Pictures, lately. Taken for the August break.
Apparently I have been eating a lot. More pictures on my flickr page.
Each summer Vancouver holds a fireworks competition in English bay. We missed the first two this year as we were in Montreal but managed to catch the last one on Saturday night and just like last year, it was amazing.
The performances are so popular that all the beaches around the bay are packed with people hours before the fireworks actually start. However it is fun to sit and watch the dance of the boats as they navigate around one another to get out of the docks and into prime position on the water. There is also a beautiful sunset that easily detracts from the discomfort of sitting on a rock for an extended period of time.
Each performance is accompanied by a soundtrack that is played out on radios across the beach, it’s really fun but we had about 6 surrounding us all ever so slightly out of sink which made for some interesting harmonies.
This summer I have fallen head over heels in love, with my bike! It’s such a relaxing way to see the city, and unlike when sitting on a bus you actually see the city, because cycling with your nose in a book is a recipe for disaster.
I’m so in love with my bike that I’ve actually started cycling my commute and it’s such a fantastic way to stretch my legs after a day behind a desk. On my way home there is also the most perfect hill, it’s long and steep and has a view out across English bay so you can see the sea, the mountains and the city. I become a complete child almost every time I reach this hill, my feet have been known to leave the pedals and in my mind I shout ‘weeeee’. That view though, it’s definitely going to be one of the things I miss the most when I leave, it will never stop taking my breath away and making me smile.
Apparently I was so lost without my bike during our time in Montreal that I compensated by taking pictures of bikes all over the city. They was such an amazing array of them, as the images will attest, and they were everywhere. Montreal is a really bike friendly city – it’s reasonably flat, and has loads of bike friendly streets. It also has a great bike share scheme which means that you fall over ‘bixi’ bikes at almost every second corner.
This bike is being patriotic, maple leaves for Canada and blue for Quebec.
These bikes have been eaten by the garden
 
I realise I’m a bit out of date with this post, but term finished and then I went on holiday so it’s better late than never.
Almost two weeks ago now we went up to Whistler for the weekend to attend the annual cheese rolling competition. Mike’s company are responsible for the advertising of the event, which was the brain child of one of his colleagues.
Based on the British event, this is definitely more extreme than I envisage the founding event being. The winner of both the male and female final receives a season pass to Whistler (as well as the wheel of cheese), and it therefore attracts a perhaps more adventurous crowd.
The aim of the game is simple, to chase the cheese down the hill and try and catch it (no one ever does though), really they’re just looking to see who gets to the bottom fastest. For most, this involves beginning with a run and then falling somewhere between a third and half way down the hill. Post fall, competitors either slide, roll or scramble to the bottom, a few make it back onto their feet and continue running. At the bottom their fall is broken either by a rugby player or a bale of hay.
The cheese rolling competition falls on the same weekend as Crankworx, a massive BMX competition, in which the truly brave and extraordinarily talented, hurtle down the mountain performing a series of tricks and jumps along the way. We were situated by the final jump and my heart leapt into my mouth on a number of occasions as riders looked destined to land on their heads, mercifully none did.
We had a great weekend, hanging out with friends, eating cheese and enjoying the fresh air and Whistler vibe.
For more pictures check out my flickr set.
There is something about old fashioned lemonade, it’s liquid summer.
