happylife

Damaged park

Stanley Park was seriously damaged by the severe storm last week. It has been partly closed for safety reasons. Fallen trees allegedly cut the power lines here and there, and it is said to be dangerous to get to them. Driving or cycling around the park was one of the few pleasures left to me in this winter season, but I can't enjoy it for a while. The forest was damaged so seriously that it is going to take for months before the park is fully recovered. Even the Christmas events which are held every year in the park might be canceled this year. I visited there for the first time after the storm and found lots of fallen trees as this picture shows. Some trees were rooted up and some were broken in the middle of the stem. What a terrible scene, but I think a bit that I wanted to watch how the trees get fallen by the wind. Is it indiscreet to think such things?

A weird restaurant

This is a typical Japanese restaurant in Vancouver, but it looks very weird for most Japanese people. Christmas decorations are no problem, because we celebrate Christmas even more flamboyantly in Japan though most Japanese are not Christian. What is most weird about this restaurant is its name. As you know "Kimono" is a traditional Japanese dress and I understand they chose it as the symbol of Japan, but it looks weird because Kimono is not food but clothes. Is there a restaurant whose name is Dress, Jeans or Skirt? As soon as we look at the name, we recognize that this restaurant is not run by Japanese and that we can't expect real Japanese menu items. I think most Japanese people would not enter this restaurant. For the same reason, Sumo(Japanese traditional wrestling) is not suitable for the name of restaurants. Name is really important for any business.

Driftwoods

Trees cut from north mountains are made into rafts and carried to south harbors. We often see a tag boat towing a huge raft made of hundreds of logs. The way of tying them is so loose that we have quite a few drift-woods here and there around this sea area. The recent severe storm washed them up on the beach in front of my apartment. I don't know who owns and are responsible for these timbers, but I think we are allowed to pick them up for free because they are usually abandoned forever. I sometimes dreams about towing them to an isolated island in the north area and build a log house by myself. It must be exciting to live like Robinson Crusoe.

A ghost town

I drove to Save On Foods in North Vancouver last night and found a strange scenery out there. It was before 8:00 PM, but the supermarket was closed. The store was full of lights and lots of fruits were displayed on the outside shelves as if it were open, but no people were in there. It was just like a ghost town. The entrance was locked and I found on the door a piece of paper which said "STORE WILL RE-OPEN AT 6AM SATURDAY MORNING." I was reminded of that the traffic signals on the way were off. This area had been suffered from severe blackouts and it had not completely recovered yet. They might have got to close the store without tidying up items because of sudden blackouts. They might have had nothing to do without power and they might have decided to close the store leaving every item as is. They will have to deal with various fresh foods tomorrow morning.

The temporaly bule sky

When did I see the blue sky like this last time? Thanks to the storm last night, we had a blue sky after a long break. I went to the marina for the first time in this month. I though about enjoying sailing but the wind was too strong. It was not impossible for me to sail under the conditions, but simply I didn't like it. I pumped out the bilge water using a handy pump instead. I had to pump out five bucketful of water because my boat leaks badly. I know where are the leaks but I had been too lazy to repair them because it is not a critical problem. Leaking from the bottom is critical, but it is from the roof in my case. After drying up the boat, I was thinking about riding to Stanley Park but I couldn't because another cloud was coming to cover the sky. I wonder when I can see the next blue sky.

Storm watching

It was almost Friday morning when we had a very severe storm around Vancouver. It was so severe that lots of people were allegedly suffered from blackouts. Fortunately, I had no big damage except for that the plastic stool in the balcony was toppled down and the mat was flipped over though it was fixed with heavy bricks at each corner. As I had just got up when the storm broke out, I could fully enjoy the show in my room. As I had mentioned before, I love to watch storms from a safe place, but it was this time too fierce to enjoy. The wind hit the windows in my room so violently that I worried if they might be broken. Because of partial blackouts, Burrard Bridge was in the darkness while the lights in my room was not off but flickering sometimes. After a few hours, the storm has gone but the sky is still covered with clouds. It was the severest storm that I had experienced in Vancouver.

Xmas trees

The holiday season is coming close and fir trees are sold at farmers in the suburbs of Vancouver. They are of course used as Xmas trees. It is the privilege of people living in a detached house to decorate real trees because it is banned in most apartments for fear of fires. We can only decorate artificial Xmas trees in our apartments. You might think that fake trees are dull, but it doesn't matter whether they are real or not, because Xmas trees are enjoyed mostly at night. You can't tell which is real and which is artificial in the darkness. Anyway, A fire is a serious problem especially in my old apartment because it is a typical, cylinder type high rise which can easily turn into a chimney in case of fire.

All in red

It was rainy Monday with strong winds, but I had to go to a driving center to make a donation though no one appreciated me. Traffic signals at a crossing on the way were all red. We often come across such situations in Vancouver, especially after a heavy weather. In this case, we are supposed to drive under the 4-Way stop rule, but it's so confusing because of a couple of lanes and a lot of cars that a traffic jam usually breaks out. It is even dangerous. I wonder what is wrong with the traffic signals; all the red lights are alive and the blue lights are probably the same. Is it a wire problem? But if there is a snapping somewhere in the circuit, the red lights cannot be turned on either. In all cases, traffic signals should be more sturdy and free from trouble.

Sunlight

The pop-corn tree in my room looks like almost withered. All the parts including the ear of corn, the stem and the leaves have turned into brown. I think the water and the soil is enough in volume, but the light is recently too short and faint. It's quite natural for plants not to live without enough lights. Though I am usually awake and the lights are always on in my room, it can't replace the real sunlight. Anyway, I heard an interesting story about the sunlight. It was said that if the sun is a bowling ball placed at the center of a football field, the earth is a piece of peppercorn placed on the goal line. The solar system is so empty and the sunlight is so strong. May the sun come back like in summer for a few days and help this pop-corn.

Night life

I found that I had taken few pictures for these past weeks. The reason is clear. I am usually sleeping in the daylight time, but I think that the gray sky covered with heavy clouds do not deserve to see. The night view is much better instead, though it is difficult to take pictures. This is the famous, illuminated large tree in English Bay. As the LED lights covering only the surface of the tree, it looks like a huge cage of lights. It's really beautiful especially when looking from close. What makes me happier is that I can enjoy this illuminations whenever I visit there at night in this season. I can see it even in the middle of night. It is, I think, because LEDs do not need much electric power and they don't have to worry about the lighting cost.