Thursday ; Cloudy, no rain, +8° C, as warm as it gets in Victoria in the winter.
Routine morning. Went for our morning walk with Apollo shortly before noon. Napped after lunch. Around 3 PM had the hotel’s shuttle drive me to the Paintless Dent Repair business to pick up our minivan. Nice work … dent is gone !
From Dentex I headed to The UPS Store to send Joanne’s travel wash kit for repair. I bought my first Briggs & Riley travel wash kit circa 1981 when I began to travel extensively for work. It was very expensive, but excellent quality and functionality. AND … guaranteed for life. Mine required a minor repair a decade or so ago. I had it repaired at a Briggs & Riley authorized luggage repair service centre in Tucson, Arizona. I bought another one, for Joanne, circa 1987 as we were preparing to move from Winnipeg to Ottawa. A few days ago, in Princeton, she noticed that a rivet on the handle had popped. Today I sent it to an authorized Briggs & Riley authorized luggage repair service centre in Vancouver.
When we purchased Apollo’s dog food in Grand Forks a week or so ago we received a Black Friday gift voucher worth ten dollars, valid this week only. When I was finished at The UPS Store I walked over to Bosley’s Pet Foods in the same mall and bought Apollo some biscuits. From Santa Claus !
I arrived back at home just before 5 PM. At 5 PM we dressed warmly and headed out to attend the Inner Harbour “Harbour Light Up” event. All the Christmas lights around the Inner Harbour were lit at 5 PM. Many of the very expensive looking boats (yachts ?) in the Inner Harbour were decorated with Christmas Lights. There were food vendors. We walked all the way around the large U-shaped Inner Harbour causeway / walkway. We each received a free small cup of hot chocolate and a free “designer” bakery shortbread cookie celebrating the event. AND … <sputter … blink, blink> … we witnessed the arrival … on the water, in the dark, of a small motor boat with … HA HA HA … Santa Claus. Alone ! HA HA HA … he had to tie up his own little motor boat to a cleat on the dock, in the dark, trying hard not to fall into the water while announcing his secret arrival with loud HO HO HO’s. Joanne, Apollo, and I had to scramble to get out of the way of MANY children shrieking and running to greet Santa’s arrival. HA HA HA !
There were many people. And dogs ! Apollo was very well behaved. Good boy, Apollo ! And he was not intimidated by being in a crowd, as one of our previous dogs, Bo, was.
We became chilly. And tired. And hungry. We returned home a little before 7 PM.
Friday ; Again … cloudy, no rain, +8° C, as warm as it gets in Victoria in the winter.
We had a busy and tiring day. After morning routines and exercises and walk we set off for another long day of shopping errands. Too long for Apollo, he spent more than four hours alone in the car, and by the time we returned to our suite at dusk he seemed frazzled by too much time left alone in the car. Sorry, Apollo.
We headed out at noon. Our first stop was Tillicum Centre, a large shopping mall, for purchase of lots of kitchen basics and essentials for our winter stay on Vancouver Island. Joanne had selected The Hot Dog Guys as the place to have our lunch. It is a highly rated upscale hot dog (oxymoron ?) kiosk in the mall, featuring kosher all beef hot dogs to satisfy Jews, and Halal chicken hot dogs to satisfy Muslims. And … satisfactory to at least some of us with ulcerative colitis / inflammatory bowel disease. HA HA HA ! Our “retro (all beef) chili cheese all beef hot dogs” were pretty good. Not as good as Wienerschnitzel in Yuma, Arizona, and … overpriced. Milkshake was pretty good as well.
Next we drove to another very large shopping mall, this one on on Saanich Road, to shop at Wal-Mart Supercenter. We have shopped at Wal-Marts all over the world … literally … and this one was, without a doubt, the ****ing goofiest Wal-Mart of all ! We drove into the shopping mall’s parking lot, and drove around and around and around, looking for Wal-Mart. Couldn’t find it. HUH ? ! ? Finally I rolled down my window and asked a woman who was walking back to her car where was the Wal-Mart ? “Oh … you can’t get to it from here”. HUH ? ! ? “You can only get to Wal-Mart from the underground parkade underneath this parking lot.” <blink blink>
I drove out of the parking lot, made an illegal U-turn, and entered the underground parkade. Parked the car, and began wandering around looking for an entrance to Wal-Mart. Followed signage to an elevator. Got on the elevator and realized we were parked on level 3 of 4 levels of the parkade. HUH ? ! ? Asked people on the elevator where the hell was Wal-Mart ? ! ? “OH … get off on the main floor”.
