The Savvy Boomer

Attention would be immigrants-Canada is a very cold country

A message for the 23 million Americans who are supposedly waiting  to immigrate to Canada and the millions more from the rest of the world-It's bloody cold here and this is supposed to be the warmest part of Canada in the winter.   It's going down to -10C tonight (about 15 F), and for us Vancouverites, that is very cold for any time of the year.  Several things happen here when the temperature gets this cold.  Politicians start to care about the homeless, Italian and French manufactured cars won't start, people in Eastern Canada laugh at what wimps we are (they wouldn't even put sweaters on at this temp.), there are lineups for hours for snow tires, travel agents are overwhelmed for travel anywhere warm, schools close down, and I wear a fleece all the time and I mean all the time.  And it's still November!!

So if you are one of the 23 million, and you live in the Southern U.S., send me an email and let's do a house swap from November to April.  I'll even throw in my fleece and my Citroen. 

You know it's been raining a lot when.......

 

a seagull wants to come inside.  Only 2 forecasts required by TV weather people for Vancouver in November.  It's raining or It's going to rain.  YECCCHH!!

Vancouver prepares for a heat wave

For a lot of the year I'm not usually much of a fan of Vancouver weather because between the months of October and April it basically rains and is cool.  That's the price of living in what a lot of people consider to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  We seldom get hot weather and have even fewer thunderstorms.

 

Well, that all changed last night with close to 2 hours of a spectacular thunderstorm that slowly passed out to sea.  And the rest of the week it's going to be in the 30's (F90+.)  I realize that's no big deal for the rest of North America, but it's a huge deal here.

So like that good Canadian that I am, I have made a couple of adjustments to our fridge to prepare for it.  Cheers eh?

 

Merry Christmas from (snowy) Vancouver

I moved here almost 30 years ago because I'd had enough of winter in other parts of Canada.  In that time, this is only about the 3rd Christmas that I can remember significant amounts of snow.  It usually rains on Christmas day.  Below is a shot from the balcony taken Dec. 24.  That's a cross-country skier navigating the dike trail the only way possible right now in the foreground and a lone eagle in the tree in the background, wondering where his next meal is going to come from.

I've seen a lot of snow shots this week on blogs from all over North America so I know this isn't very remarkable for most people living in an area used to snow but if you have ever been in Vancouver at Christmas, you know that this is certainly not what you would expect.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Vancouver has the crappiest weather in North America

After spending 2 weeks in Arizona where it was in the 80's and sunny every day, we returned home to a week of cool temperatures and rain every day and it's going to continue for at least 2 more weeks.  Really now, can anyone one up the 2 week forecast of deplorable weather below which is OK for January, but this is April?  For those of you still stuck in the 19th century, those temps are on the Centigrade scale and range between about 34 and 50 on the Fahrenheit thermometer.  As you can see, the weather has also affected my normally sweet disposition.