The times they are a changin

It is Wednesday and time to visit Grandma again.  I've spent 5 relaxing days in Roberts Creek with Hans, Denise, and their newly arrived German exchange student Eike.  Despite only being 15 or 16 years old, Eike has proven to have excellent handyman skills when he fixed Denise's garden gate. I had tried my hand at that gate a few month ago but the result I achieved in no way can compete with Eike's handywork, so I have lost my position as Hausmeister ;-(

Summer seem to have come to a sudden end. The temperature in the bathroom this morning was somewhere between 14 and 15 degrees. The sun doesn't seem to have the warming effect that it still possessed only one week ago and rooms are increasingly filled with yawning crowds.

Before Denise subjects me to an involuntary ice-bucket challenge, I should clarify that the bathroom in her house has floor-heating and that it was no-where near as cold as in the picture ;-)





It has been 2 years, 1 month, and 3 days that I have not had an appartment to call my own. More than 2 years living in hotels in hotels in the lower mainland and around the world, and with Hans & Denise in Roberts Creek. No wonder I feel like home there; not only are they fabulous to get along with, it's also the closest I have had to a permanent residence in the past two years.

But fall is coming and with it will come changes.

Le Velo has been repaired, but thanks to Air Transats refusal to actually look for the luggage they lose, one of its lithium batteries has been abandoned in Amsterdam while the remaining battery is without a charger. A new charger will hopefully arrive in the none too distant future and Air Transat maybe will even pay for it (Stay tuned ;-).  But Le Velo has broken down close to the end of 2 out of 3 major bike trips and that's a rather poor average.  What if it broke down close to the beginning of the next trip?  Will I enjoy the next bike trip if every out-of-the-ordinary noise emitted by the bike will have me in terror of having to push the bike for the next 40 kms?  I can already see where these thoughts are leading and I have my eyes on Das Fahrrad.

But that is not the only looming major change!  In less than 2 weeks I will start my 'test-living' tenancy in a condo that might become a new home.  Not a bad deal actually, I don't know of anyone else who ever had a 'try before you buy' period in a condo before ;-).  

Not quite 2 years, 1 month, and 3 days is the time that I have worked on the translation of the SLF WR avalanche project, but it's been more than 1 year and 6 months now.  And the project is complete! It is taking some time for this to sink in, though.  I am so used to getting up in the morning and translating a few paragraphs of avalanche gibberish to English, that every morning I stare at the computer for for a few seconds trying to remember what it is that I have to do. 

suffocated NO MORE !!