Like any respectable North American, Brina is all for dressing up and is heading off to Starbucks tomorrow as the Starbucks mermaid (see their logo if you're confused) - so I'm off to make her crown and fish scales.
After that I've a new board to tuck in and read a bedtime story to.
Hope you're all waiting for a bumper parcel,
Livestrong,
S&S.

Cowboys, basements and a Chinook.

Hi all, or should that be "Howdy" for you cowboy lovin' folk - yee haa!

Brina has kept up the meeting 'famous people' link this week, by bumping into the one and only.... Paul Brandt. As I picked her up from Starbucks this week she was as giddy as a schoolgirl..., "Guess who I met. Guess who I met..." she bleeted on. After many guesses (Muhammad Ali, Ghandi, Burt Reynolds were my best shots in the dark), Brina revealed "Paul Brandt!!!" squeeled in her best chiwowa squeak. I was stumped and my blank expression seemed to take the wind out of her sails... but alas, she soon explained that it's this feller;

By all accounts the smooth talking, leather clad, stetson sporting chap is a somewhat famous country music singer (may as well be a gangster rap star for all my euponious tastes of such tunes). By all accounts Brina got a little tongue tied, and asked him is he Paul Brandt.. when it was confirmed, the very excited Brina continued to gasp but all efforts of her conversation were held at dog whistle pitch and were therefore missed by dear old Paul. I honed in to who he was when it was explained to me "The man in the Ford advert!" - which pleased Brina when I comprhended. Apparently the cowboy lives just outside of Cochrane and wanders into town rather often to pick up a coffee and not get hastled (or squeaked at).

The basement is coming on - we've kind of settled things out with the cowboy (not the same style as the type mentioned above) who fixed things up down there.... It doesn't look too bad, and here's a video to click on to see what it's like down there if you aint seen it already...

And finally the Chinook (can't not mention the weather...). If you recall a post in early October, you'll have noticed I was getting a bit cocky about the early snow, winter was coming, splitboard was ordered, backcountry beckoned etc... Well, it looks like I jumped the gun a little, as compare the photo I posted from Lake Louise in early October to the same photo today;

- yikes, where has all the snow gone. The promise of a good winter base is beggered and we'll have to start from scratch again - I think I must've cursed it by forking out for a new board. We'll just have to sweat out the Chinook - high of 21 degrees tomorrow - crazy - but then plummeting back down to a high of 6 degrees the next day (that's more like it).

Hope the weather is doing what you want it to do,

Keep smiling and watch out for men in big hats drinking coffee (they might be famous)

S&S.

And....... Snooze......

Hi all,

I truly hope that your past week has been a bit more action packed than ours. Life in the fast lane in Cochrane has reached giddy heights - we had a late night last night - 9.30pm!!!!! It's real rock 'n'roll over here! Clearly the daily grind is taking hold in this rather barren period between summer and winter (although the weather has been pretty smart recently, and I did actually get a good long bike ride in on Saturday morning - setting off at the crack of dawn and having to ride with a toque under my helmet for the first time this season (Bloody hell, these Canucks are converting me - I meant to say 'wooly hat' and not 'toque')).

I've just videoed the basement to show on this blog (as I couldn't summon any weekend photos) but fortunately for you all I've misplaced the cable to download the video of the basement - so hopefully I'll have some semi-interesting visuals on the next post - otherwise, brace yourselves for the tour of our nearly completed, but not quite yet downstairs (yawn).

I did get sent these awesome shots of a Ursus maritimus though (thanks Ray), even for none animal folks you can't help but be amazed.....

So, one snowy day on the edge of Hudson Bay, a husky dog team and their musher (is that the right term?) set up camp when out of the blue a big ol' Polar bear appeared

Fearing for the lives of his huskies, the musher grabbed his camera to take a last shot. Fortunately, the Ursus maritimus wasn't looking for a bit of canine luncheon....Big ol' Polar bear just wanted to play around a bop the tasty little husky on the bonce.....

And then the soft ol' brute just wanted a bit of Husky lovin'....

And he just wanted a little pal to keep warm in the biting wind of the Arcitc...
And the Polar Bear came back to the camp every night for a week, just to play with the husky dog team!!!!!! How awesome is that, the big bear was just a bit lonely and wanted to play, so kept on coming back for fun and games with the dogs.... These photos were taken by a chap called Norbet Rosing for those of you keen to glean a bit more info - for anyone teaching a wildlife unit in their Outdoor and Envt Ed class these were a godsend (only because I'd had nothing planned to teach that day!!!!).

