It's Snowing Outside!!

Of frabjous day calloo callay!! The snow began falling last night and whilst scarcely enough remains tonight to remind us of our winter wonderland we have proof tender comrades! Fear not, friends, we pretend to hate Canada in our pique of oh so smart pomo irony, but begone shameless fraudsters and interlopers alike for tonight Andrea and I are celebrating. Andrea for finishing a long exam on the merits of visual culture, and myself, well I have an appointment tomorrow to trace the whereabouts of our Australian chattels with the good people at Canada customs. Perhaps they can help me find my collection of Miles Davis CDs and books I pretend to have read. So reasons to be cheerful...not to mention the Ahmad Jamal CD that arrived in the mail today and the joys of Professor Nigel Thrift's stunningly elegant re-reading of Spinoza's ethic of affective encounters...to understand simple things disguised as wonders is to produce awe does it not? Lest I slip into further unflattering wankery let me return to the snow.

We awoke this morning still in darkness to find fluffy flakes of snow falling softly in the glow of the street lights outside. Andrea and I ran from room to room watching the snow play in the lights outside, grand flashs grinning like idiots at one another hoping that enough would remain for us to kick around in outside. Alas it was not to be though still the snow has been falling most of the day in lazy swirls and flows. Mixed in with rain and sleet, most of the snow melts before it has time to settle, but we are not complaining.

I had a chance to snap a pretty ordinary photo of the light snow on English bay on the way to work this morning that amounts to the sum total of the documentary evidence I crowed about above, so my apologies for misleading you. Still, in combination with the far more impressive photos of Mt Seymour you get the idea of winter in Vancouver. Fucking cold though and I mean, walk right down to the shop now and buy a new hat and gloves and start stealing scarves from unsuspecting old ladies in the street cold. Damn it's cold!

That said I suspect our building is contributing more in global warming emissions than some European nations at present such is the barmy, nay tropical ambiance Andrea and I currently enjoy here in sunny ParkView apartments. With room temperatures demanding singlets and shorts, whilst all around outside the joggers and the dog-walkers freeze, well you can imagine the brio, the wide eyed bonhomie that obtains within these four walls. Never underestimate the value of central heating...what a treat to have finally entered the twenty first century. Delivered into the lap of such convenience! Yep the flat's great thanks for asking.

The other photo is courtesy of our latest perambulatory adventures trekking to Victoria last Friday. With Andrea and two colleagues in tow we sailed for far off Vancouver Island thanks to the merry folk aboard the "Gulf Flyer" (ok I think I made that last bit up). I was due to visit Professor Tim Stockwell, one of nature's true gentlemen, at the University of Victoria to talk up the prospects of some much welcome collaborative inquiry; caught with an hour to kill we went window shopping in downtown Victoria. More English than England is the local boast and one can see why with their predilection for quaint laneways and decorative flower beds on every second corner. The parliament building is however delightful and the town boast one of BC's best bookstores (Andrea picked up the latest Harry Potter book and has scarcely looked up from the page since!). On yes and I was very nearly seduced by a beaver hat replete with tail and kooky lining. Oh we laughed! Yes well everyone was laughing at me including adjacent small children who I imagine assumed I was part of the local Christmas entertainment. Hmmm Canadians, so polite.

OK so you probably didn't need two dumb photos of me in a beaver hat but hey it's my blog! I also thought I'd add my favourite photo of my lovely wife because again, it's my blog and hey doesn't she make me look good! Must be doing something right!

So greeting to Damian and Louise in Mexico, I hope you sorted the 'amenities' out. Have a tequila for me! Much love to Troy and Charly and Graham and Lauren (ask Graham about the beaver hat!) and Mum and Dad and Allister and Kate and Sean and Laney and everyone else my hunger prevents me from recalling right about now.

Hey and how about exercising your interactive rights and hitting the reply button down below. This ain't no spectacle friends get involved. Oh yes and do make sure to go at the see the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. Just because Johnny Cash was probably the cooled American of the twentieth century and god knows that a good thing to be reminded of right about now.