16 May 2007

Fun Facts and Reflections

Now that the Great BC Adventure of 2007 is something that exists only in our memories, it's time for a few little tidbits. This would have been up this morning, but the power was out in the building from 9am to just after 3pm. Welcome back eh!

The pace of development in Kelowna is amazing to behold. Buildings proliferate there like graffiti does here. Seriously, you can close your eyes, spin around, open them again and you'll find at least two new projects going up so that people in Kelowna have a place to live. Meanwhile, do the same action here, and you'll see at least two new "tags" that make me feel embarrased that this is where I live. The lowest sight of all is the apparently popular "Shoot Cops, Not Crack" with a semi-automatic drawn beside it.

Gas prices are always a fun topic. During the two weeks in the Okanagan, prices there rose from 112.9 to 117.9 and then to 123.9, a rise of 11% in only 14 days. We were lucky to catch a Petro-Can on the way out of Penticton that hadn't yet jacked up the price. I'm sure that folks everywhere wouldn't mind if they got an 11% raise every two weeks. Meanwhile, here in Haligonia, prices only inched up from 113.1 to 114.4. Those lefties who are convinced that consumers are being gouged (and they're correct) will find a very sympathetic audience in BC. I'm also interested in seeing how Stephane Dion will square his newfound mission to lower gas prices with his long-running crusade to protect the environment.

I set foot in Okanagan Falls for the first time since 2005. Tickleberry's has grown, but the ice cream is still awesome beyond words. The rest of the town looks very similar to how it did when I moved to Kelowna in 2000, but it probably hasn't changed a whole lot since 1921. It is a cute little place, though. I still avoid Oliver like the bubonic plague, however.

We took around 200 pictures on the trip. Around 150 of them involved cats--be it Frosty or Oliver, or the Pachos, or the little Pacho riding Frosty or Oliver. I want a cat. Tasha *might* share that sentiment.

Finding a BC flag in Kelowna is an impossible task. We spent 3 hours doing that on Saturday with no luck. Apparently nobody carries much in terms of flags until closer to Canada Day. That's really typically Canadian, though: don't celebrate unless it's a state-sponsored event.

I didn't set foot in IGA even one time, and for that I'm glad.

My youngest sister is exceptionally cool, and I want her to come visit us...unless we find a way out of here in the near term so that she can save some money to visit us in a better place.

The weather yesterday in Kelowna was beautiful, with a high in the mid-20s. Here in Halifax, it was 9 and raining. Today isn't much different. Summer is both a memory and something I won't experience until July.

That's all for now. With the holiday over, I'll be resuming posting about the usual subjects that everybody has come to expect from a political scientist. I'm hoping to get back on that tomorrow but I may do one later today if I feel so inclined.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What? So... Alana's cool but I'm not!?
Just kidding.
Yeah. She's a neat little kid that one.

RGM said...

Yeah you're pretty cool too (and, to be preemptive, so is Susie!), but if you were as cool as Alana, you would have taken the morning off work to come to Denny's with us. :)

Anonymous said...

I WOULD HAVE if you all told me thats what you were doing...

I would gladly skip work for Denny's any frickin day ;)