A Week in the Rain

This week has seen horrendous weather here in Vancouver and even worse conditions up the mountain. We bought season's passes for the skiing back in September and the season seemed to start OK in early December but we were unable to go up due to our move so we kept our fingers crossed for January. The kids had their first school lesson up there this week and I took them up to get our passes and check out the conditions. I've never seen anything like it up there. The car park was a mass of rapidly melting slush, the sleet was driving hard and the fog was thick enough to prevent a view of more than 100 yards. When I picked the kids up at the school later they complained that there was little snow up the mountain and the lower chairlift was closed. There were rivers running through the snow and rocks sticking up through. Not very safe. I hope it gets better for the Olympics here in February. The majority of the skiing will be at Whistler where the conditions are a little better but some of the events are to be held at Cyprus where the snow is very similar to our mountain.

On a related note, the authorities are advising everyone to use public transport during the Olympics as large parts of down town will have restricted access or be closed altogether. One of the main downtown bridges, Cambie Street bridge, for example, will be closed to the general public forcing the traffic over the Granville Street bridge and causing untold chaos. At the same time the organization that operates the public transport and the Skytrain in particular are warning about line-ups of up to 2 hours during peak time through the week. So what they are really saying is, avoid downtown altogether and take the time off or work form home. Even though I work in Burnaby I have to use the main bridge that carried residents from the North Shore into man Metro Vancouver and this is scheduled to be chaos as Vanoc use one lane in each direction for Olympic Traffic.

I ventured to my local Charity Store this week and picked up a few CDs.

1. American Recordings by Johnny Cash - this was the first record he did with Rick Rubin and includes a number of original songs mixed with covers. It's a simple, under-produced record.
2. Absolution by Muse - never heard much of this band except the singles so I thought I'd give it a go.
3. Greatest Hits by The Stray Cats - you can't have enough Rockabilly.
4. My Way The Best of Frank by Frank Sinatra - a collection of his best known recordings
5. Burn to Shine by Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals - I haven't heard this yet but if it's anything like the other two CDs of his that I have it will be great.
6. A Love Supreme by John Coltrane - a classic jazz record from the sax guru. A little challenging i you are not used to jazz, like me.
7. It's Great When You're Straight Yeah by Black Grape - this is still a brilliant party record from our drugged up Mancunian friends.
8. Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim - an eponymous record from 1967. Frank at his best with a slight Latin vibe.
9. Night Train by The Oscar Peterson Trio - the classic jazz record recorded after the sale of Verve Records to MGM in 1962.
10. Amplified Heart by Everything But the Girl - great songs and a great voice.
11. Technique by New Order - you can never go wrong with these guys.
12. Get Ready by New Order - see above. This is a relatively new one from 2001.
13. Nirvana - a collection of their songs after Kurt spread his brains all over the room.
14. The Group Played "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music" by Stereolab - the bands first record from 1993. They are worth a listen - 60's influenced lo-fi genius.
15. Giants Steps by John Coltrane - more sax jazz
16. Static and Silence by The Sundays - I bought their first album while at University because someone called them the next Smiths. Not quite but some great songs nonetheless.
17. Blind by The Sundays - see above
18. Reading Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays - the album I bought on cassette in Liverpool.
19. Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen - a classic rock 'n' roll romp from the Boss
20. The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding - great soul form a much missed soul legend
21. The Gentle Side of John Coltrane - more jazz
22. Prototype by Seb Fontaine - full on party dance music mixed as part of the Global Under Ground series.

As you can imagine, I haven't listened to all of this yet but I look forward to doing just that when I get the chance.

have a good week.

Peter