Off to San Diego

We are off to San Diego in the morning for four days of relaxation and sunshine.

Plus its Canada Day tomorrow as well - my second Canada Day and even the Queen is in the country this year!

Day of Emergencies

Wednesday was a day of minor emergencies for me, with my first ever earthquake experience followed by a late night fire alarm in our apartment building.

I was in Toronto attending a training course at Mercedes HQ and a magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit central Canada, rattling buildings from Sudbury to Quebec City, and as far south as New York City. The epicentre of the quake was in Quebec, about 500 kilometres from where I was situated, and struck at 1:41 p.m. EDT.

There have been two recorded earthquakes with a magnitude over 6.0 in the Western Quebec seismic zone: a 6.1-magnitude quake in 1935 and one measuring 6.2 in 1732. An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 is considered to be a moderate one but it can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions. At the most, it should cause only slight damage to well-designed buildings. As Scott M commented it was enough to rattle the ice in your drink. From my perspective, my chair and desk quivered with the blinds in the room shaking on the third floor, but what was interesting was that no-one reacted with an emergency procedure. So much for being prepared for earthquakes. Anyway I survived to tell the tale.

I then flew back to Vancouver that afternoon, returning home and that night we were woken by the building's fire alarm at midnight. This meant that we had to rush out of the apartment down eleven flights of stairs and stand outside in our PJs. As you can see from my photo, the fire firefighters turned up and soon realised that it was a false alarm, allowing us to return to bed.

Hollywood North - AKA Vancouver

In passing conversation the other day, Nancy used the term Hollywood North to refer to Vancouver and I gave her a quizzical look as I had never heard that before. Vancouver is a popular destination for movie and TV shows production companies and is used as a substitute location for other cities and locations. Mainly because it is cheaper than the real Hollywood. Nancy wanted to share this and so in the enclosed link is a long list of movies and shows that Vancouver and the local area appear in......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_filming_locations_in_Metro_Vancouver

Do Bears sh*t in the Woods?

As I type this blog post I'm sat on the sofa with an aching body, this is due to sending said body down the side of the mountain at speed on a bike. All thanks to my Scottish buddy, Stu, who arranged a trip to Whistler for spot of downhill bike racing. Being a complete novice I had no idea what to expect and within a few seconds of hurtling down the hillside I was crashing out - not once but twice. We soon realised that we were on an expert blue run and not a beginner green run! Once we made it onto a suitable route it turned out to be an adrenalin fueled speed ride and we completed six runs in the afternoon, followed by a couple of refreshing pints.

Apart from the adrenalin rush, the major highlight of the trip was seeing black bears in the wild and these were also my first bear sightings in British Colombia. We saw the first bear on our first trip up the chair lift, then a second bear on the ride down and then the pièce de résistance was seeing two adult bears grazing about 30 feet away from us. The photos do not do them justice. And in answer to the question, I can confirm bears do sh*t in the woods as it was everywhere on the mountain side.

The Agony and Disappointment of England Football

Nancy and I have just come back from a pub in downtown Vancouver after watching England Vs Algeria in the South African World Cup 2010. All thanks to my boss releasing me from a meeting.

However, it was one of the most depressing and disappointing moments while watching the England Football Team! Lacklustre and shambolic are probably the best two words to describe the England Team performance and I just had to share my frustrations with the world! ARRRGGHHHHHHH!

Come on England! It is very simple now... a win or bust against Slovenia on Wednesday.

Most impressive stat of the day - England have never won the World Cup without a Fulham player in the Team.

Weekend at the Canadian F1 Grand Prix

This weekend I spent watching race cars going round in circles in Montreal. Although the highlight for me was personally meeting Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, along with Mercedes test driver Nick Heidfeld.

I flew out from Vancouver to Montreal on Friday and arrived in the hotel late afternoon for a couple of drinks, followed by dinner with our group. Early on Saturday we headed over to the race circuit to watch Kart racing and the F1 qualifying sessions. The first thing to hit us as we got closer to the track was the immense noise of the engines, you could hear them for miles around. The hospitality tent was great, exceptional the complimentary Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, with a perfect view of the main straight and first chicane. This also happened to be where the first accident was on race day - with bits of carbon fibre spraying all over the track.

Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position and on the Saturday evening we saw him in our hotel foyer, as he was staying in the same place. I spotted him and with persistence asked him for a photo (as above) - certainly not my most subtle of moments, but achieved the desired result. I congratulated him and wished him luck for race day. This was followed up by meeting Michael Schumacher (7 times winner at the Canadian GP) at the Mercedes-Benz party/dinner that evening. Not bad.... meeting two F1 World Champions in the same day.

Overall it was a great, fun weekend and managed to tick a few boxes - experience Montreal, visit a F1 Grand Prix, meet two of the best drivers and eat a bunch of free Ben & Jerry's ice cream! Oh Lewis won the race with his Mclaren, Mercedes team mate Jenson Button coming in second.

On My Way to Montreal....

As I enter this blog post, I am sat in Vancouver airport awaiting my flight to Montreal, as I head off to attend the Canadian F1 Grand Prix. I am hosting a Dealer event at the Canadian Grand Prix and so looking forward to a fun-packed weekend.

My only concern is where will I watch the all important England Vs USA World Cup match tomorrow. COME ON ENGLAND!

I would just like to thank....

is what I would have said if there was a winner's speech required at my playoff tennis final last night. Sadly, no speech was needed but I did take away the honour of winning the second group playoff in the UBC tennis league.

I have been playing in the league for the last 12 weeks and last night was the playoff finals. I beat two opponents (both 5-1, 5-1) to make it to the grand final and I won this 9-0 to take the title. The prize was simply an hour's free court time on the University courts, but the glory is what I enjoyed the most.