Sunny, chilly, wet and windy!

The title gives the content of this particular post away! As is the norm for any true Brit, we cannot (physically and mentally cannot!) not talk about the weather! And there has been plenty to talk about this past week!

Last weekend we saw temperatures plummet and we enjoyed clear, crisp, sunny days - we walked until our feet were sore, taking advantage of the winter sunshine, exploring the local area - the house where we are living backs on to a golf course and we have walked around it and through it - hope to get the chance to play it some time soon too! We have walked to the local beach which is mainly pebble and driftwood and, as low tide is at some godforsaken early hour of the morning, most days the tide has been high and so we've not had a real proper walk along the water's edge....yet!

Saturday evening we were invited across to a neighbours for dinner and a grand time was had by all helped in part by some very good wines! We met some more new friends, a chef and a winemaker no less, these are the kind of friends one needs when one is far from home!!!! After much eating, drinking and chatting we made our way home (a whole 30 second walk across the "road") and then it happened..........the weather decided to take a real turn for the worst....the winds had picked up and the rains had begun........all night the gale-force winds blew and the torrential rain did not let up............this weather continued on and off............all week!!!! We had been warned - we knew that November was known for being wet, but we had not anticipated such a deluge! Neither it seems had the locals as there was a lot of flooding and rivers broke their banks causing all sorts of mayhem.

The cooler temperatures and the rainfall was not all bad news - Mount Washington will open for the ski season early this year thanks to the downpours! We hope to visit the slopes over the winter and will obviously update our blog as and when....

The highlight of our week was a lunch date with the parents of the lady we house and pet sat for this time last year in Oz! Bizarre but true - it really is a small world. Shirley and Roy live in Courtenay in the Comox Valley here on Vancouver Island - we had spoken briefly and emailed each other to arrange a get together - we met in Qualicum Bay (a lovely spot overlooking the Strait of Georgia with fantastic views (on a clear day!) of Lasqueti and Hornby islands) - we had a spot of lunch at The Sandbar which is set on the waterside, and is a super little cafe/restaurant, unpretentious with great food at good prices - also had some beautiful photographs of the island on display. We especially the liked the play on words they had used when marking up the male and female toilets - there were signs saying "buoys" and "gulls" - as the whole place resembled a boathouse this little manipulation pleased us no end!

We chatted for several hours with Shirley and Roy, getting to know each other. They had hoped to show us their holiday home which is just 20 minutes or so north of Qualicum Bay but, as the weather was deteriorating and they had a good hour journey to get back home we agreed to do this on another occasion as there are sure to be other opportunities, at least we hope so as we all got along famously.

The inclement weather did put a dampener on any outdoor exploring we had hoped to do but it did give us the chance to catch up on some paperwork, chores, "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" and enjoy the lovely fireplace - every cloud eh??