Victoria

I just woke up in the line of cars waiting for the Tsawwassen Ferry to Victoria. I arrived about 45 minutes ago, went to the bathroom, returned to the car, got as comfortable as I could, given that my inflatable kayak is pushed up against the back of the driver's seat and fell right off to sleep. I've been hepped up for a while, being more nervous than usual about leading the VOC Mother's Day hike up Sugarloaf because my breathing continues to deteriorate and then preparing to drive to Victoria. Messaging with Jay on Kakaotalk before the hike helped a lot.

He sent me a meme that was perfect. It gave me a real laugh. The hike went well; it was a fun activity. I spent Monday getting ready for the trip. 

Blossoms on one of the crab apple trees at city hall in Vernon

All went well until I discovered this morning that the garbage can I had filled with water last night so that Ama, the teenager who lives on the street and looks after the house when I'm away, could water some of the new plants was empty. I hadn't seen the hole in it as I filled it. I replaced it with  the other garbage can and started packing the car. With the inflatable kayak, which I haven't used since the last time I visited Barbara and Terry, my relatively new ebike and all the other gear, the Mazda 3 is fully loaded. The drive went well until Hope. From there to here it rained, very heavily. In fact sometimes it was hard to see so I had to turn off the wonderful CD of Barchester Towers that I was listening to and really concentrate on the road. But it's stopped now and there are even patches of blue in the sky. 

Now I'm at Barbara and Terry's. We've had our first morning coffee and chat and I feel much better than I did at 4:30am when I was wakened from an already fitful sleep by the beep of my iPhone announcing a message from my brother who's in TBay where it was a civilized 7:30am. But there's an up side to the story. I couldn't get back to sleep so turned on the radio where some time after 6:00am I heard an interview with a man who, along with his son, built a floating house. I learned that they were having it pulled by tug to Fisherman's Wharf today. So I walked there after coffee and arrived in time to see the whole move. It was an impressive feat because the house was large and the berth a small one. Also the boat that did the final tugging was a small motor boat. 

The builder, his son and the manager of the wharf

The big house and the little tug

The house snuggled in with its neighbours

Barbara and Terry have invited me for dinner tonight, and I look forward to a good sleep because I walked over 10k today.