Hopefully that's buoyed you all up. Not much else to report here. We had a jolly over to Banff on Sunday afternoon to lie around and muse in the park. Brina is the barista queen, and hopefully the stagnant pull of early October will have washed off by the time the next post comes around.

Always go with the underdog (so long as it's a husky),

Big smiles and autumnal hugs to you all,

S&S.

Thanks - You're Welcome

Well, Thanksgiving rolls around once again in Canada. It doesn't seem like a year ago that I was giving thanks to Nutella on Mt Indefatigable, this weekend was once again fuelled by Nutella, but with boosts of gels and chocolate covered raisins - so thanks to them.
Saturday was a spin out on the road bike, chasing packs of tri bar riders. Then Sunday was a super muddy ride on the mtb along Sulphur Springs with Brad. The blurry shot below shows that winter is arriving in K country too...

Although, typical to its changable form, the weather soon cleared up, and once out of the trees most of the snow had melted off the open slopes and the sky blued up to remind us what summer looked like....There probably wont be too many more weeks of mountain biking to be had, as when Brina and I went for a Thanksgiving day hike today (Monday), Moose mountain (a bit of a mtb mecca) was really getting covered in its winter coat.

The obligatory 'lovey dovey' holiday shot shows Moose Mt in the background, trails getting a bit slippery for the bikes.
I'm not too sure about Thanksgiving here yet, as it seems to be on a different day to the Yanks' Thanksgiving, and so is giving thanks for something a bit different? (I think). Thanks for the harvest etc... (as opposed to America where they seem to be directly Thanking the Natives who showed the Pilgrims how to survive the winter - before the Pilgrims proceeded to slaughter all of the Natives - sounds like the Yankee way) - I may be way off with my history here, but hey, what do I know, I'm only a Social Studies teacher!!!!! So the Canadians seem to have Thanksgiving where in England we'd have 'harvest festival'. Well, the Canucks get a way better deal, a days holiday, feasting, drinking - whereas harvest festival back in the motherland means you get to take a can of baked beans down to the local church for the elderly congregation before heading back to math class.
There was no Thanks given to the student chappie who showed up on my doorstep yesterday though.. He assured me he wasn't selling anything, but just wanted to give me a free 4 month subscription to the Calgary Herald (newspaper; if you really hadn't figured it out). "Totally free?" I quizzed, "Absolutely" he responded earnestly, whilst shuffling an overflowing file of loose papers. "So I just get the paper for free?" I checked. "Completely free" he assured me again. "Great" I smiled and was going to close the door and nearly gave him a "Happy Thanksgiving" to boot.... "But.." now here it comes, "But I just need your signature and method of payment here sir" the spotty, increasingly irritating student persisted. "Method of payment?!?!" I asked rather loudly (the neighbours kids playing in the garden looked frightened) "but you told me it was free!!!!". "Well, it is free sir" the barefaced liar was still trying to convince me. "No it isn't" my contradictory tone becoming nothing more than a hiss. "It's free, but you have to pay for the weekends" the student blurted, losing his cheery, positive sales demeanour. "Well I don't want it then" I rapidly told him, only to be given such a look of scorn. The little shit was trying to give me a right old guilt trip for not cashing out. "Look mate" I tried to explain, seriously loosing my patience, "If I want to buy something I'll go to the shops, if I'm at home you can assume I don't want to buy anything". The door slammed too. I would like to have added here a; "now piss off" but I've not grown into that grumpy old git - yet.

But to all of you non - door to door salesmen, have a great Thanksgiving (although it's just October 8th to most of you), and make sure you get out before the weather comes.

Off rafting with one of my classes tomorrow and shall endeavour to resist the temptation to drown a couple of the sillly buggers.

Don't answer you door to any twat with a newspaper,

Happy Feasting,

S&S.

Bread Winning

The tides of change swept over Cochrane this week - for the better - as Brina handed in her notice at work - and what a relief it was for her to get that out of the way. Foothills Academy hasn't really agreed with her - stresses of the high school nobbers, pointless administrative tasks and other such tomfoolery caused her to see the light and pack it in. Already the perpetually cheery Brina has returned, and is looking forward to heading out to manage the Starbucks in Cochrane for a while and chilling out in life in general - what a welcome relief.
I'm still plugging away at Foothills, dodging bullets and keeping the faux efficiency up and running. - I must say that I'm learning a load of stuff teaching Social Studies, although keep on getting rather irritated every time the kids tell me they are not Canadian, but Irish, or Danish, or English, Scottish etc.. when in fact it transpires that about five or six generations ago their long lost great, great, great, great, great uncle fled Liverpool on a boat (and give me a reason you wouldn't flee Liverpool). "You're Canadian" I suggest, but then staff members (i.e. adults) give me the same banter "well actually I'm Welsh Mr. Williams, my great grandmother's cousin's budgie was once used down the mines in Swansea - so that makes me a Taffie"

