#vancouver island vacation

[rabbitcruiser]

An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces on January 28, 1915.

[kaywina]

Went on a 5-night family camping trip last week to Tofino and Miracle Beach on Vancouver Island. After 3 days of playing in the waves + bodyboarding 🥶 and 5 days of skimboarding + riding bikes 🥵 got home tired but happy ☺️

[lastfrogstanding]

Visited the Butchard Gardens this weekend with my family this weekend. I was completely blown away by the place. It was still lovely despite being late in the season

[asthevermincrawls]

I just wanted to know where in the world the photos are taken. so I wasn't too far off geographically..?

you were pretty close! sorry for the suspicion >.<

[wyattjohnston]

with the posting of the masterlist, the summer fic exchange 2k24 has come to an end! 33 fics written by 31 people. i am eternally grateful that these exchanges are still going strong and that people are having fun with it!

please read all the fics below, even if it's a player you don't normally read for. a lot of work has gone into these fics and they all deserve your time. make sure to reblog and leave comments when you've read it!

please respect all warnings at the beginning of fics. if a fic has been marked as smut or 18+ and you are younger than, do the right thing and do not read it.

i'm still unsure if i'm running a winter exchange or if i'm going to maybe reconsider the timing, but please come back and feel free to ask questions around november/december if i haven't said anything!

the summer fic exchange 2k24 masterlist

Boston Bruins

Jeremy Swayman

Indoor Cat by @nhl-stories for @ bqstqnbruin

Carolina Hurricanes

Andrei Svechnikov

i’ve been yours since you stepped through the door tonight by @writingonleaves for @ callsign-denmark

Third Time's the Charm by @typical-simplelove for @ kurlyteuvo

Frederik Andersen

But Baby, It Feels Like Love by @callsign-denmark for @ mp0625

Chicago Hawks

Teuvo Teravainen

I Think I Dreamed You Into Life by @kurlyteuvo for @ lila-rose

Colorado Avalanche

Nathan MacKinnon

hide the sun by @ohmyeyesmyeyes for @ wyattjohnston

Edmonton Oilers

Connor McDavid

i'm half-doomed and you're semi-sweet by @offside-the-lines for @ hiding-from-reality-56

Leon Draisaitl

… but you're going to by @senditcolton for @ thewintersoldierdisaster

Blue Hair and Pronouns by @hiding-from-reality-56 for @ nhl-stories

Florida Panthers

Matthew Tkachuk

always attract by @dunnerlars for @ sc0tters

truth or dare by @boqvistsbabe for @ ohmyeyesmyeyes

Montreal Canadiens

Cole Caufield

four weddings and a funeral by @thewintersoldierdisaster for @ prettytoxicrevolver

Juraj Slafkovsky

Summer Vacation by @prettytoxicrevolver for @ lam-ila

New Jersey Devils

Dawson Mercer

Baseball and Love by @lam-ila for @ hischier-papaya

Jack Hughes

CHASING YES by @puckology101 for @ tonsypep

Nico Hischier

home is just another word for you by @fallinallincurls for @ puckology101

felt like magic by @laurenairay for @ selfindulgentpoorlywritten

good luck, babe by @nol-pat for @ fallinallincurls

turbulent by @wyattjohnston for @ dunnerlars

walked in and dream came trued it for ya by @gravestrain for @ nol-pat

New York Islanders

Mat Barzal

First Time Feeling by @huuuuughes for @ ahockeywrites

truth or dare by @dunnerlars for @ writingonleaves

Matt Martin

I can't help it if I like it by @laurenairay for @ comphy-and-cozy

New York Rangers

Alexis Lafreniere

Romance in The Hamptons by @lifeofpriya for @ wildrangers

Matt Rempe

MEDICINE by @lila-rose for @ 2 manytabsopen

Pittsburgh Penguins

Anthony Beauvillier

one night standards by @comphy-and-cozy for @ offsidethelines

Tattoos of You by @bqstqnbruin for @ senditcolton

Ryan Graves

The First Time by @selfindulgentpoorlywritten for @ gravestrain

Seattle Kraken

Philipp Grubauer

Pfirsich by @mp0625 for @ huuuuughes

Toronto Maple Leafs

Joseph Woll

sunset by @hischier-papaya for @ lifeofpriya

William Nylander

I Wish You Would by @wildrangers for @ typical-simplelove

Vancouver Canucks

Quinn Hughes

somehow still stuck on you by @matthewtkachuk for @ boqvistsbabe

walkin' with his head down, i'm the one he's walking to by @tonyspep for @ laurenairay

if the person you wrote for hasn’t read and reblogged your fic, please tell me.

