Playoff Time for Canucks

At this time of year, the NHL ice hockey playoffs begin and the Vancouver Canucks have made it once again. When I moved to Canada last year, watching the Canucks, on television, in the playoffs was my first experience of ice hockey and the start of my learning curve of the sport. This year, Nancy and I have been lucky enough to see a couple of games live and in person.

We went to see the last regular season game for the Canucks, which was against the NHL team from Phoenix. The arena, GM Place, was packed to the rafters with people including some strangely dressed fans which you can see in the photos. The atmosphere was great and the Canucks won 4-1.... a joy to watch.

At the time of writing, the Canucks have just won game 6 in the series of 7 to beat the LA Kings and reach the next round of the playoffs. The Canucks struggled in part against the LA Kings, but overcame to win through with a game to spare. However, Ross's team Washington Capitals (aka the Caps) are struggling to get past another Canadian Team - Montreal Canadians. The Caps have to play game 7 as the decider! Anyway, thanks to my boss I managed to see the first game of Canucks playoff series in a luxury box suite and I chalked up another great experience watching hockey. GO CANUCKS!

Em & Kris in Vancouver TODAY!

Yes... this pair of drinkers will be touching down in Vancouver today (aka Thursday). I have warned Vancouver Police and the local liquor stores that the Kings are coming to town.... everyone is on high alert for drunken behaviour!

Friday Night Gang reunion here we come.

Challenge On - First 10 KM Run Under My Belt

Today, was the Times Colonist 10KM run in Victoria and this annual event achieved a record turn-out, breaking the 10,000-mark for the number of runners completing the race with 10,850 tallied up by the noon. More than 13,500 had registered. The previous high was in 2009 when 9,484 ran, walked or rolled through the TC 10K.

As competitor 3599 I was one of the many runners with this being my first competitive 10K run, as part of the run challenge. My overall objective was to get through the race without walking and lay down a decent time, which ideally would be under an hour. With so many people at the start of the race, it was difficult to manage my own pace, especially as I was more concerned about not being tripped up by other runners. As the race wore on there was increasingly more space and actually the other competitors kept me motivated to keep my pace up towards the end of the race. I even saved enough energy for a sprint finish, which was heightened by the public address system announcing my name as I approached the finish line. Check out the video that Nancy took which captures my finish and name announcement.

So most importantly, what was my time.... well the unofficial time according to my ipod was 56 mins, 40 seconds. However, the official time according to the race sensor was 56 mins, 48 seconds - see below for the confirmation and also available on the website. Over to the rest of you now.... aka Bill Murray, Marlboro man and "I'm afraid of heights" Kris.











Check out Nancy's finishing line video with my announcement at 27 seconds and crossing the line at 40 seconds.

Curling - First Time on the Ice

In the past I have been a major critic of curling, based on the fact that it is perceived as a boring sport for old people with many connotations related to housework with all the sweeping. However, many Canadians take curling very seriously as a sport and with the Winter Olympics recently bringing the game to greater prominence more people are getting involved.

For those you are unaware, Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ices towards a target area, also known as the house. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones with eight stones for each team. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game, points being scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones. A game may consist of ten or eight ends.

Having never been on an ice rink before, this was certainly a night of firsts for me. I was also slightly nervous as Nancy's first attempt at curling, last year, resulted in her going to hospital with a damaged wrist. The evening started with coaching from the Vancouver Curling Club Ice Technician, called Don. He was very obsessed with his ice in an enthusiastic style and provided us with the basics and general insights into curling. We were then released onto the ice for some "rock chucking". It turned out, curling is enjoyable and we all had a right laugh, mainly taking the piss out of each other. My team lost 4-3 and I didn't really help the team, as I never actually managed to get a stone to stay in the target area. Oh well, at least there might be a next time!

Palm Springs & Indian Wells Tennis

Still in catch up mode with the blog and thought that I would write about our recent holiday in Palm Springs, California. One of the benefits of living on the West Coast is that California is within easy reach, similar in flight time as flying from the UK to Spain, but a little more glamorous in my humble opinion. Betty, Nancy's Grandmother has a winter home in Palm Springs and we were privileged to be invited to stay.

