One day, a game of football, 2 beaches, the sopabox derby, lunch at the King's Head and a Greek celebration

Sunday started with a failry early start to Andy and Ian's in order to watch England's breathtaking 1-0 victory over Ecuador. But this was only the start of an action packed day. Firstly we managed to witness the end of the Soapbox derby on 4th and the unusual spectacle of Vancouver Whitecaps mascot "Winger" taking on BC Premier "Gordon Campbell". Needless to say Winger won.

Following this we moved onto Kits beach and then onto the King's Head for lunch. I even managed to win a whole dollar on the horse racing. We then experienced our second cultural festival of the weekend, this time the country was Greece and the place was West Broadway. It was here that I had a brush with the law. Walking down the street wearing my England shirt I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder. I turned round to find a policeman standing behind me. "May I ask what you're drinking there sir" he asked me. I then showed him it was can of Sprite and he seemed very happy, "excellent" he said. Why he thought an England fan would be drinking in the middle of the street after an England match is a mystery to all of us.

We then finally moved onto Jericho Beach where we watched the sunset and managed to get a fire going to keep us warm. Phew.


We actually got to walk down the middle of 4th and Broadway in one day


The start of the Soapbox derby


A treacherous looking course indeed


Winger speeds off on his way to victory


At the beach, again!


The obligatory close up


Gav's first attempt at burying himself in the sand


It was literally like being in Greece. No, in actual fact it wasn't


Ian being driven crazy by the sun


A pristine photo opportunity


Back at the beach again


He likes it in the sand. Almost as much as he likes watching England win


Football fever sweeping Vancouver


There was a sunset this night as well


Seen better

In the meantime...

To keep my loyal readers happy until my next full post here's a glimpse of what is to come. Liz emailed me this picture from the beach on Sunday night claiming that I like having pictures of myself. But then if you hung around with the people I do, surely you'd think the same. Only joking... well to some of you anyway.

A brilliant way to relax after an eventful day including a brush with the law

Typically Scottish...

The weekend brought some incredibly hot weather and therefore many outdoor activities. When you think of hot sunny afternoons where does you mind take you, Spain, Australia, Africa. Well this Saturday afternoon we had Scotland on our minds.

Coquitlam was holding the BC Highland Games, so Gav dragged us along with fellow Scot Alan to celebrate the culture of their homeland. Coquitlam is quite a way from where we live but boy was it worth it.


A lake outside of Coquitlam Stadium where the games were being held. No sign of Nessie


Alan and Gav proudly display their cans of Irn Bru, the national drink of Scotland. I also managed to get some Lucozade


These may look like medieval weapons but are actually state of the art Scottish stabbing instruments. You can find them in most large Scottish city centres


Where are the drunk people passed out on the grass, vomiting over their large beer bellies. This is nothing like Scotland


One of the sporting events on show, the hammer. I think this guy was called Jock McHaggis


Another event involving throwing heavy objects. There was a cabre toss but I didn't get any pictures


Too busy taking them of myself. You didn't really want to see the cabre tossing anyway did you?


Bagpipes, kilts, all we needed was rain and a Scotland draw with the Faroe Islands and it would have been perfect


A Whisky tent where people sat politely around a table drinking. They haven't been doing their research


There I am, burning


Aah June, time for Andy's yearly bath

Just because I love you...

I know everyone back home in Britain loves seeing how much more beautiful Vancouver is than whatever city you're living in. So here are some more beach pictures for you to enjoy. This time the action has moved from Kits beach to Spanish Banks.


Another beach, another sunset. This one had a pink hue to it


Even when nobody was in the water, Ian kept watch from the lifeguard tower


Probably the closest I will ever get to being David Hasselhoff


The fire brigade had to be called in order to cut Keenie out


Our first campfire proved to be a success... eventually


All together now, Kum by yah my lord, kum by yah

After a hard days work...

One of the great things about living in Vancouver is that you can go to the beach anytime you want. You don't have to be on holiday, it doesn't have to be the weekend or even a special occasion. You can just go to work, go home and then go to the beach. Staring at the mountains, looking out to sea as the sun sets over the horizon. I can't see me doing this back in England, but I do hear New Zealand has some nice beaches...


The sun begins it's slow descent into the sea


There are a few pictures here but I want everyone back in Britain to share the joy


Notice how the sun has a more orangy tint in this picture. Interesting isn't it


It's funny how the logs all washed up in a straight line. Also, Simon seems to be contemplating his future role as the leader of the human resistance when the machines take over the Earth


Gav looking very relaxed. He's obviously just relieved that England finished top of their group


Oh go on then, another sunset picture, I know you wanted it


Whats the point of this picture, you can't even see me


That's better

Goodbyes and Grinds

This weekend saw a goodbye to Jade who will be flying off for further travelling adventures in the beautiful country of England. May you enjoy your stay in our home country and don't listen to all the horrible things we said about it. So on Friday night we set off to the King's Head for her send off.

Simon wearing Chris' glasses. Note to Chris Duggen, possibly the first photographic evidence of Simon's beard growing efforts


Going home from the King's Head. Myself, Jade, Keenie and Chris in a moment of chaos


Chris attempts to drag home the branch of a tree. He wasn't at all drunk


Chris ruuning into and headbutting a for sale sign outside a house. Maybe he was a little drunk


And he did it over and over agin until we captured the exact moment he made contact with it. Fortunately, further stunts involving a hammock and a telegraph pole never took off. He looked surprisingly well working at the top of Grouse mountain the next day


The follwoing afternoon I set off with Andy, Laura, Simon and Simon's two firends from home Liam and Stephen to attempt the Grouse Grind. That's right, on their first full day in canada Simon had them marching up a mountain. I have been to Grouse once before See here but that was in a cable car. Now we were going to walk the 2.9km and climb to a height of 2800ft. It wasn't too bad and almost all of us managed to complete it in a reasonable time, faster than Ian anyway and will no doubt do it all again one day.


Myself looking healthy, fit and raring to go


Laura not looking so confident. She was actually the first one to the top of the mountain, after giving up within 10 minutes and catching the cable car. A let down to my household


The brave travellers before the great adventure


Many dangerous animals lurk within the mountain. I even fought a bear. Obviously there are no pictures so I found an artists impression


Yep, that's pretty much how I remember it


Safe from the bear we venture futher upwards


Other brave souls wandering the mountain. We actually say a guy running down without a top on. He's probably just crazy and unable to leave, cursed for all time


We did it!


We then went out for dinner in Gastown where the following 2 events occured.


Someones falling off a building. Don't worry though, these were just people absailing and performing tricks. Just another night in Vancouver


We ended up in a bar where Andy went on an endless winning streak against some guys who wouldn't give in until they beat him. I beleive they're still playing right at this second