OK … we got off on the main floor. We were outdoors again. HUH ? But … nowhere near the outdoor parking. WHAT ? ! ? Now we were in some sort of inner courtyard. Bunch of store fronts and … WOO-HOO … a ****ing Wal-Mart entrance ! ! !
Entered Wal-Mart ! Well … not really ! Now we were in another elevator lobby. <blink blink> Got into the elevator. There were already people in there … facing the back wall ! HUH ? Where did they come from / get on ? Why are they all facing the back wall of the elevator ? OH … more elevator doors on the back wall. Eventually the elevator back doors opened and … lo and behold … we were in Wal-Mart. Or so we thought.
NOOOOOO ! We were on “level one” of Wal-Mart ! There were multiple floors to this Wal-Mart. And we had to get on and off elevators … and escalators …. with our shopping cart … to get to different departments on different floors. Beside each escalator was … a strange looking but quite effective shopping cart escalator. You pushed your shopping cart through a set of swinging doors, it was grabbed by a track like device, like you would find in an automatic car wash to propel your vehicle along, and it began to descend or ascend. You would get on the adjacent people escalator which travelled slightly faster up or down than the shopping cart escalator, and as you stepped off the people escalator, the cart escalator would sort of spit your shopping cart out at you.
Which works well enough, I suppose. But for newbies, like us, who are unfamiliar with what departments are on what levels, we were up and down like yo-yo’s ! ! !
When we were finally finished shopping, and through the self-checkout, we had no idea how to get out of the store, let alone find our car in the parkade, and find our way back out onto the street. Any street ! Maybe younger people (millenials ?) would find this “escape room” Wal-Mart amusing, but I sure as hell didn’t !
Especially since, thanks to my own impatience and stupidity, I left Joanne waiting for an elevator down (or up … who the hell knows ?) to the parkade, while I and the shopping cart used the escalators, and … <sputter> … I got hopelessly lost, with a shopping cart filled with a hundred and sixty bucks worth of purchases, so I couldn’t just say “**** this” and walk away from it, while I went up and down and all around trying to find the parkade level we were parked on. <taking a deep breath>
Eventually I found the car … and Joanne waiting. <sigh>
This evening we walked across the street to the Grand Pacific Hotel to see the Habitat For Humanity Christmas season fundraiser “Gingerbread Showcase” competition. Thirty-five organizations, or family / friend groups, constructed gingerbread creations. They were set up all over the public lobby areas of the very upscale Grand Pacific Hotel across the street from us. WOW ! WOW ! ! ! Some of these creations, all fitting within a two foot by two foot base took over two hundred hours to create ! For a $5 donation to Habitat For Humanity, one could vote on their favourite. Five bucks well spent !
Saturday ; +8 C, windy, cloudy, intermittent light rain.
This morning we walked a few blocks in light rain to the James Bay Community Centre to attend the annual Dickens Fair, a local arts and crafts Christmas market. I waited outside with Apollo while Joanne went inside and browsed. She found nothing she was interested in buying, and while waiting outside I overhead many complaints from people exiting about how overcrowded the event was. When Joanne came out she concurred. I chose not to bother going in.
We walked a few more blocks to the James Bay location of Thrifty Foods. Joanne waited outside with Apollo while I went inside to shop for some advertised specials. I needed assistance finding most of the advertised specials, and in most cases I received atrociously bad customer service. Some of these overpaid unionized supermarket employees need a refresher course in who and what need to be their priorities ! ! !
By the time we returned to our suite the rain had stopped and the clouds were attempting to break up. Ultimately they failed. Just as we were about to have lunch Room Service showed up to give our suite its weekly full service. We took Apollo to the hotel’s very comfortable front lobby and read the newspaper for half an hour.
Yesterday at one of the grocery stores I bought some freshly made salmon & caviar sushi for myself for today’s lunch. MMMMM … it was good !
We took Apollo for his late afternoon walk around 5 PM, then Joanne wanted to visit the Christmas light displays at Centennial Square. We drove there, intending to visit another grocery store afterwards to buy some of their advertised specials. It being Saturday night, and Centennial Square being close to some downtown (uptown? … I think where we live is “downtown”) theatres and the hockey arena, I could not find anywhere to park. We decided it would be better to return on a weeknight.
