Welcome to the first update which properly comes to you from Canada, since the update last week was from quarantine! As you’ll see below we’ve now been out and about, but not everything has gone quite to plan! As I write this, I’m a bit of a nervous wreck, as I have no idea whether we will be able to get a hire car in time to collect Bally the Greyhound who arrives into Vancouver on Friday!
1. The end of quarantine By the end of a week and a half in quarantine my attitude was starting to shift from ‘thank god we made it here, who cares how long we have to quarantine for’ to ‘get me the hell outta this house’!! Having my birthday in quarantine was a strange experience, but at least it broke things up a bit. Plus my friend sent Jacob some money to buy me treats, so I got to sample some of the local Northern Lights Winery’s finest produce! (Thanks Rebecca!)
2. Coming out It felt really strange and overwhelming to finally get to see Prince George after a five month delay and two weeks waiting indoors. We strolled from our house to the downtown, stopping at the bank on the way to get me signed up. Our first (and only stop) down town was the rather fantastic City Secondhand, where we choose a whole load of beautiful used furniture. We didn’t get a chance to explore the downtown, since we had to be back up at our house to meet the furniture which was delivered the same day. Finally dinner at a table not on our laps! We didn’t get much done on our first day out and about but it was lovely to finally stretch our legs, check out a little of PG and have somewhere to sit in our house!
2. Things don’t go to plan As you know Bally, our greyhound, is arriving on the 18th (currently two days time). We are driving to Vancouver to collect him, leaving early on the 17th (Thursday). So yesterday, Tuesday, we booked a car rental online and made our way over to their office to pick it up. No sooner had we walked in then the man behind the counter was explaining that they had no cars for us to hire. When he saw our looks of horror, he mentioned that there was one car we could have if we were driving south. But it absolutely could not be driven around locally. He went as far as to say that ‘the car might be attacked, or people may even attack you’. Why? Well, this car has a Californian number plate and some Canadians feel that any American defying the border closure and entering Canada right now must be taught a lesson. Which they are have been teaching by attacking any cars with American number plates. Not ideal.
So we left there without a car, but with the promise that if we returned tomorrow evening (today!) there would be a car we could hire. Let’s hope so. Next on our list was getting a sim card sorted for our phones, as not having a Canadian number is causing us quite a lot of problems. But it was a ‘computer says no’ situation as we didn’t have the correct British Columbia ID that is needed to get a phone contract. To top it all off the bank emailed to say that my account had no been set up property, they had forgotten one of the forms they needed to get me to sign.
So currently we have no car to drive to Vancouver, no Canadian numbers and I don’t have a Canadian bank account. If Bally gets here safely and without any hiccups none of this will matter of course!
What’s Bothering Babs?
Babs’ Question: Why can’t Bally fly to Prince George?
He and his flight crate weigh to much for the little propeller plane! He is actually coming into Vancouver on the same Air Canada flight we got and we should be able to collect him 2-3 hours later. Which means that by 6:00pm on Friday 18th, 2:00am GMT, we should all be reunited.
Bear in the Playground eh?
If you missed last weeks update, you can get acquainted with our new feature here.
Everything in Canada is huge. Everything. From the cars to the tin cans, everything is bigger than its European counterpart. Here’s a photo to illustrate this point. The loo roll is the same size as in the U.K. for scale. As you can see everything else is fit for Hargrid’s hut! What have they fed that cauliflower?!
West Country Wandering 
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