Snow over Victoria

Ah, the joys of world travel! I’m currently in Victoria, British Columbia for a two-day meeting. The city looks lovely with a medium covering of snow, but I didn’t realise until I got here that this was fairly unusual. Back home I had this mental image Western Canada being snow/ice locked for much of the year despite the fact that Victoria is three degrees further south than my home in England.

The flight out was a real pain. The Air Canada computers at Heathrow crashed so it took hours waiting in a chaotic series of lines to actually get a boarding pass, then there was another hour to get throught security — if your flying to the UK avoid Heathrow at all costs, it just isn’t worth it! The flight itself was fairly uneventful, but the aircraft I was on obviously hadn’t discovered the improvements of enhanced economy so I’ve still got a crick in my neck and the old back twinge is playing up again.

Then once I got to Vancouver I found out they’d had this snow fall which made the airport look lovely, but really stretched the ground crew and deicing facilities. For several hours it was touch and go if I’d even be able to get to Victoria as the connections before and after the one I was meant to be on had already been cancelled. Nevertheless I finally made it to my hotel, Swans Brewpub, and crashed out. I’d still be there asleep if the local organiser of the meeting hadn’t picked us up. So I’m just hoping I can go the distance today without having to be nudged awake by the person beside me.