We drove to Fairway Market and shopped for advertised specials. We liked that supermarket and may return in future. On our way back home, driving south on Douglas Street, a main north / south arterial route, we inadvertently encountered the annual Christmas Truck Parade heading north through downtown / uptown (?) on Douglas. I pulled over to the curb and we watched the lengthy parade pass. I had pulled into a loading zone parking spot, but the many policemen directing traffic on Douglas Street at every intersection were too busy with the parade to care.
Back in our suite, as we were finishing eating supper at 8:30 PM, and SNL / Saturday Night Live was starting on the TV, Joanne wondered why it was starting so early !
“LIVE … FROM NEW YORK … IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT ! ! !”
<rolling my eyes upwards>
A few minutes ago, as I emptied my pants pockets in preparation for getting undressed and ready for bed, I was reminded … as I wandered through the supermarket earlier this evening, passing the produce section, I noticed a display of floral arrangements. I thought to myself, some husbands might be tempted to impulsively buy their wives some flowers. But not me ! I took the opportunity to get her what she told me yesterday she really really wants for a long winter of staying in hotel rooms. My pants pocket contained ten produce bag twist ties ! HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA !
Sunday ; Sunny, +9° C during the day, but very chilly after the sun went down.
This afternoon we attended a Victoria Symphony Orchestra Christmas concert with Canadian Brass, a brass winds quintet, at the Royal Theatre. It was great ! I have had little to no opportunity to attend symphony concerts over the last twenty years, and today served to remind me how much I miss it.
We left home at 1:30 PM, for the 2:30 PM concert. We had the hotel’s shuttle drive us to the (north) downtown Royal Theatre. We walked around the area surrounding the theatre for about half an hour before going in and settling in our seats. This was a “pops” concert (popular music, as opposed to classical) conducted by the symphony’s pops conductor.
Canadian Brass was formed in 1970, and still has one of the original founding members leading it. I saw them perform before, forty to fifty years ago, with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
The concert ended at 4:30 PM. It was dusk when we left the theatre. It was chilly and became dark as we meandered back to our hotel, taking half an hour to walk the 1.2 km. home.
Apollo was resting quietly in our suite when we got home, and we hope he was resting quietly for the entire 3 ½ hours that we left him alone. Good dog, Apollo !
I prepared a wonderful Udon noodle chicken stir fry for supper. It turned out very well, especially in light of having less food basics and cooking resources than I have back in our condo home kitchen. Well done, Daniel !
Monday ; Mostly sunny, +8° C, chilly after dark, as usual.
WOO-HOO … you can teach an old dog new tricks ! Good boy, Apollo !
P.S. ; And to my dismay … he can teach himself new tricks ! Bad dog, Apollo !
Joanne had insomnia overnight. She was awake for much of the night. That’s rare for her, it’s me who regularly experiences insomnia. This morning I decided to treat us to a pancake breakfast. To no avail, for the most part. Joanne slept until 11:20 AM due to her insomnia. I made pancakes, and ate mine alone. Well … they were pretty, but tasteless, with poor tasting syrup. The other day at the grocery store I bought a small box of an unknown brand of pancake mix, and cheap syrup, instead of our usual pure maple syrup. The pancake mix made very pretty pancakes that tasted like … puffed air ! And the low calorie corn syrup tasted like … well … low calorie corn syrup !
I did some paint touch up work on the car this morning. While getting an estimate for the dent repair on the fender recently the estimator pointed out to me a crack in the paint at the top of the wheel well, caused by the dent on the fender above. After having the dent repaired my OCD required me to touch up the crack in the paint. And having done that, now I think I would like to add wheel well mouldings to the car. Is Santa listening / reading ?
After lunch and a nap for me and Apollo, we set off for a walk to the Bay Centre to view the Festival Of Trees / decorated Christmas tree exhibition / competition. The Bay Centre is a three storey downtown shopping mall, hence the need for Apollo to learn how to use escalators. HA HA HA … good dog, Apollo ! ! ! He was reluctant and confused on the first escalator, guarded but responsive to my “wait” and “go” commands on the second, then confident from then on. GOOD DOG !