To save some cash, we drove across the US border on a Tuesday evening, stayed overnight in the small town 0f Bellingham. Next morning, up early, we took a EasyJet style flight from Bellingham to Palm Springs in about two and half hours. We landed in bright sunshine, clear blue skies and 80 degrees heat.... it was very enjoyable weather for mid March. We only had a few days and we made the most of it with numerous activities including shops, bars, restaurants and dips in the swimming pool. The two main highlights of the trip were the Living Desert, a local wildlife park and a couple of days at the Indian Wells Tennis tournament.

Firstly, the Living Desert was a great experience to get up close and personal with some interesting wildlife. As you can see by the photos we saw a number of animals, including giraffe, buffalo, goats, snakes, leopards, antelope, giant tortoise, zebras and various birds. We also had a wander into the nearby desert and saw the famous San Andreas fault, which is a major tectonic plate of the earths crust.... aka the reason for local earthquakes.

Onto the tennis tournament, for those who don't know the Indian Wells Tennis tournament is the fifth largest tennis event after the four major grand slams. Fantastic venue, stadium and well attended by a huge number of people. We had tickets for two days and managed to see the Mens singles quarter finals, Womens, Mens semi finals and some doubles matches. Although our seat allocation was up in the "bleacher" seats we a great view of the stadium court, plus we managed to swap to closer seats during the event. Highlights of the tennis was watching Nadal, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray play, although Murray was not on best form and lost his quarter final match. Suffice to say, Nancy and I both had an enjoyable time and planning to go back next year for more sunshine and tennis.

The Merc named after me!

After 13 years working for Mercedes-Benz I never thought the company would name a car after me. But it's true... the new SLS was officially launched this month with a price tag of $200,000. It is also the re-introduction of the gull wing design.

The first SLS appeared (pictured here) in Vancouver three weeks ago in preparation for the Vancouver autoshow and I was lucky enough to drive it into our training centre. What a sound from the engine!

I just need to scrap a few pennies together to buy my own.

One Year Anniversary in Canada

A little late I know..... however, 5th March 2010 was officially my one year anniversary of arriving in Vancouver, Canada. Amazing how quickly a year can pass on the other side of the world.

We celebrated this momentous event by having a party with friends, Jessica, Paul, Gina, Stuart and kids. We all had a top time eating and drinking, including Nanaimo bars and ice cream! The main attraction of the evening involved me working how to dress up as an ice hockey player in the fastest time possible. Let's just say I refused to wear the jock-strap and it took me far too long to work out shoulder pads. Many laughs were had at my expense and so I'm sticking to being a tennis player.

Here is me celebrating my final success with a beer... very Canadian!

This one is for you... Emily.

It has been a a few weeks since my last blog post, this has not been due to a lack of activity or content in our lives rather a lack of motivation on my part. Bob was an avid reader of the blog and it has proved difficult to get back writing posts again, despite this in the last couple of days both Nancy and Emily have specifically asked for an updated blog. So here I am thinking of what I can say.....

The last couple of months have been busy, even hectic, for myself and Nancy with a number of trips away, attended sporting events, my one year anniversary in Canada, skiing, work stuff, house hunting, running in preparation for my two 10km runs and driving a Mercedes-Benz that is named after me. Not to mention the pending visit from Emily and Kris to Vancouver at the end of the April. So where do I start updating the blog.... where it would seem sensible with the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

It was a fantastic experience to have the Olympics literally on our doorstep with the flame only two blocks away on the seawall, Olympic rings in the harbour outside our window, street parties all over the city and people from every nation wandering round the city. Nancy and I went to a couple of medal ceremony concerts with the Stereophonics and Bare Naked Ladies, with one highlight being the only British gold medal being handed out to Amy Williams for Women's skeleton. Now that is one sport you wouldn't catch me doing, a metal tray going at 90 miles an hour! Another major highlight was watching the ice hockey and I was lucky enough to see one match in person..... the Germans had their arse's handed to them by the Finns 5-0, in a group game. However, it was serious stuff for the Canadians who made it through to the gold medal game against their arch rivals USA. This hockey game had everything, but most importantly the Canadians won 3-2 in overtime with their captain Sid Crosby scoring the goal. I think I heard most of Canada screaming when that last goal went it. Certainly the streets of Vancouver were full with celebrating people that Sunday night.... the only comparison would be if England won the football world cup. A few photos are enclosed.