"Yeah, and I once took a piss in the Ocean, but that doesn't make me a Mermaid!!!", although this curt response doesn't go down too well.
It's incredible, meet a Canuck in Canada and they claim to be from some other land, meet them in a foreign land and they're desperate to tell you they're Canadian. As a Manc, take it from me, you should be a hollering from the rooftops that you're from a country with sunshine, snow, mountains, clean air, maple syrup and beavers.
I did quite like it this week when one student, on a Canadian map test, labelled Saskatchewan as "The Gap" - he had never heard it called anything else (bless), and having driven through Saskatchewan last year, "the gap" is rather apt. The only comparisson is kids at home mapping England and writing "The Smog" where Middlesborough should be.

What post would be complete without me having a little jiffy about weather?! Well, here's Lake Louise today (taken from the top of Ptarmigan Chair) - it's a coming, and tis only Oct 2nd!!!

Still waiting for the board, not had to dust off the windtrainer just yet, not met Fonzie yet either (thinking of getting me a leather jacket for that one - and a wad of "Brylcreem" for the quiff).

Hope you've all got your noses to the wheel,

Mind the gap,

S&S.

Happy Days

Sunday, Monday Happy Days, etc....

Looks like the Fonz is coming to town! Apparently he's a big advocate for kids with learning disabilities (he was a dumb ass himself at school - said the politically correct spokesperson) - that is Henry Winkler is an advocate, not the Fonz himself (he's just a t.v. character - losers). He's doing a speech at an upcoming L.D. conference in Calgary, and school has decided to send all staff to the conference for the Thursday and Friday, but Henry himself (Arthur Fonzerelli) has got a little gig going on on the Wednesday night where he has asked the staff from our school (all twelve of them) to attend a meeting with him if we each bring two kids from our classrooms (for those of you blissfully unaware, all the kids at our school have learning disabilities, as do the majority of the staff if recent staff meetings are anything to go by). Taking two kids from my classroom out into the "real world" is akin to taking two bottles of nitro-glycerine for a stroll through a detonator factory - so no doubt you'll see the fireworks from far and wide when I sit them down at a table with Fonzie (although I did have to explain today who Fonzie was, so it may have all the excitement for them as it would for me meeting Buster Keaton).

What a star studded year, first Lance, then Fonzie - who next? Bob Carolgees (if anybody in North America has heard of him then you seriously need to get out more!!!). Can't say I'm too starstruck with Henry Winkler, although I'm looking forward to grilling him on the merits of Joanie (would much rather be asking him about his time trial up Alp d'Huez).

Back in the life of the non famous, Cochrane is teasing us with the seasons. All is yellow in the trees, the days are relatively sunny, but we've been scraping ice off the car windshield every morning for the past week (the cold is taking hold). The bike is still enjoying the weekends, had a nice ride out to the Ghost on Saturday - all was very serene with snow on the Devils Head and all... but evening rides after work are becoming more infrequent - nearly time to oil off the wind trainer.

The new board is in the mail (apparently), the snow is making an entrance in the west, and Cochrane is about to close down for the night.

Hope you are all well,
Feels so right it can't be wrong, Rockin' and rollin' all week long (just can't get the damn song out of my head - I'll try not to be humming it when shaking Henry's hand).

S&S.

p.s.

For those who feel they've missed out on the entertainment phenomenon that is Bob Carolgees, here's the tosser with "spit the dog" - how do these people ever become popular?

Coasting along...

Hi all...
Slowly getting back into the groove of work now. A big caffeine hit in the morning seems to be doing the job of helping to keep order amongst the unruly and maintaining a whiff of organisation in the air (or what seems to be organisation but is in fact blind panic fueled by sheer ignorance of Canadian history - oh the joy of teaching Social Studies). - It's actually really good fun at present, but what teacher worth their salt doesn't complain a bit, and I'm not one to break the mould... (thank god for the holidays etc..).
The weekend really saw the onset of Fall.

