Life of Dave

Life of Dave

Monday, December 19, 2016

Traffic-geddon 2016

I've already grown weary of these Armageddon/Apocalypse-style snowstorm headlines. We need a new descriptor to mangle.

Not unlike a recent election in a NA country whose name shall not be spoken, this recent Vancouver snow dump would be funny if it weren't so painfully true. It's getting to be like the punchline to a joke. "Whadaya get when you cross an overnight mixed rain/snow forecast (i.e., no pre-sanding/pre-salting/pre-brining of major arterials and intersections) with a resulting snowdump of about 5" of heavy wet snow at morning rush hour?" Answer: "Vancouver!"

Wow...what a mess. As soon as I let our dog out this morning I knew I'd be working from home today. We live near the highest point in Vancouver, near QE Park. I walked the quadrant of Fraser, East 33rd, Knight and East 41st around 7 a.m. just for a ringside view of Metro mayhem.

Ice rink at Fraser Street at East 33rd Avenue.

Ice rink at Knight Street at East 33rd Avenue.

There was actually a sheen on the ice at major intersections. It was reported on the radio that the traffic lights at Knight/33rd were not working and cars were gliding through with brakes fully applied. But by the time I arrived the traffic signals were operational again.

Knight Street hill heading south from E. 33rd Avenue.

A little farther up the Knight Street Hill I witnessed semi-trailer truck drivers installing chains to get their rigs over the E. 37th Ave crest. This is not exactly the Coquihalla snowshed summit were dealing with here.

East 41st Avenue near Knight Street.

Even short (although somewhat steep) hills were bottlenecks due to minimal traction. This E. 41st hill heading west from Knight Street effectively halted westbound bus passage.

Seven eastbound E. 41st buses in a row! Parked!

Again, if it wasn't so true, it'd be funny. Even up until 11 a.m. I didn't see any moving buses in this quadrant.

Here are four Fraser buses parked: two on either side of E. 33rd.

I'll be watching the tele safely from my couch this evening to see how the day's-end commute panned out.

Pampas Grass carnage.

Disappointingly, my Pampas Grass finally succumbed to successive onslaughts of wintry precipitation. Up until last night I'd managed thus far to knock accumulated snow off the plumes with a broom handle after each snowfall. But last night the heavy wet flakes fell too late through the night/early morning for me to have prevented devastation. Oh well, out come the pruning shears.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Ferris Wheel(er)'s Day Off

The weather last night didn't favour Shauna's Christmas Party. We had heavy wet snow in East Van and figured it would be at least as bad on the steep streets of North and West Van so we didn't chance it. Thus Shauna was a bit out of sorts and we were looking for something to do to cheer her (and us) up.

Surprisingly, I'd heard of a ferris wheel, of all things, having just been erected in Queen Elizabeth Park for the Christmas season. A perfect destination for a snowy evening.

Ferris wheel fare includes admission to the Conservatory.

Quite a magical sight for a cold winter's evening at the highest point in
Vancouver.

Bringing a bright bit of Carnival to Vancouver.

Definitely a mood picker-upper! And,being the first night of operation, with
inclement weather restricting road traffic, we were the only passengers on
our ride.

We could still faintly make out the lights of downtown Vancouver from the top,
despite the heavy wet flakes of snow.

Needless to say we highly recommend this new Vancouver Christmas attraction. Especially when combined with entry into the Conservatory. The parrots are fascinating. I had no idea there are more than 200 birds in there.


Friday, December 9, 2016

The Great Divide

Just as I was beginning to think I'd be desk-bound for the rest of this calendar year, along came an assignment for a property condition assessment in Dawson Creek. It's about an hour's drive south from Fort St John. A very cold place this time of year; -24C! I manged to arrange the trip a day before a forecasted big dump of snow occurred here in Vancouver. I didn't want to chance missing my flight due to typically crazy Vancouver snow traffic.

The day turned out to be sunny for the majority of the flight; especially perfect for gazing at snow-capped peaks.
A light dusting of snow in Vancouver and the eastern fields of Richmond.

Long early morning shadows at Metrotown and Central Park in Burnaby.

The snow-covered coastal range really was spectacularly highlighted courtesy
of the rising sun. Heli-skiing anyone?
On several flights to the Fort St John region I've never before seen the divide so clearly between the coastal mountain range and the northern plains. I'm not even sure that "northern plains" is the correct geologic terminology, but the change was certainly evident from this height.
The great divide.

The patchwork of fields approaching Fort St John.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Snowman

Tannah found a new winter friend at the end of our back lane.


Monday, December 5, 2016

Snow Slog

We got hit with the first significant snowfall today in about 1000 days here on the Wet Coast. As usual it's the kind of snow that's barely snow. It's mostly water and it seems to  melt as soon as it lands. Except for asphalt, that is. Once it lands on asphalt it compresses with the first tire imprint causing steadily increasing degrees of mayhem with the passing of every subsequent vehicle.

