As usual, as of late, I have been remiss in posting.

Life in Vancouver is mostly good but I am beginning to understand why my father was not overly fond of Vancouver. Vancouver weather is mostly good, except for the lack of sunshine. When the sun does come out, the streets are flooded with people as they suddenly appear like tulips in the spring sunshine. It also rains very little but does drizzle quite a bit.  I am looking forward to their late summer which is July, August, September, and October.

I am looking at moving to a slightly larger and definitely more quiet apartment. You do not want to live beside a fire station, which I don't, but I do live on a street that has has a hospital at the end of it. Guess what, there are more ambulances on the road than fire trucks.

I would like to go back to S.E. Asia in late summer for a visit, not to work. The weather there is very livable in shorts and t-shirts and it is the dry season. I am also planning on a vacation (aren't retired folks always on vacation?) in August. I figure if I am going to change apartments, take a month vacation between apartments and I can apply my $2,500 rent payment to a vacation. Nothing too expensive, maybe some camping in the B.C. interior or perhaps on the east coast.

Apartments in Vancouver are so expensive it makes sense to vacation between moving from one to another.

I also have to visit Ottawa some time in early July as I am writing some software for the public school board and there is always maintenance to be done on my existing programs. I never understood when retired folks said they were just as busy when retired as when they were working. I understand now. Most retired folks I know are still working. Might just have something to do with our economy and the standard of living that we aspire to.

Everyone should really get to S.E. Asia to see how billions of people live compared to us. It is a whole different world out there and I will pass no judgments other than to say our carbon footprint on planet earth is much less in Canada (despite the oil sands controversy) than so called developing countries in Asia and S.E. Asia.

TTYL,

JIm