REPORT FROM PAT SWARBRICK

Hello from far away climes. We were lucky enough to meet a few of you on a recent trip home, but for those of you who are interested, here follows a brief resume of our life since leaving England last October.

We landed in Calgary, Alberta and drove over the Rockies, looking for suitable places to settle. We found some beautiful spots and some that we couldn’t get out of quickly enough. For those of you who have watched the film ‘Deliverance’, you will know what I mean. I think one of the small towns in particular that we stayed a night in, hadn’t seen a stranger in years and they all appeared suspiciously related to one another. Anyway, we carried on driving and are currently settled in British Columbia, on Vancouver Island near Victoria, which is the capital of British Columbia. For those of you with an atlas, we are a small dot on the western side of Canada. I think we have been very cowardly with our choice of place to live as we have chosen the most British place in Canada. There are lots of English people here and Victoria itself looks like an English town with miniature Houses of Parliament. The climate is mild; it is unusual to see snow here. I think you saw more there this winter, however, further up inland there was 5 metres of snow at the local skiing resort.

The move has been relatively smooth. It would be impossible to change countries without problems. We are really sorry that we were not able to say goodbye personally to all our friends at Wesham. I did have plans to have a good farewell drink with all the Wrinklys, and anyone else who wanted to join us, but things just took off at the last minute and there was no time. I think the British system of house selling was the main problem as we couldn’t book the flights until we knew the house sale would go through, and we didn’t know that until one week prior to the sale date. We have bought a house here and, believe me, the Canadian system is much better.

I’m afraid to say I haven’t been keeping up my running and fitness as I would like. Shortly after we came here we did go running with one of the local groups around a local park; the people were great but it was difficult for me to keep up. They are called the Peninsula Harriers and are probably the equivalent of Blackpool and Fylde - but older!! I have since seen the Peninsula Plodders around which are certainly more my sounding club!! There are many more runners here than in the Fylde but they don’t appear as serious, on the whole. There aren’t as many races as Wesham are able to participate in and I often get the impression that Canadians favour a more relaxed style of running anyway. We watched a marathon race on our travels, and the winner took around 2:42. We assumed it was a hilly course but was told it was flat. There are definitely prospects for Wesham runners to take away first prizes here!!

I do intend to take part in a 10K when I can schedule myself to one but our days are still too full to plan ahead. We have so much to discover and Vancouver Island is a fantastic place to explore. Surrounded by the clearest sea I have every seen and the air almost tastes clean. We have done the touristy whale watching and skiing and eagerly wait the summer when we can go trekking, although with care as the wildlife is a bit more threatening than the odd sheep. I have already frightened myself with reading books on cougars, bears and spiders. No longer do I have to be concerned about sheep and cows - there are more serious dangers lurking!

We live right next to a trail which was an old railway line. It must be around 50km in length running into the centre of Victoria and around the southern coast of the island in both directions. It is used by cyclists, runners, walkers, roller bladders and is car free. One thing I love here is the Canadian use of the English language. They speak as they see things with no words thought too ‘improper’. There are signs along this trail to the effect of “Cyclists – give way to pedestrians. Ring your bell or holler to pass”; I have been ‘hollered’ at a couple of times.

Anyway, must try and e-mail this for the press. Will get some photos ready and send them for the next newsletter.

Written by: Pat and Arthur Swarbrick

Submitted: 12^th June 2006

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Website/Magazine Editor