I went for an afternoon walk around the lagoon. The newly hatched cygnet was not visible but I assumed it was safely nestled under its parent who was on the nest, her mate resting beside her. As I walked further I came upon the other pair of swans with their one youngster and the ‘batty’ old lady whom I encountered in the elevator recently and who so annoyed me with her anti-dog sentiments. I do not think she recognized me. It turns out she is one of the quasi-official swan minders and has been for some years. Certainly she seems very well informed about the ten adults on the lake and was able to answer several of my enquiries.

“Why was there only one cygnet from a clutch of eggs?” I asked.

“Why do people have to be so negative in this day and age?” she replied.

“Why not say, oh how lovely that they have managed to produce such a beautiful baby.”

I could have asked her why people have to be so prejudiced against dogs, but instead decided to change tack for the sake of eliciting further information.

Once again the apartment is sticky hot, humid, but it is better to keep the windows closed than to allow the hot air in from outside.

 We had breakfast out and then decided to go straight to the aquarium and see the baby beluga born on June 9^th (http://www.vanaqua.org/belugacam/). Omar’s tourist pass allows both of us free access. The little beluga calf was joyously swimming around, its slightly jealous older sister sticking closer to mum than the new born. Apparently there was some aggression shown by the sister in the first few days but obviously staff feel it is safe enough to leave all three together, as presumably would be the case in the wild. The male however, has long since been removed to his own tank and is out of sight.

We were just in time to see another performance of the birds of prey (http://www.pnwraptors.com/index.html). On this occasion there was a pair of beautiful sleek Harris Hawks, the female noticeably larger than the male, which apparently does much of the hunting. This species also hunts in groups to better harvest the scarce prey of their desert habitat. Once they had been safely boxed away the magnificent Bald Eagle, which we saw on our previous visit, was released to entertain the large audience (mostly school children). He is a most beautiful bird and one gets very close views of him as he flies between the various perches set up around the yard. Apparently for all his great size he only weights six pounds. During his antics the wild pair, which we observe almost daily from our window, were sitting sedately in their nest tree watching the spectacle of this stranger

This afternoon I was alerted to the presence of four bald eagles soaring overhead. I watched them for about twenty minutes from the apartment windows until the two pairs went their separate ways, one pair landing on a log in Lost Lagoon. Later I went out and took photos of them. The crows were mobbing them.

The huge carp seemed to have finished their spawning. I noticed one, probably 3 feet long, floating dead in the water, its body bloated. Further on a lady was feeding raccoons. Evidently it is a daily ritual for her. She was telling a tourist all about it as one of her benefactors munched on a cookie and eyed me nervously. Of course this is in blatant contravention of park rules against feeding wildlife. There are notices posted but neither the public nor the park board authorities seem to pay much attention.

It was very pleasing to hear the melodious conversations of ravens whilst in Lund. Since returning to Vancouver I have seen hardly any and certainly far fewer than I used to see. What has happened to them I wonder?

The first hatched mute swan cygnet was swimming with a parent and briefly riding on its back. The fact the pair only appears to have hatched one egg suggests to me some sort of birth control by the park board. It also has to ensure young Mute swans are pinioned because they are an alien specie here in Canada and cannot be allowed to fly off and multiply. I feel rather sorry for the imprisoned adults, which occasionally can be seen attempting to take off. Further round the lagoon I observed a newly hatched addition, it’s parent still on the nest as it tried to climb through her feathers. Whether there were, or will be more remains to be seen. I will check tomorrow.

When, during lunch, I mentioned to Socca about the possible ‘birth control’ policy she added that the Canada geese and ducks have their eggs removed to control the population. This would certainly explain why so few of the many pairs seem to be raising young.

The waterfowl are now entering in to their eclipse period. There are feathers all over the place and I am not alone in picking-up the beautiful primary feathers dropped by Canada geese. It would be nice to find a wing feather from a Mute swan but they spend far less time on land than in the lagoon so there is less chance. That said, the swans have not yet started moulting like their cousins.

Yesterday I got in to our working elevator (the other remains out of order in spite of two men working on it all day Friday). There was a little old lady already inside whom I recognized as a fellow resident. I had spoken to her on several occasions and at that moment thought I recalled her having once had a little dog with her.

"Where's your little dog today?" I asked naively.

"Dog!" she exclaimed."I don't have a dog. Dogs aren't allowed in this building." With that the elevator arrived on her floor and she stepped out declaring as she left, "The last thing I want to see in this building is a bunch of dogs!".

Dear God, what is wrong with these people? Are they so alienated from the natural world that the idea of domestic animal companions is anathema? I wanted to shout after her.

