Home in Perth

Where did my holiday go ?
I have been home for just over a week and most of that time has been in my bed. At first it was Jetlag, but just when I thought I was over that, the dreaded 'Flu struck !! I have been in bed for the last 4 days. At least I have had plenty to think about while lying in bed feeling sorry for myself. And I am definately over the Jetlag !!
Thanks to everyone who made me feel so welcome. And thank you to all the people involved with Crime Watch. I learned a lot that night out with Graham and Doug. Also thank you to Fred for showing me the seemier side of Vancouver, I enjoyed the experience of the "Ride Along". Pity about the Racoons !!!
And lastly, thanks to Andrew for giving me such a lovely Birthday surprise, it was great to eventually meet you.
Now I am back in sunny Perth, the snow and the sights seem such a long while ago. Pity our holidays have to come to an end.

These Photos were taken 30 mins ago from my bedroom window. It is a very cold overcast day with snow on the top of the mountains. It could even be snowing as I type this as it looks a bit as though there's snow coming down. And it is my last day in Vancouver. I leave for home tomorrow and guess who still has to pack the suitcase!! What a drag of a job !!
I'm dis-appointed that the dark Cherry Blossom trees that should be flowering in this street are still not out in bloom. It looks like Jackie is going to have to send me a photo of them. It just hasn't been warm enough for them to bloom. It's really like winter here. Thank you to everyone who sent me Birthday wishes. I have had two lovely Birthdays. One on Vancouver time and one in Perth time. Last night I had a wonderful surprise. It appears that Jackie had been making phone calls while I have been holidaying in Texas and Graham has been taking me out showing me various sights around Vancouver. And last night all her scheming came to fruition when my favourite Royal Canadian Mountie arrived with friends to go to Dinner with us. What a surprise it was for me, I had no idea that it had all been arranged in the last 5 weeks. (Or More)It was such a lovely Birthday Gift. As I had never met him before, I didn't realise who he was until he took his top coat off....... then I had to suck a lemon to take the smile off my face!! There were photos taken but I'm afraid I was asked not to put them on my blog because of security reasons. So Sorry , no photos ! We all had a lovely evening though thanks to Jackie and Graham. Now I'm off to pack the red suitcase. Good bye to all my friends here in Vancouver and thank you for a wonderful holiday.

I don't know what this shrub is called but it sure is pretty

Jackie and Graham Gave me this lovely vase of Tulips for my Birthday. They gave them to me early so as I could enjoy them coming out from bud to full flower while I am still here. I was so thrilled. They are lovely and I thank Jackie and Graham for the lovely thought.

It was teaming with rain when this photo was taken. But I took it because where else will I ever see another car Registered in the Yukon!!

Dr.Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens

I think the gardens speak for themselves here. The plants and shrubs were really beautiful and I enjoyed walking around these gardens.

Dr.Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

These photos were taken in the Hall of One Hundred Mirrors. The larger figurines are replicas which were brought from China in recent times, but the smaller figurines date back to the 600 AD. I'm not sure now what the doovers in the box were because I didn't take notes (Silly Me) I thought it would all be listed on the Litrature I picked up. Sorry !!
The Garden is right in the heart of Vancouver's Chinatown and is named to honour the the memory of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, the "Father " of modern China. Dr Sun played a leading role in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and was the first President of the Republic of China.

Ting. High on a pile of weathered rocks emulating a mountain sits an elegant Pavilion or "ting"representing humans in their natural setting. It forms the focal point of the garden.

Some views of the lovely flowering trees and plants in the Q.E. Park. I hope you don't find these photos boring, I just love the Spring Flowers over here. They must remind a lot of the English people reading this Blog of "Home"

Charlies ChocolateFactory and Queen Elizabeth Park

This Azalea shrub was out the front of Charlies Chocolate Factory. The photo doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful. So was the Chocolate Factory !1 All the different types of Chocolate you could think of.........except Rocky Road!! They had never heard of that !! Rocky Road must be an Aussie Chocolate. So I had to be content with Coffee Creams instead ! I think overall the Choccies were cheaper than the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and certainly more interesting, with their Chocolate "Water Wheel" in the River of Chocolate.

I thought this Daffodil to lovely not to take a photo. The entire city seems to have Daffodils, Cherry Blossoms and Magnolias growing everywhere. It is so lovely after dry old Perth.

This tree was in Queen Elizabeth Park which grows trees from all over the world. It's called a "Monkey Message "tree and if you double click on it you will see all the Monkey like tails on it. Very interesting.
As you can see it was overcast today, but if we had rain it was during the night.I think the Temp was about 8 degs Celcius. I will probably feel like it's a heat wave at 20 degs when I come home. I'm sure my blood is getting thicker!!
That is Graham and Jackie's car in the photo.