i only tag the person who wrote the fic as there are limited tags.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A new clinic opening early next year on British Columbia's Vancouver Island has a different structure it hopes will help attract and retain family doctors amid an ongoing physician shortage. The Colwood Medical Clinic will be run not as a private practice, as is normally the case, but by the Greater Victoria municipality itself. The mayor says they have now hired their first doctor and plan on bringing on seven more. All eight will be paid as municipal employees, receiving full medical benefits, vacation and a pension. They will also be free of the administrative and financial tasks doctors typically handle when running their own clinics, instead handing that work off to the city.

Continue reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[prototypesteve]

Solo Travel: Find Magic.

Venturing out on a solo vacation can be daunting. There’s a shit-ton of adulting you’ll need to do:

It’s up to you to make your flight. It’s up to you to not lose anything. It’s up to you to stay hydrated and healthy and mindful and motivated.

It can be easy to give in and say “hard nope” and stay home, even if you really want to start travelling solo.

How do you get past all that, and find the will to save up, plan, gear-up, get a passport or a reliable road-trip vehicle, and go? Magic. You believe in magic and you let yourself want it.

When I was in my late teens I was in a waiting room and idly flipping through a magazine (it was the late 80s). I turned the page and there was a two-page tourism ad with a massive photo of Lake Louise, in Banff National Park. Supernaturally milky blue water, tiny red canoes, backed by a colossal wall of mountain capped by an ancient glacier. I remember murmuring aloud, “I want that.” I wanted to feel what that photographer felt. I wanted awe. I wanted magic.

Years later, I finally had enough of my shit together to go there, and it was everything I expected, and it made all the hard adulting worth it. (I wound up moving to Calgary so I could go to Lake Louise any time I wanted to.)

Photo 1: Lake Louise, Alberta. (This is from 2012, and taken with an old iPhone 4S, but it most closely resembles the view I saw in the magazine ad.)

In 2003, I saw a video about Tofino and Pacific Rim National Park. By 2003 I had plenty of experience going on budged-friendly road trips to Vancouver, where I’d stay in the (at the time, affordable) Jericho Beach Hostel. But Tofino would cost more, require a longer vacation, and take me way out of my “there’s always a city close by” comfort zone. But I wanted to see real waves, walk through a real coastal rain forest, and see the ocean fog roll in. I wanted magic,

Photo 2: My (used) 1998 Pontiac Sunfire, and a budget kayak, and my mediocre Norco mountain bike, somewhere at a rest stop along the trans Canada Highway, in British Columbia

By 2005 I had the right gear, a decent budget, and enough self-confidence to drive out and hike down sketchy wooden stairs to Half Moon Bay near Uclulet and see the actual Pacific Ocean—not the Salish Sea between Vancouver and Vancouver Island—for the first time. That week I felt the magic of being at the edge of my world. It made all the adulting easy.

Photos 3 & 4: The first time I saw the Pacific Ocean without Vancouver Island or the Olympic Peninsula lining the horizon, and the first time I saw fog move in over Vancouver island from the Pacific Ocean,

Ever since my 8th and 9th grade teachers told us stories about the old Globe theatre, I’ve dreamt of seeing a play in the rebuilt Globe in London (back then, even rebuilding the Globe was still a dream that wouldn’t be finished until the late 90s). But I live an ocean away, in Canada, I’m introverted, and no matter how much money I make, I have always felt like I’m out of my class-depth at any social gathering. Wrong childhood neighbourhoods, wrong schools, wrong career field. It took me until my 2nd trip to England to work up the nerve to buy a ticket to see a play at the Globe. I wanted to be there like one of the people I imagined during English class as we studied Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, and The Scottish Play. I wanted the magic.