Victoria seems generally dog friendly, and we keep seeing small dogs in places where they would be unwelcome in most cities. So today we simply walked into the Bay Centre and walked around wherever we wanted with Apollo in tow, short leashed. Nobody seemed to care, including the mall security guard that we passed by. We did not take him inside any of the store’s interiors, one of us waited outside when the other wanted to go inside a store to see something. <whispering> That resulted in me buying a Christmas gift at Purdys Chocolatier. Wrapped and bowed, please and thank you ! We returned home at 4:30 PM. Dusk !
Today’s outing reached the limit of Joanne’s ability to walk, considering her chronic heel discomfort (Achilles tendonitis). I used the i-Phone to measure our distance walked. OK … 3.5 km. is her limit. Good to know for future planning.
At 6 PM we went to the hotel’s fitness centre / pool / hot tub / sauna complex. While I worked out with weights in the fitness centre, Joanne did aquatics exercises in the pool. When we were done exercising we went for a soak in the hot tub … AHHHH … then while Joanne went into the women’s sauna (the men’s is still out of order) I showered, dressed, and returned to our room.
Only to discover … wait for it … not only a little dog barking, but … <sputter> … in the kitchen … the napkins were knocked off the dinette table, as were the placemats, the pepper shaker, my computer power cord, and … AND … <sputter> … still sitting on the table was the carrot cake, in a baking pan, in a plastic produce bag. HMPH ! The bag was torn, a sharp knife left inside the baking pan was sticking out of the torn bag, sharp point sticking upwards, and … AND … AND … two pieces of carrot cake were partially eaten ! ! ! ! !
<blink, blink> “YOU BAD LITTLE DOG ! ! !”
And while I’m scolding him … he’s flattening himself onto the kitchen floor, front legs splayed outwards, tail wagging, looking up at me with doe eyes … ! ! ! This is the pose he strikes to communicate “Look ! I’m a good little dog, I can do “down”, give me a treat please !” You ****ing little cur !
Tuesday ; Cloudy, +7° C.
This morning we combined Apollo’s noon time walk with a trip by car to the James Bay Thrifty Foods supermarket. After we finished our walk we drove to Thrifty Foods, because we needed to refill our five gallon water jug. Thrifty Foods is within easy walking distance, buy not while carrying a refilled water jug weighing fifty pounds. There is very limited parking at Thrifty Foods in James Bay, as is the case throughout our neighbourhood. Their small customer parking lot was full. I had to park the car in an adjacent residential underground parkade that has a few parking spots reserved by Thrifty Foods as “overflow parking” for their customers. Hard to get into and out of the parkade. Hard to get into and out of the cramped parking spots within the parkade.
At dusk we headed downtown by car to view Lights of Wonder, the Christmas lighting exhibition at Centennial Square, behind Victoria City Hall. While wandering around admiring the lights and taking pictures we chatted about pets with a pair of women about our age from Chemainus, near where we will be spending February and March, who were doing the same as us.
Wednesday ; Cloudy, no wind, +6° C.
Our late morning walk with Apollo was an exploration walk. We left our suite around noon, walked a block east to the Parliament Building, Joanne verified which entrance to use to reach the Parliamentary Dining Room, we studied the posted schedule of public tours and events, and made some plans, then continued on to the other side of the building to find the Parliament bus stop bays where it would be most convenient for us to catch a city bus. We crossed Government Street to the Royal BC Museum, and found our way to the Food Truck Village behind the museum. Not many of the food trucks were open, and those that were open had little appeal for us. We crossed behind the Royal BC Museum to Thunderbird Park, to view and take photos of the many totems in the park. And to verify the location of Old Spaghetti Factory across the street.
We wandered back west along Belleville Street, past the museum, past the Parliament Building, along the south side of the Inner Harbor, back to Royal Scot, our hotel. “WOO-HOO … kefir (yogurt) lunch time” said Apollo. Well ... metaphorically speaking. HA HA HA!
After lunch and a nap I worked on downloading a backlog of photos from the i-Phone
to the laptop and processing them. Joanne did laundry in the hotel’s laundromat. At 5:30 PM we took Apollo for his late afternoon walk, then Joanne and I went to the fitness centre and pool. I did weights exercises in the fitness centre, Joanne did aquatics exercises in the pool, then we both did hot tub exercises. I recently came across a set of aquatics exercises designed to be done in a hot tub and today we tried them for the first time. Nice ! I think they will become a regular part of our fitness routines.
Joanne prepared supper to be ready for 8 PM, and we ate supper while watching the second last episode of this season of Survivor.
DSK
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