Friday 23 February 24

Today was definitely divided into 3 distinct parts..

Part 1 – The DIY Store

Our first task was to visit the iconic Canadian equivalent of B&Q/Mitre 10…

…and it soon became clear that we were definitely in a Canadian store as these items are not usually available locally…

…and considering that the “weapons” the professionals use cost $300 – $400 then $17 seemed a bit of a bargain…😉🇨🇦

Part 2 – Smuggler Cove on the Sunshine Coast

For Leith & Rob this particular place for hiking is a regular haunt, plus their 4 adult children love it too, so they (rightly) guessed it might appeal to us as well, especially given its backstory…

The actual hike they took us on is best told in this chronological, unedited sequence of images, so we invite you to join us on this wee adventure, as seen through our eyes…

…and to make sure we were adequately ready for the next time it snows there we dropped in here…

… before finding out how Vancouver got it’s name, from a wee, understated plaque on another stunning driftwood beach…

Part 3 – Dinner with Music

Leith & Rob are both accomplished musicians, with Leith specializing in piano and Rob in mandolin, plus they are both very good fiddle players.

They both play in bands and have been heavily involved in the local musical community for many years.

Tonight’s guests, their friends for many years, were Bill, guitarist and singer/songwriter and Beth, ukulele player and singer; in addition they are both excellent dancers to boot 🕺🏽💃🏽☺️🇨🇦

After eating and discussing, in depth, some of the issues we had learnt about the treatment of the indigenous peoples – Bill is a Historical Consultant – we were all, inevitably, drawn to playing some music as a six piece, “for one night only” band 😉🎶

Julie sang at least 3 Burns’ songs, Beth and Bill gave us some ukulele/guitar based duets, Leith toggled between piano, fiddle and singing, Rob showed off his expertise on his pride and joy (made by BC based Michael Heiden) an octave mandolin no less – not an instrument I even knew existed prior to this wee session…

…and I was handed Rob’s fiddle, impressed that, straight out of the case, it was perfectly in tune…🎻😉

Cajoling gently the fingers of my left hand I was pleased that, finally, some muscle memory returned sufficiently for me to join in and complete this spontaneously assembled sextet…☺️🇨🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