You can see how it's all begining to go a bit yellow down in the Elbow Valley there in the piccie. We had a little stroll around Fullerton Loop on Sunday - trying to make the most of the sun whilst it still shines... Saturday was a wee cycle but I think I posted that last time. The trees are really begining to turn their dramatic colours, the mornings are now pitch black when we get up (urrrgghhh), and it's all going a bit chilly... Here's the forecast warning copied from the weather offic for Cochrane for tonight;
A ridge of high pressure building down from the Arctic will bring cool air and clearing skies overnight. As a result overnight lows are expected to drop a few degrees below freezing tonight.

Just great, we've not gotten out of September and it's already brass monkies in the night-time. And what a Canadian report means by "a few degrees below freezing" I dread to think as these folks think minus 10 is a few degrees below!!

The critters are also out in force. A bear was wandering around Cochrane last week (black bear), we were told for sure that there was a Grizzly here in summer, on the path by the river - literally visible from the deck of our place!!!! There've been Cougars galore around Banff and Canmore, and a bloody black bear wrestled its way into somebody's garage in Calgary last night!

Anyhow, here's a little hello from Brina - and hopefully we'll get a video of the basement up here soon...

Wrapping up, and wrapping up,

S&S.

Struggling to keep the pace

Oh boy, does this work thing ever get in the way of buggering about in the great outdoors. The one joy of teaching is the summer holidays, but it is so long that you really get used to not working and enjoying life as it should be lived. Alas, on returning to work, a serious readjustment to the system is needed to perk up during the week and feign interest in youngsters' academic achievement, and squeezing the fun things back into a two day weekend takes some organising. We're getting there, but time seems to be flying by already, we've had two weeks back at school and I'm still struggling to keep up with the pace (hence, only getting to post this blog at ten past eleven in the evening (isn't it betime already?!?!?)).
Bri and I got out on the bikes last weekend and rode up past Elbow Falls in K Country - having had a rather splendid early September snowfall...

You can just about make out the snow on Mt's Glasgow and Cornwall in the background (and perhaps Banded Peak - but my Geography is a bit off looking at this photo). Brina was humming away with the thick tyres of her mountain bike on the tarmac, once more chuntering about needing a road bike..... Today (one week later), we took the bikes out again, as it has been silly hot and sunny for a mid September weekend. I rode out to Canmore at an unearthly hour for a Saturday morning, where Brina then picked me up in the mighty focus and we headed out for a ride together around Lake Minnewanka (still can't believe they called it that - from the millions of choices to christen a lake, the little masturbator). We left the camera at home (we - meaning Brina) and so have zero photo evidence of today's balmy weather and pristine views of snow capped Rundle beneath azure blue sky (reached the giddy heights of 24 degrees today) - although it was markedly colder early doors when I left the house in freezing shadows.

Our basement was coming on a treat, but alas, the "handymen" were clearly only "handymen" as opposed to "craftsmen" - so we're about to start a whole new stressful rigmarole in our lives of trying to avoid being ripped off by over zealous incompetent carpenters - watch this space for the imminent lawsuit (see any patterns developing here? Be it real estate agents or builders.... - no wonder my hair's falling out!!!!).

The new snowboard is on its way - hooray!!!!!! But hopefully we'll be milking the bikes for a bit longer if this weather holds out (unlikely). Realised today that I need to beef up a bit before the minus 40 winter arrives - as Brina's response to meeting me in Canmore today wasn't "how was the ride" - to which the retort would have been "smashing thanks..". But her response to me dismounting from the roadie bike was "you really are the skinniest man in the world aren't you!?!" - to which my retort was a good old fashioned British two fingered salute followed by some serious huffing and puffing - and a grand consumptions of Guiness this evening just to start building up the "balast" for sliding down snowy slopes on a plank of wood in the icey cold.

Follow the lines people (photo from Moab if you hadn't guessed).

Hope you're all bulking up and enjoying the Indian Summer (or Spring for you southern hemisphered jockies),

May the sun shine on all your weekends,

S&S.

Lights, Camera, Action

Waddya know, two posts in two days... phew must've had way too much time on my hands today I hear you cry - too true I call back from my free afternoon of sitting with my feet up. If you missed yesterdays blogg, keep scrolling down to the next bit... This is just a test post to see if I have mastered the art of putting video on this blog.

This isn't a recent video, just the only one I have to post (the only decent one anyway). Here's Canuck Brina at Lake Louise last year cruising down to Temple Lodge.