Friday night, August 23, 2024, I spent two hours almost dizzy with a flood of feelings I’m going to need months to process, because I sat in Bay H, Row C, Seat 29, at Shakespeare’s Globe, in London, and watched a beautiful, perfect, magical performance of Much Ado about Nothing, and like I said, I’m going to be sorting out my feelings about this for months.

Yes there’s the Osemanverse overlap, Much Ado appears in Loveless. There’s the Aroace angle, watching two seemingly aro characters get shipped by their friends and family, bla bla bla. There’s a lot. But whatever. For me the magic was being the adult who teenage-me grew up into, sitting there in my seat that I absolutely belonged in, on my trip that I put together for myself, to chase down dozens of my other lifelong dreams, sitting there, and feeling that I was allowed to be there, and then delighting in the magic of live theatre, compounded by the magic of loving myself enough to push through every excuse not to be there.

Photos 5, 6, and 7: The Globe Theatre (there’s no photography during the performance, and I don’t think I’d have bothered, if there was.

Find your magic. Thrive. It doesn’t have to cost a lot: My first solo trips cost me a tank of gas and a tenting campground fee, or a night’s stay at a hostel. It doesn’t need to be risky: Backpacker hostels and modern hotels often have more sophisticated security than your home or workplace. It doesn’t have to be ambitious: Maybe it’s lunch at a diner in a small farm town nearby, maybe it’s a low-key late summer concert in a park, maybe it’s building that sandcastle you never got to build because you grew up far away from water. Whatever it is, go find it! Let it change you.

[cactustreesmotel]

detail ur ideal inside passage trip

the inside passage is the route through the waterways of the bc/alaska coast between the islands and the mainland, especially vancouver island. it is my favourite thing right now and i have no idea why aside from the absurdity of trying to travel it without a car lmao. the route i'm turning over in my head right now goes from vancouver to prince rupert via the island for maximum fun 👍

(^ the route we're taking... join me.....)

anywhooo my ideal complicated and exhausting journey starts with a bus/train ride to the ferry terminal. that already takes 1hr30min and we're not even on the ferry to the island yet! good start. also it doesn't really matter if you're going to horseshoe bay or tsawwassen (and therefore to nanaimo or victoria on the other side) because both of those are far enough from our final destination on the island to cause problems and stress. yayy!!

this is our first ferry say hello to the coastal celebration everyone 👋

then after another 90 minutes on the ferry, you show up at the terminal and have to take yet another hour-long bus ride to downtown victoria to catch the next bus - unfortunately that bus only leaves at 7:30 in the morning and you've missed it by several hours at this point, probably. you're staying the night in victoria.

onto the second dayyy where you get up painfully early to wait around on a street corner for an islandlink bus to nanaimo... maybe it would have been easier to take another ferry... whatever. you get on. the first bus takes 2 hours. you're in nanaimo. you wait half an hour and then you take another islandlink bus. now you're in comox and it's another 2 hours later. rinse and repeat! you take another bus in campbell river and end up in our not-actual-final destination of port hardy at five in the afternoon. we're on the very northern end of the island now!! you have either been on a bus or waiting for a bus for ten hours!!!!! feeling good?

this has been our home for the last day. thx porthardyexpressbus.com 👍

anyway now you get to check into another hotel for another night on vancouver island, and we haven't even reached the actual inside passage part of the trip yet.

the next day you have to wake up absurdly early YET AGAIN because bc ferries, our main mode of transport for this trip, has decided that the only sailing is at 7:30 am. it gets better: foot passengers such as ourselves have to be at the terminal at minimum 90 minutes in advance of the sailing to get a ticket. that means vacating the hotel at least by 5 am. i love life :)

however, there begins the actual fun, because from there you get a full 19 hours of navigating the tight channels of bc's northern coastline on a ferry (probably the mv northern adventure) where you hopefully get your own cabin. and i REALLY want to see bc's northern coastline. i would be on deck the whole time, babey, you best believe. you might even see whales!

i would like to be here. i would like to be here very much.

then you land in prince rupert, and from there your options are many. you can continue on by car, assuming you somehow acquire one, and keep exploring the rest of northern bc and the yukon before swinging back down the mainland, or you can hunker down in the ferry terminal overnight and immediately start making the whole trip in reverse starting at a bright, at this point not even that early, 7:30 in the morning.