"You stupid woman! There aren't supposed to be children here either, and if I had my way batty old ladies would also be banned.Oh, and by the way, it's 'pack' not 'bunch'." But of course I didn't.

It is another sultry hot day and little comfort to those fighting fires around the province. Thankfully the hotwater heating in the den has remained 'off ' since the disruption to our hot water service earlier in the week. Even so the den and apartment generally are far from comfortable. One has to choose carefully the best time of day to open or close windows for beneficial temperature control. Yesterday I was stuck in the elevator and only managed to escape by forcing the door open. Both elevators have been making alarming noises for some time and by all accounts alot of residents have no confidence in them. I note the Otis repair man is on sight this morning.

The really good news from my point of view is our imminent escape for two nights stay at "The Dome" in Lund. I arranged a car rental and we will head off early Sunday morning to catch a 7:30am ferry from Horseshoe Bay. On Monday it was clear I was in desperate need of some respite from the current situation. I started talking about the prospect of heading off in to the wilderness for a week alone. This alarmed Omar. Evidentally he did not like the prospect of me going away by myself. Of course there is a grave risk this 'breathing space' amid the joy of nature will serve more to exacerbate the situation than relieve it, but I am prepared to take the risk. More likely it will galvinize me in to constructive, positive action upon our return.

Ok, so Campbell and his merry band of money grabbing robbers got re-elected, by a narrow margin. And the stupid electorate failed to endorse the referendum for a reform of our unfair electorial system. Yes it's bad news, very bad, but let's not get depressed about it. I for one am determined to 'think positive' and look on the bright side. Campbell's chickens will eventually come home to roost and then finally the people will see him and his party in their true colours, or should that be plumage? At least Spencer Herbert got re-elected. Thank God for that!

And, yes, that's a new portrait. I decided it was time to don the summer hat!

I decided to take another walk in Stanley Park at about 3:30pm. It was a lovely afternoon, albeit a little cloudy, but much warmer than I had anticipated. Before long I was sweating and obliged to remove my jacket. I was over-dressed, clearly still harbouring Ottawa weather mentality. Close to the totem pole arena a crowd had gathered on the verge of the extensive lawn area to have a barbeque. Smoke wafted from their cooking and had evidently caught the attention of a park coyote which loitered within 50 yards of the group totally unperturbed by the crowd or even the half-hearted approaches of a youth. It retreated a few yards with the approach of two men wielding cameras in its direction, which is what I should have been doing had I not foolishly left mine at home. The coyote looked to be in good condition and having decided to give up on the barbeque amused itself in the middle of the lawn playing with some scrap of plastic or cardboard. I observed it for 10 minutes or so before continuing on my way.

This evening I did an on-line search for information about Vancouver's coyote population which is estimated to be at least 200 and growing. Apparently and not surprisingly they are flourishly in the city. More disturbingly they are beginning to loose their fear of humans with the inevitable adverse consequences, and becoming a serious threat to cats and dogs, notably the smaller breeds like Max. There have been incidents of startled dog walkers fending off attacks on their leashed pets. This immediately heightened my concerns about walking Max especially at night and so close to the park. I think I should acquire a sturdy walking stick just in case I have to fight off a brazen coyote.  

Vancouver Journal commencing 11^th March 2009 @ 9:18pm:

Babicito is in the bedroom watching documentary videos on ‘YouTube’. I am in the ‘study’ typing this at my little desk amidst mountains of boxes containing mostly books, all of which arrived yesterday with the rest of our belongings from Ottawa. They left that city on 18^th February and we are still puzzled as to why exactly it took so long for them to get here. I demanded, and received a discount in lieu of the considerable inconvenience of having to camp out in the apartment waiting for the overdue delivery.

It is a small apartment, the kitchen a mere galley that cannot accommodate both Omar and myself simultaneously. The rent is twice that I have ever paid before and worst of all, I have now realised there are cell phone masts clustered around the roof of the building immediately above our heads. We are on the top floor. My Babicito leased it in haste and panic and without even looking for alternatives. It has three advantages; location, which is excellent, superb views across George Street into Stanley Park and the mountains beyond, and a building manager willing to turn a blind eye to the ‘no pets’ policy of the building. Even so Babicito suffers spasms of fear every time Max barks and is still uneasy about being seen coming to and from the building with him.

However, the potential health hazards of the cell phone masts make void any advantages as far as I am concerned and therefore it is only a question of time and circumstance before we will be moving again. I think Babicito realises this and will acquiesce when the time comes, though I suspect he hopes that will be at least one year from now.