Saturday 27th March I went out with Jackie and Graham and the team of Citizen's Crime Watch. There was a team of 16 people plus the Police Sargeant and myself. I found it very interesting and fail to understand why we, in Perth, don't have a similar scheme going. It consists of volunteers, and one Policeman,( who is paid.) It is tightly run, and if orders are followed, no one gets hurt. As Jackie described it, it's extra eyes on the streets who are in direct contact with the Police. Last night there was a 4 year old child who went missing. So the Citizens Crime watch formed a grid pattern and combed the streets where she was missing from. As it happened, the child had gone to sleep where she wasn't expected to be and all was well.
Each car is supplied with a Laptop and combs their allocated area of Vancouver punching Car Registration numbers into a special programme on the computer which tells them if the car is stolen or not . Last night there was a car parked in the street which was stolen. So the units who were nearby all convereged on that area and more or less blocked that car in until the Police arrived and furtively disabled the stolen vehicle. As it happened, the car had been there for some time and would be removed to the Impound area of the Police and the owner would be notified. A win situation for the Insurance Company!!!
I was with Graham and another man called Doug. Doug drove the car (His own ) Graham manned the radio and called the car rego nos to me who punched them into the computer. We didn't discover any stolen cars, but I enjoyed doing the Crime watch thing !!
I was also disappointed that we never saw a Racoon or a Skunk of which there are supposed to be plenty of around here !!
These Daffodils were given to Jackie by a friend who came to Dinner last Friday night.

Today, Sunday 28th March, we went out for Brunch with Jackie and Graham's 2 sons. This display of Rododendroms was by the Restraunt where we ate. They grow really beautifully over here in this cool climate. I certainly chose a beautiful time of the year to visit here. The Magnolia trees are absolutely drop-dead gorgeous along with the Cherry Blossoms and the Daffodils which grow everywhere.

I don't know what the little mauve flower is but it looked lovely next to the Rododendroms.Worth a piccy I thought.

This photo and the photo below are both taken from the SeaBus as we pulled away from the Terminal.

These flowers were really lovely. They were at the restraunt where we ate our lunch.The orangy flowers are Tulips which are flowering everywhere over here and the longer flowers are Cale which are also flowering. I have never seen Cale in flower in Perth.Very pretty.

Today, Wednesday, we had an easy day. Sleep-ins and then off to the Super-market to do a bit of shopping. Yesterday we had a good day. We caught the SkyTrain and went for a decent ride into the city where we walked, what seemed miles to me, and got onto the SeaBus and went across the Harbour to have a look at the Market and have lunch. A lovely day, but it tired us all out. Think it was the sea air!
This train does not have a driver, it is all computerised.

These trains,below, are lined up for the peak hour rush. Ready to take people on a longer journey out of Vancouver. Graham told me that each carriage holds about 100 people, so you can see a lot of people use the trains over here.

This is the interior of the SeaBus. It also holds a large amount of people. And everyone has to be seated. No Standing! It leaves Vancouver and goes across the Harbour to North Vancouver and is a very pleasent way of travelling. As you can see, bikes are allowed.

Vancouver's night of terror !

Thought this was rather neat aross the elevator doors in the Headquarters of the Police Building.

This is Sergeant Fred who took Jackie and I out for our night of "terror" in this Police Car

The word had gone out ofcourse that The Aussie was riding along and all the Criminals immediately went to their beds and stayed there trembling with with fear. One silly young fool dared to drive his Father's car without Insurance, but we soon stopped that with a flash of blue and red light !! The tow truck was called (No driving around here without Car Insurance!) the car was towed away and a taxi was called to make sure the passengers went home safely. Then it was back on the road again where absolutely nothing was happening !! A couple of "Working Girls" got a fright when Fred pulled over to make sure they were ok and then they were really scared when they thought I was going to take over their corner. But ofcourse it was to cold out there for me to be able to stand around in the cold waiting for the suckers to come along. Besides, there was a rowdy tenent with the music to loud at 2am to be dealt with . So off we sped to quieten them down !Fred was very careful with this one. He first sussed the place out and made sure there were no "Funny Smells" around, we didn't want to go barging into a Drug Den. But it was just people being thoughtless of the neighbors and playing their music to loudly.
Fred told them politely to "Shuddup", which they did.
Oh well it must be time for a Hot Chocolate to warm us up.I was really the only one who was cold !! As you can see by the photo below, I have about 4 layers of clothes on and Fred is in a short sleeved shirt !! I feel such a fool at times when everyone is warm but me !
It was a good night though and I enjoyed the experience and was tired by the time we were dropped off at about 3,30am. Thanks Fred and Jackie for all your kindness and for the chance to see how quiet it can be in a big city when all the Crims. are terrified of an old girl from Australia. I won't forget the night we prowled around the laneways looking for that elusive white car.!!