And of course, timing is everything. The snow reportedly started around 4-5 a.m., ensuring it was sticking to the roads for the start of rush hour. Fortunately I was able to delay my commute since I had a site visit downtown. But even so I was an hour later than planned due to the sudden increase in bus riders and delays of buses due to icy streets, cars with all-season tires and general gridlock.

The bus I was waiting for was much delayed, as reported by a friendly fellow Transit user who had a handy app on his smart phone indicating where requested buses are at any specific point in time. The bus in question was still at 29th Street Station, the start of its route but quite far away from my bus stop. Upon processing this information I decided to walk to Fraser Street instead to await the 08 bus. Perfectly timed, it arrived as I approached Fraser. However, it was packed with standees right to the front door. Also however, I know from experience that these buses often travel in packs by the time they get to the middle of their route through my 'hood. Thus I sensed another "8" was immediately following this full one. Once proven correct in my assumption I hopped on a mostly empty 10-wheeled, articulated transit tube smiling to myself that I might even have time to grab a coffee somewhere on route prior to my appointment.

I should have known better. No sooner was I seated than the bus came to an abrupt halt not even a block away. Through the front window I could see a jack-knifed bus up ahead.
A jack-knifed bus on East King Edward Street, though not the same one as
described earlier.

Here's how approximately two inches of snow transforms my Fraser Street
neighbourhood.

And here's the view from the roof of the building I was reviewing this morning.
Not nearly as much snow downtown.

A large scale bauble is on display off Georgia Street.
As I blog, outside this slushy mess is freezing. I can almost hear it; smug in its anticipation of snarling traffic anew tomorrow morning. Nothing better than an armada of ill-equipped SOVs (no, not SOBs; Single Occupancy Vehicles) released upon concrete curb-bounded ice sheets. Somewhat like a large scale luge track minus the speed. It'll be a slow crawl tomorrow. (sigh)

At least now I know it's not only Vancouver that suffers such winter driving indignities. For a laugh just Google the traffic "slide" show involving 2 buses, a police car and snow plough in Montreal this morning. It almost sounds like the lead-in to a joke; "Hey, didja hear the one about the two transit buses, a police car and a snow plough?"

I think I might even have laughed if I didn't have to drive to the office tomorrow morning.

Nonetheless, Tannah enjoyed it. As long as it was constrained to short bursts
followed by a nap next to the furnace register.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Here Comes The Sun!

We awoke to glorious sunshine this morning after a record breaking month of rain in October (and very little appreciable difference in November's precipitation performance) in Vancouver. So to celebrate we took Tannah for a walk along False Creek. It's surprising how much colder it can be along the waterfront than it is in East Van where urbanization breaks the wind.

I didn't even notice until posting this shot just now that the mountains
are completely removed from this False Creek vantage point. 
But even without seeing the recent snow on the north shore mountains, 
it looks cold.

Further along the shared pedestrian/bicycle trail we came across an unexpected sight; the house from Beach Avenue that was saved from imminent destruction to make way for condo development. It was lifted and trucked to a waiting barge at English Bay in the wee hours of Saturday morning. It's final destination will be in East Van, and I'd heard on the news it would be stored temporarily in False Creek prior to moving to its intended new site.
The ultimate waterfront address, albeit temporary.
I'm a bit of a collector of before-and-after photos. I'll have to keep track of this
one as its restoration progresses after the second phase of its road trip is 
complete.
It's too bad I didn't hear about this move until the morning after. It would
have been pretty exciting to witness in person (for me anyway).

Still on the housing theme, what first drew my attention as we passed under the Cambie Street bridge on the ped/bike path was this newest addition to Vancouver's trendy penthouse stock.
A room (literally one room!) with a view.
It's a bit of a swim, and a bit of a climb up a creosote-coated pedestal, but in this market I'm sure some ambitious entrepreneur will solve the accessibility issues to develop the true potential of this urban island oasis.
Zip line access to shore perhaps?
Finally, with the region's first snowfall of the season in the forecast for tomorrow morning, it would appear that the influx of Arctic air has made the water too cold for ducks. This particular "Houdini" duck apparently preferred to stand on the surface of the pond, admiring his own reflection.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Santa Shuffle 2016

I think this one could alternatively be called the "Santa Sniffle"as I woke up with a sore throat last Saturday but went on our regular Saturday run anyway. It's not like I had the flu or anything. It turned into a sinus cold to accompany me through my week. I was a bit concerned by a threateningly wet forecast for the Santa Shuffle today (Saturday), but I guess Santa judged us runners to be "good" rather than "bad" and blessed us with a dry course through the east side of Stanley Park.

As a bonus it turned into my best 5 km time to date (~29 minutes) as indicated by my self-timed phone-based running app).

Jane, me and Leona at the start line.
Not the best selfie in the world but I was still catching my breath post finish.