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.