[redheadgleek]

10 years ago, I went on vacation to Hawai'i with my best friend to celebrate me completing my years of medical school, residency, and fellowship.

When I asked S about doing a vacation with me, she was so excited. And then a week later, she emailed asking if her husband, B, could come too.

When we had just graduated college and were roommates, S and I had planned an epic trip to the Pacific Northwest. We were going to drive all the way up to Vancouver and see whales. Only she developed a boyfriend and she couldn't leave B behind for two weeks. I canceled the trip, rather than be a third wheel on my celebration.

Ten years later, rather than canceling the trip again, I said yes, B could come, but I really wanted there to be some time for just her and me.

We had a great time. We went nerdy and tracked down Lost shooting locations and drove all over O'ahu. We flew over to the Big Island and explored volcanoes and waterfalls.

I was in the thick of my faith transition, trying so desperately to make me fit into this religion that had been such an integral part of my life. They wanted to go to church and I didn't want to spend my hard earned vacation inside with strangers. So they did church and I went to the Lost beach. One day, we went to the temple and did a session ... and I cried through the last part, where I was forcefully reminded that the church had no place for me.

I had thought, hoped maybe, that I could talk to her about some of these feelings. But as I had feared, we never had time away from B.

Two weeks later, S & B went home (I stayed for a couple days more with one of my friends from residency), and that was the last time that we were best friends.

[rabbitcruiser]

The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver on January 1, 1929.

[laresearchette]

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES? THE FIRM (Paramount+ Canada) RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (Paramount+ Canada) AN UNFINISHED LIFE (Paramount+ Canada) WIZARDS BEYOND WAVERLY PLACE (Disney Channel Canada) 8:00pm/8:30pm

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA ONE SHOT: OVERTIME ELITE (Season 2)

NETFLIX CANADA OLIVIA RODRIGO: GUTS WORLD TOUR TOM PAPA: HOME FREE VANDERPUMP RULES (Seasons 3-4)

MLS SOCCER (TSN3) 6:45pm: Columbus vs. New York Red Bulls (TSN3) 8:50pm: Real Salt Lake vs. Minnesota

NHL HOCKEY (SN1) 7:00pm: Flyers vs. Bruins (TSN2) 7:00pm: Kraken vs. Habs (TSN5) 7:00pm: Blues vs. Sens (SN1) 10:00pm: Kings vs. Sharks

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 7:30pm: Dodgers vs. Yankees - Game 4

NBA BASKETBALL (TSN/TSN4) 7:30pm: Mavericks vs. Timberwolves (TSN/TSN4) 10:00pm: Pelicans vs. Warriors

CHUCK AND THE FIRST PEOPLES' KITCHEN (APTN) 7:00pm: Chuck visits the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in Manitoba where bison are being reintroduced after millions were slaughtered during colonization.

THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES (CBC) 8:00pm

TODD TALBOT BUILDS: THE PASSIVE HOUSE PROJECT (Cottage Life) 8:00pm

THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE (Makeful) 8:00pm: It’s Week 2, and there are three challenges inspired by sport. The sewers are asked to create a half zip fleece, an outfit from cricket kit and a national strip fit for the world stage.

STILL STANDING (CBC) 8:30pm: Windsor, NS: When Nova Scotia Textiles Ltd closed its doors after 106 years in operation, Windsor, NS embraced its reputation as the home of massive pumpkins and its claim as "the birthplace of hockey."

CHURCHY (BET Canada) 8:30pm/9:00pm/9:30pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Corey Carr Jr. faces a major setback when he's passed over for a leadership role in his dad's church, and he boldly announces his departure and plans to lead a ministry in Lubbock, Texas. In Episode Two, Corey adjusts to his new role at Bethlehem Temple, consulting an elderly couple on intimate issues and a young man about lust, while also processing his grandmother's declining health. In Episode Three, with Pastor Stinney on vacation, Corey struggles with preaching and managing a chaotic funeral; Keisha's career success and her sister's advice cause her to doubt her relationship.

