The weather. Something to report as the first snow of the year has arrived! We woke in Victoria to the white wonderland and have come home to find it still on the ground around the house on Wednesday. Could be more by the end of the week. Easing out now so that by Monday it will rain and as the reporter said the BC Snow Shovel will do the rest!

Victoria is reached by ferry from Twassessen, 45 mins to an hour from Surrey. Ferries taking up to 250 cars and 1700 passengers, are at two hour intervals. In summer, occasioned by heavy holiday traffic, hourly during the day. We caught  the 09.00 boat reaching Schwartz Bay on the Island at 10.30; leaving a half hour drive into Victoria.  Normally due to ferry lineups it is wise to reach there an hour before sailing. The voyage is 1 and a half hours. Pleasant enough when you are a tourist but it palls later when the novelty wears off. The ideal is a bridge, something quite feasible by an island hopping strategy. Prince Edward Island has done it on the other side of Canada. One day hopefully there is a bridge across but this waits a long time. The idea is great for Vancouver commuters but met with great apprehension from Islanders who enjoy their semi isolation and want to keep it that way.

Victoria itself is a legacy of the days when the mainland was a forested wilderness, The early arrivals in British Columbia found the attractive sea port of Victoria, on the tip of Vancouver Island  much more congenial than the wilderness of Vancouver. Until the nearby parts of the Fraser Valley were logged off Victoria thrived. The legacy remains with Victoria being the political capital, and somewhat isolated capital of British Columbia.

Today Victoria is a thriving metropolis increasingly relevant as Vancouver Island develops and enters the 21st Century. What has been a pleasant retirement community blessed with a mild climate (due to the Gulf Stream current passing by) is fast becoming an important center. Victoria University ( U Vic) is gaining a name in its own right. Tourism is thriving as many discover the untapped wilderness that the Island offers to the venturesome. Sleepy fishing and logging communities are opening their doors to newcomers who enjoy the Whale watching out at sea or the Bears and wildlife inland. not to mention sport fishing, and wilderness hiking, kayaking and the like. A lucrative trade has developed in cruise ships which go on up the inside passage to Alaska, exotic mountain scenery, whale watching; on shore tours for bear sightings as well as the indulgent ship board life styles of gourmet eating, entertainment, gambling and the like that drives the cruise boat industry.

Most of our contacts, reflecting our age group, are more of the retirement community type. Stewart Dunlop is a Glasgow Scot, alumnus of Glasgow University so lots of interaction with Janette. His field is geography; he took up an appointment in Winnipeg; met Evelyn of Ukrainian origin, married and has added in golf and photography as interests. I was grateful to him for his support and help in bringing some of my slides into digital with his excellent equipment.

Jo is another Glaswegian, originally in the Scots Presby mission. She met Keith an engineer with United Church. Her expertise in accounts brought them into the Bombay office serving a wide range of missions in that period. This type of interest continues as she is giving volunteer service to a number of NGO groups including the Jamkhed people in Maharastra. Janette was a bride's maid at her wedding and has continued the link on into the present. Jo and Keith moved from Toronto back to Keith's home territory on the island a few years ago. Their current project is to add another room on to their house. Keith with his engineering background is well equipped to bring everything up to a high standard. The room will serve as an office for Jo who has many interests, then free up another room in the house for guests. Jo is active in a number of overseas NGOs one into micro finance the other into cleft palettes.

We had hoped to see Paul and Adrianne Clark, our link with Dennis and Gladys. But Paul had an appointment in Vancouver which passed this one up.

We did get to see Cedric and Valerie Parks. He an engineer with service in Malaysia and Saudi but more recently they filled in as locums in Hong Kong at a missionary R and R centre there. Lorraine,  their daughter, is known to Yvonne and Verona from their time at Maisie's, the Chinese ladies' hostel, in downtown Toronto. Their unit looks out over Brentwood Bay with its attractive marina.