From Stanley Road to Stanley Park

Alex, Lou and Hazel all go to college in Woking, home of the famous Paul Weller of the Jam, hence the reference to Stanley Road. The sign that says Stanley Road still stands, a bit lonely, I think it has been kept because of the album, since it doesn't seem to denote an actual road anymore.

Yesterday the girls went to one of the beaches on the edge of Stanley Park, all of the beaches around Vancouver are breathtaking and that one was certainly no exception. Sadly, they got lost coming home due to a freak bus route change accident. The 410 bus no longer shuttles from New Westminster and back to Richmond Centre, it goes shooting off to Steveston and this is where they ended up. The bus driver got to the end of the route and turned the engine off. Then he turned to the girls, still sitting on the bus wondering what was going to happen now and said,
'So, got on the wrong bus then?' Hmmm...


I was a little bit ho-hum yesterday about a story on the CBC website about a man in Victoria on Vancouver Island who bit a police dog. See I'm not convinced that the sentiments in this story are necessarily that tongue-in-cheek. Now I would consider myself to be fairly canine-friendly, I couldn't eat more than one at a time but I like the critters. However the idea that there could be any circumstances where a person, being restrained or attacked by a police dog should be expected to treat that dog as though it were an officer of the law seems ludicrous. Of course I don't believe in cruelty to animals, it worries me a lot, but the bottom line is, if a carnivorous animal, highly trained or otherwise is trying to savage you, any other animal is going to fight back with whatever means they have, it's just instinct.

I don't want to get too het up over this, as it is the man was charged with all of the criminal actions he did do and the law doesn't allow at present for any charges with regard to the dog or the biting of it. I can think of more important things that need to be dealt with in law.

Still on the subject of 'nos amis les bêtes', the girls had asked me whether they would see a bear when they were over here. I told them they needed to hope not, but clearly they found one.
This isn't supposed to be a polar bear, but one of the 'Spirit Bears' that are around Vancouver at the moment. Spirit bears are real but rare white bears that can be glimpsed occasionally on some of the gulf islands. I think I'm right about that, but open to correction.
Why Alex is looking so glum in this picture remains a mystery, although a rather cheeky seagull did come down and steal the ziplock bag containing Hazel's dal.
The whole vegan thing has been a bit of an eye-opener for me. For example, yesterday I put out some Naan to go with their curry, thinking it must be vegan, but it turns out it is made with yoghurt. Now that is fair enough, that's what naan is, bread made with yoghurt. More annoying are the little things that seem to be more thoughtless than anything else.
I was using a Sharwood's sauce and the only thing on the bottle that stopped it being vegan was lactic acid. It seems as though that could have been easily replaced by something else meaning that vegans could eat it as well, thus just lazy thinking on their part.

Ah well, animals, you gotta love 'em, you don't HAVE to eat 'em but you can if you want. Could murder some bacon and eggs myself.