LITTLE BIG COMMUNITY (APTN) 9:00pm: On the Island of Hawai'i, Kānaka Maoli have revived an ancient way of life, where caring for the land brings mutual benefit. Meet Alika and Lacyann, who have renewed family traditions, creating a meaningful legacy for future generations.

THE NEW WAVE OF STANDUP (CBC) 9:30pm: Canada's new comics gather for one night of standup at the Just For Laughs Vancouver festival; featuring Faris Hytiaa, Sam Sferrazza, Jordanne Brown.

A GOOD GAME (APTN) 10:30pm: Nathan Shirley coached teenagers in Bosnia for Hockey Without Borders. Today, these players are living the dream of representing their country at the IIHF's under twenty world championships being held in Istanbul, Turkey.

[livinglycan]

Ragghhhh the need to go to Vancouver island and run away and live in that beautiful forest. We might go there for a vacation one day and I can't guarantee I'll come back honestly. I don't care if I get eaten or die there, I'll die where I should have lived. I'll die as an animal, no grave, no cremation, my body will be left to rot and feed the animals I should have been living with.

I will die as an animal, I guarantee it. It might not be there, but I won't be buried, I won't die surrounded by the being who trapped me here.

The wilds gave me hope, and I want to return the favor.

[twohearts-hs]

for those who care…i’m on vacation for the next 3 weeks. i’m going to try posting as much as i can but if i don’t, deeply sorry. i’m out fishing and paddle boarding with my dogs 💗

just like the story, i live on the beautiful vancouver island in canada 🇨🇦

[mhalachai]

more thoughts on vacation planning

thanks to everyone for your vacation suggestions! I have some plans now… lots to do :D

I thought I'd share the suggestions here compiled for your reading pleasure - might be some ideas in here if you're looking for a bit of a break this summer (amid the heat, forest fires, and other climate disasters):

First, some ideas if you're local to the Vancouver area (or planning on a visit)

Vancouver

Day trip! If you want a quick ferry ride, try Bowen Island or Salt Spring Island, or if you want to stay on the mainland, try Sasamat Lake

Maple Ridge tree walk or zip line (or axe-throwing!)

White Rock beach and pier (bonus - taking a double-decker bus from Vancouver down)

Lonsdale Quay (featuring the ever-popular ride on the seabus)

Honey's Donuts in Deep Cove

Granville Island before 12pm on a weekday

Fireworks! But make friends with someone who lives in the West End who will put you up

Lynn Valley suspension bridge (and the local trails – very nice, very free) (and honestly, you can skip the Capilano Suspension Bridge theme park - it's super expensive and not really worth it)

Try the new Michelin star restaurants in Vancouver and then go to the other restaurants you know that are better and enjoy those too

Lastly, if you want some more organized nature, try the Van Dusen Botanical Garden

Now, onto general suggestions!

Self-care

Sleep for a day or three

Do all the hard stuff that a 9-5 gets in the way of - go to the bank, book that eye exam, etc.

go get that warning light in your car looked at, i mean it mhal

Do as much gentle housecleaning as interests you

Spa experience - massage, mani-pedi, other spa things

Bubble bath/hair mask/other home spa pieces

Do a thing

local zoo or aquarium

Art galleries, science centres, and museums

Botanical gardens

Events hosted your local library

Local events/fairs

Trip around to the vintage/antique/flea shops

Check out local second-hand record stores and/or bookstores

Do a thing (+ Effort)

Touch grass/sand/water/trees/flowers. Bring a book and read in nature

Hiking

local walking tours

Kite flying

Activities(tm) - such as paddle board, horseback riding class, go-carting and so on

Maker space - pottery or print making or woodwork

Eating

Every restaurant you haven't tried but want to

Local breweries/wineries

Hit up the local city page on reddit and see if there are any restaurant rec places - they can be hit or miss but sometimes there are some gems.

And this one from @krchov is so cool I'll paste it here in its entirely:

Dedicate time to making a map of the food carts/cheese shops/etc in a specific area of your city. Compare the quality of similar wares in each one. Collect data. In the end you will have a cool map/dataset, new favorite food place and on your wandering you will probably happen upon some before unknown interesting places.

happy vacationing!

