Vancouver

Ater a leisurely breakfast in Anacortes with sister Janet, I set off to do a couple of errands on the way to crossing the Canadian Border and heading towards Vancouver.  I thought they might take half an hour at most, but as usual, how wrong can you be ?!!  Luckily I only had about 50 miles to cover today. Although the sky was dark, I didn't think it really looked like rain, so left the roof off.


First of all, off to the telephone shop to try and get International Roaming on my number so I could use my phone in Canada.  I had spent several hours on the internet trying to do it over the past few days, without success. So when the guy in the shop tries, he finds the same thing - Cannot do it !!!   (And he was the guy who told me last week to do it on the internet ! Hmmmmmmm.)
Then he says I will have to do it by phone myself because I am "only a pay as you go customer, and not a contract customer" !!  (Was seething a little before - Now more so !!)
So he at least gets me through to a human being on the phone (a level I had been unable to reach previously !) but, like all call centres (not sure where this one was located) the voice on the other under was 90% unintelligible, and the other 10% speaking too softly for me to hear !!  I think I gave my phone number and pin number to about 5 different people, and seemed to be making progress, until I hit a new voice which I really did not have a clue what she was saying !!  Not a single word !!   I explained very carefully several times that I was Australian, old and very deaf, but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference to the speed at which the words were being fired at my ears !   Eventually, after a little translation help from the store owner, it turned out that the pin number, which I had given out and had been accepted as correct by 5 previous people, was apparently now incorrect !!  For 15 minutes I was told I had to start at the beginning again and create a new pin number, and I kept refusing. I really really didn't want to lose my human and go back to a recorded message, even though I couldn't understand my human !!  Finally we worked out that the human was using the incorrect phone number for some reason, so obviously my pin number was "incorrect".  Needless to say, I received no apology for their error which had aged me considerably, but at last I was now assured I had international roaming.   Finally I was rewarded with  a couple of phrases from the human which I understood perfectly - "Is there anything else I can do for you today?", and "thank you for allowing me to be of service to you today".    Hmmmmmmm.  How come she can make those ones totally clear ?    2 hours of my life gone !!!

So now I rushed 15 miles up the road to see my Insurance Agent who wanted to see my car. As their office was right beside the freeway, this was easily done.  On arriving there I was told that following an earlier enquiry over the phone, and contrary to what I was told then, I apparently DID need a special document to prove I had insurance covereage while travelling in Canada.  And this had to come from the head office on the East Coast of the US, so we might as well go out to lunch.    So we did, and to cut a long story short, when we got back an hour later the fax had still not come through, and now it was almost closing time on the East Coast !!   A few frantic phone calls later, and after another 30 minutes, the form finally came through, so I rushed out to my car hoping to get to the border crossing before the rush hour queues.  It had started to rain but I had no time to put the roof on, and once I was on the freeway the sky looked lighter ahead, so I persevered.  5 minutes later the rain stopped and by the time I reached the Canadian border it was sunny and nearly 20 deg C :-)

Now the border.  Would he give me a hard time ?  Would he jail me for carrying Bear Spray, as someone on the internet said would happen ? Would they want any special Canadian forms I didn't know about ?   Eventually got to the front of the line, pulled up at the booth with the Customs Agent in there, and the conversation went something like this :-   "What the hell is that ?" "Its a Lotus". "Hmm, never seen one of them before". Walks round the front of the car to look at number plate - "Is that a Palm Tree on your licence plate ?" "Yes sir". Raised eyebrow. Returns to his booth. After a couple of minutes looking at my passport...... "Hey, why is the steering wheel on the other side? "    "I shipped it from Australia".   "Why ?"   "To drive it to Alaska"    "THAT ? To Alaska ? Are you crazy?". "Er .....No sir". "Any guns or weapons ?" "No sir, just a can of bear spray". "Oh, thats ok - Go on, get out of here, you must be nuts". !!!! I was through there quicker than even Americans who just show their passports !! I couldn't believe it ! He didn't want to see any car paperwork or anything !!! I drove off down the road laughing my head off !

Got to my friend Dorothys house in S Surrey BC, who I hadn't seen since Singapore in 1998.  Her husband used to be one of my customers in Nigeria back in 1979/80, and we had kept in touch over the years.  Great to catch up with her and meet her daughter Linda, and we had a lovely meal of salmon while we remenisced over some of the many things that happened and people we had known in Nigeria.  Wonderful evening.  And their neighbours have links to the RCMP so kindly brought me my first Canadain Police sticker to add to my growing collection !! Thanks !!!     Their complex has a couple of rooms for guests so I was able to stay in one of them and enjoy a comfortable first night in Canada. 

Next morning they even had the Canadian Flag flying above my bedroom to welcome e on my first morning in Canada !!    I was able to take Dorothy and Linda for breakfast locally, and then leave at a very civilised hour as I was just going in to Vancouver to spend the day at the Museum of Anthropology which many people had told me was well worth a visit.  So drove in and spent the day there, and it was excellent, focussed on indignious life, obviously primarily on the Indian First Nation.  Lots of explanations behind the history and meaning of their totem poles and buildings and many other aspects of their life.  In addition it had an amazing display of tribal artifacts from all over the world, including places like West Africa and Papua New Guinea - So I was able to recognise many of the masks and odds and ends that we have collected over the years, and confirm where some of them actually originiated !  An extremely interesting day which gave me a lot of insight into the history of the people in this part of the world, in whose country I will be spending the next few weeks. 

I then went of to Roger Malloy's house in North Vancouver - Roger being another Lotus Club connection along the way !  Despite it being a cold Tuesday evening, 3 other club members joined us and we went out to a pub for a pint and a meal and a chat.  Very pleasant evening and I really appreciate you taking the time to come out to meet me guys -  Dave, Brian, and Dennis. As I have said before, it is evenings and chats like this that are making my trip so special.

Then it was back to Roger's place where I spent the night, before setting off on my travels north early the next morning.

A very few photos of Vancouver bridges - Was raining and pretty miserable while I was there. https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/Vancouver?authkey=Gv1sRgCN7phJepysSTDQ#