The Return of the Procrastinator

Hey All,

phew... tis somewhat tiring trying to muster up the energy to write a post today, as the first week back to work with the kids in class is having the usual life draining effect. Getting back into the routine of waking at 6am, arriving at school by 7.30am in order to plan (nothing like leaving it til the last minute), aiming to wake up by 8.50 when the kids arrive on the scene, gulping down a piping hot mug of stinky strong industrial coffee by 10.30, maintaining the bluff appearance of knowing what I'm talking about until lunch, gasping for air at 1pm, trying to dodge the bullets until 3.20pm, sneaking out of work early before 4pm, home by 4.15 ish, falling asleep on the couch by 5.30pm (despite another couple of cups of the now tepid extra strength caffine in the afternoon), waking up with a start at 7.00pm, getting mega grumpy for having missed the good part of the evening, tidy up by 8pm, in bed by 9pm all ready to get the shit beaten out of me again the next day!!! Woo Hoo!! Work sucks!

Fortunately we're keeping an eye on the weekends, and at least work is paying for new snowboard playthings for the upcoming winter, and it pays for the bloody basement - which is looking even more spiffing than when last mentioned and expect to see pictures of the finished product in the next post!

Work did attempt to appease the staff last week by taking us to the zoo for one of the professional development days - although being at the zoo was far too reminiscent of being in a classroom with the kids, so not as hot a deal as it first sounded (always have a schoolboy kind of giggle at seeing the wanking monkies in the zoo - bless em!). A couple of us aimed to sabbotage the great team building activity in the afternoon by partaking the test and "fun" with little vigour and rather crass, vulgar written responses - only to be ousted by the zoo host who was running the gig (these Canucks can be rather enthusiastic for anything) which resulted in our being presented with pencils in the shape of dicks and tits at the staff meeting the following day at school (refeshing to get a sense of humour out of admin!).

Any camping over the last weekend was washed out with the weather, and also put on hold seeing as though we do nothing but spend out spare time in DIY shops at the moment.

All in all, teaching Social Studies is pretty good fun (I feel like I'm almost on familiar territory), I've got the Outdoor Ed class again this year so we're off rafting the end of this month, and will hopefully have a day climbing and a day ski-ing before Christmas too (that's the work I like).

Brina is putting up with work with as little effort as possible and she seems rather pleased by her laissez faire teaching style.

Probably be out in the mountains this weekend - summer is coming to an end, and we'll have shots of the leaves in fall before you know it.

The goats up top there were taken by Brina and Lucy on a hike off Logan's Pass in Glaceir NP, and the other photo (which I don't think I've posted before) is the focus climbing high in Colorado on the way to Aspen.
Keep fighting through the tough stuff (and the boring mundane crap),
nearly the weekend,
S&S.

Crammin' it all in

Hi All,
with work looming on the horizon, we felt a need to get back out into the hills this week, to justify to ourselves that we are still on holiday (if only for just 3 more days), so we packed up the tent and the bikes and tootled off to Tunnel Mt in Banff. A couple of nights out in the fresh air was just the ticket. I managed to struggle out of bed early doors to get a couple of rides in, before heading out with Brina later in the day.

The little Canuck was having a blast on her mountain bike, but is aware of the delights of road bikes - and is thus now eager for a new steed.

We zipped around Lake Minnewanka on the Wednesday which was good fun - and fortunately very quiet. Thankfully it had warmed up a bit by midday, as the early morning ride was bitterly cold and gave me nightmares about winter riding conditions coming back early.





Brina was a little chilly camping in the tent, and despite her super thick matress (for which we now have a pump thank goodness - as I no longer have to go dizzy for ten minutes blowing it up) she still had the need to overdress for the cold night air .




It was fun to mosie around Banff for a couple of days too - we bumped into the chap who gave me the ticket to go and meet Lance, and he is currently searching for a tutor to go to Chile with his son for 4 weeks on a ski camp (I almost bit his hand off there and then, but was halted from telling him that I'd readily quit work for such a stint in the southern hemisphere).
It was also very fortunate that I brought the pizza maker along with us on the camping trip (see piccie below).
Unfortunately, I was put in command of cooking the pizza's on the camping bbq - and I did a super job of burning the shit out of them so they looked like charred wagon wheels - alas, it was chips and salsa for supper...
Seeing as though it's Saturday today, and we aint back at work until Tuesday, we're actually off to sneak another nights camping in tonight (and lo and behold it's our anniversary tomorrow - bloomin' eck, how swiftly the time passes in Canada). This morning will see me kicking and screaming my way through DIY stores to pick up odds and sods for the basement guys who we'll probably have back sometime next week to finish off the basement proper to put all the nice finishing touches to it which if left to me would; A: never ever in a thousand years get done, and B: look like they were installed by a one armed, blind Slovenian, even if I did get around to doing it.
Hope you're all well,
Hoping that Tuesday never comes,
S&S.