I am currently exhausted, stressed and anxious and I am hoping this is simply the consequence of all the accumulative trauma we have endured since leaving Vancouver rather than any immediate effect of those bloody masts!    

The temperature is down to -20c with a wind chill of -30c. No wonder Max refuses to linger outside beyond a hasty pee! Since I am up reasonably early I have put washing in the tub and intend attacking the piles of remaining discarded clean clothes. Most of them will probably be left behind. Then there is another mountain of paperwork to be sifted through, though thankfully there is a little more order to those piles. Yesterday I cancelled the hard won doctor's appointments. We will not be needing them now.

It seems we are for ever getting our lives 'back on course' or at least changing direction, always seemingly from some inner or external necessities. One wonders when these driving forces will cease, if ever. I for one now look forward to an opportunity of tranquil contemplative existence, preferably wrapped in a lot of financial security.

I suppose by now it should not surprise me that the weather has again turned ominous. At this moment the snow is almost at blizzard intensity, though interestingly "The Weathernetwork" does not appear to be warning us of particularly bad weather. Thankfully I do not have to set foot outside again today other than to allow Max to relieve himself, which he will do as quickly as possible, a habit he has acquired since living in this artic landscape.

Meanwhile my most recent contact with Omar is from Jasper where he arrived by train around lunchtime, clearly delighted to find a significantly warmer temperature than we are used to in Ottawa, and looking forward to crossing the Rockies. He strongly recommends I follow suit by train when I finally leave Ottawa. I have long wanted to traverse Canada but previously thought it would be far too expensive to do so by rail and to drive might be far too arduous for me. The way now seems feasible.

The local news is joyfully celebrating the 'end of the bus strike' though it will in fact be a little while yet before we actually see any buses on the roads. I for one have no intention of using them unless absolutely necessary. Neither do I share the sentiments of at least one member of the public quoted in the press as willing to welcome back the buss drivers with open arms and possibly even a 'muffin'.

So, the bus strikers have no intention of relieving the misery they are inflicting on the poor public, those unable to afford their own transport. I doubt our useless rich mayor (apparently still under investigation for possible improprieties re: his election) has any magical ace up his sleeve to solve the problem, so the struggle continues!

Personally I have actually started to enjoy my walks to work, although I must admit it was a little hard going the other evening after a day's snowfall. Having to divert enroute to do some essential grocery shopping and then continue with a heavy, bulging backpack made it even more difficult. But there is a certain sense of accomplishment when one arrives safely home.

Unfortunately there is no way Omar can walk to work so he is still dependent upon the kindness of fellow workers when they are able to accommodate him. Otherewise he must pay for taxis or stay home, neither of which is desirable.

Meanwhile it seems we have a lazy postman. He chose not to deliver our package yesterday even though we had been tracking it on-line and awaiting its arrival. When Omar caught up with him he gave some ridiculous story about it being too heavy for him to deliver (two DVD!) and that he did not in fact have it with him. The reality of course, he simply left it in his pick-up box, a few steps from our front door, because he could not be bothered to carry it.

Here we are on a dark cold night and I am astounded to see it is only 8:06 pm. It feels more like midnight. I hope we are not wishing our lives away!

We walked down to Westgate Mall at lunchtime mainly because there was goat’s milk to be collected from the health food shop. Although sunny the wind was again fiercely biting in to the fabric of our clothes and the temperature hovered around –17c. We are both adamant the sooner we escape this freezing wasteland the better.

The plumber arrived mid-afternoon and was here about four hours variously fixing or not, the dripping taps and other faulty features of our washroom. His parting act was to hook us up to the intercom system, which, after Shirley’s weeks of empty prevarications, took him all of one minute. He says she is only employed because she is ’cheap’.

Omar and I spoke a lot about moving to Spain. I think we need to if only to give ourselves encouragement. We also started to check out the requirements for taking Max with us. They are rather daunting and clearly we need to start the ground work sooner rather than later.

Poor Pat was mugged in the street in Monterey yesterday. Some wretch ran past her grabbing her handbag and snatching the cell phone she was speaking on. Her foolish boyfriend subsequently phoned the robber and threatened him, which was rather counter productive.

It has been snowing in Nova Scotia apparently. AJ posted pictures of his snow clearing efforts.

Had a lovely surprise yesterday afternoon when I received a phone call and heard Broph's voice. He was returning my good wishes on the occasion of his recent birthday. He sounded in great form and we were able to catch up on a few things before he had to hang up in order to keep his nightly ritual of phoning a friend at 10pm.

And here's my entry for this time last year; how different...