[woah-were-halfway-there]

Does Mia ever get to go on a vacation like island in the sun with the Baileys side and maybe Mitch too? Where do they go? Can you please expand ☺️

She does! So all of Carson’s family are avid skiers and snowboarders and they’re all very good at it too. Anyways, growing up, every year over Christmas break the Bailey kids would go on a snowboard trip with their dad. It’s their tradition and every year they’d go somewhere different. They’ve been all over Canada and the US to different ski resorts and then when Carson was in her first year of university, Mya was in 12th grade and Nate was in 11th grade they went to Verbier in Switzerland which was a joint high school graduation gift for all three kids. Carson just got it a year late and Nate got it a year early but that was fine since Carson and her siblings are so close in age. Side note, Carson actually would’ve been in Switzerland with her family the same time Auston was playing hockey there but they had no idea of each other, didn’t cross paths or anything because her family flew into Genova whereas Auston was in Zurich but the two of them were in Switzerland at the same time almost a year before they even met which, when Auston finds that out, just blows his mind because the chance of the two of them crossing paths with each other ever was so slim and yet they did and fell in love and so learning they were in Switzerland at the same time as each other is just wild. ANYWAYS the year Nate goes off to university is when that tradition becomes harder for them to uphold. Carson is in Toronto, Mya is in Vancouver and Nate is off to Montreal and their dad gets offered a job at UBC so he moves out west too and sells the Bailey childhood home of course after talking with his kids about it. Since Carson’s family is so spread out a year into her and Auston dating, it’s hard for them to get together for a ski trip every year but they try to do it at least every other year. When Mia is born, she becomes part of that. It’s not the usual sunny beachy trip that she’d take with Auston’s side of the family but it’s still so fun and again is just very much so a Bailey side of the family thing to do. All three of the Matthews kids learn how to ski/snowboard and that’s entirely from the influence of Carson’s side of the fam

[awanderingcanadian]

A Little Catch Up on My Life and Travels

My last post was about selling our beloved place in Mexico. I haven't posted since then, but I've been busy, both with closing down the business, and then taking to the road.

I'm writing this from a hotel room in San Antonio, Texas. We have just finished a 5 day vacation with family, and my husband and his brother attended 3 days of the Formula One in Austin. They are very close to each other, and I think they enjoyed everything about their 3 days together. My sister in law and I are also close, and we enjoyed hanging out: there was a day of walking and checking out the River Walk, and a couple of days of relaxing and reading, (things we both enjoy).

Today we parted ways, with my BIL and SIL returning home and Craig and I staying one more night then flying onward to Mexico to meet up with my dad and a friend. We are headed to the town where we have spent 16 happy years, but this time we're not staying at our own place. Instead we are staying with our former property manager who also has rental apartments. While we will be doing many fun things with our local friends, we will NO be painting or fixing things, (a staple of our previous trips). It will be a different trip for sure.

However, I started my travels the last week of August, when my sister invited me to accompany her and my niece back to Ontario, (where my niece attends university). While I've passed through Toronto, both just within the airport, and by vehicle, I've never actually spent any time there, so I jumped at the opportunity. It was a fun and busy 5 days, sightseeing, catching a Blue Jays baseball game, and touring the infamous Kingston penitentiary, as well as getting my niece settled into her new house.

In between the two above trips, we took our travel trailer down the Washington and Oregon coasts, before cutting into more central California to Yosemite National parks. We stayed at both National Parks and State Parks, and boy to do I have a lot to say about those...however, that will be in another post. We had two nights in the San Francisco Bay area, staying in fabulous new regional park in the East Bay, where we spend an unexpected $900+USD when the water pump, followed by the serpentine belt gave out in our truck! Fortunately, we were in a big centre with lots of access to mechanics and parts!

We picked up friends who arrived from Scotland and together the 4 of us made our way back to Canada, via wine tastings and microbreweries!

We loved catching up with family en route, and it was fun to play tour guide to our Scottish friends! We took them out to my favourite place in the world, (the west coast of Vancouver Island), as well as visiting the famous Butchart Gardens, (in the POURING rain), finishing with 2 nights in Vancouver.

So...I've definitely not been lollygagging or wallowing in sorrow over the sale of our place, although when I see it tomorrow evening for the first time since the sale, I may have a wee wallow. Until next time...