Canadian Summer: Island Living and Endless Swimming
September 12, 2025
Episode Notes
Good morning.
How's it going? It is good.
I got my my Canada t-shirt on today.
Nice work, yeah.
I don't have a Canada t-shirt.
I feel left out.
Oddly, I didn't have one, but uh oddly, a Japanese friend gave it to me.
That's a bit of a switch.
Yeah.
Anyway, tell me, you just got back from Canada.
How was your trip? Uh, it was fabulous in every way, uh.
Yeah, it's, it's really good.
Did all the things we wanted to do, did all the things we needed to do, and uh met a lot of people.
OK, you did all the things you wanted to do.
Tell me 3 things that you wanted to do.
Shortlist Swimming, swimming, and swimming.
That's one thing.
Um.
Swimming, meeting friends, going to my favorite restaurant.
How about that? Swimming, meeting friends, going to my favorite restaurant.
Yeah, pull my fingers out again.
Ocean, River, Lake, dam, pool.
Oh my God, you did a lot of swimming.
Yeah, ocean close to your house.
Well, we live on an island on the ocean, so the closest thing is the ocean, so we swam in the ocean every day.
OK.
Yeah, and then in my hometown there's a really, really, really wonderful river.
Um, my favorite, absolutely my number one favorite place to swim, and that has a lot of different swimming holes along up and down the river.
We went to the river twice, and that's like a 20 minute drive uh from downtown.
Right? Uh, we went to the dam, which is actually, we call it the dam, but it's actually 4 dams, it's a series of 4 downs coming down the mountain.
Right, right.
And the uppermost two dams are filtered for drinking water for the city.
OK.
And then they overflow into the 3rd and 4th dam, and uh those dams are part of a park that we can, we can walk through and jog and swim.
That was really nice.
Yeah, so, uh, a lot of swimming.
Are those on the island? Yes.
Go ahead.
Those dams, are they on the island where your house is? No, the island where my house is, is, is tiny.
And it's only residential.
It's, it's about 250 houses.
Um, about 400 people live there.
There are no shops, there's no restaurants, there's, there's nothing there, um, just houses, houses.
A fire department, community center.
And beaches.
OK, what I wanna get, I, I wanna get an image here.
You said that you drove to the down, but your house is on an island.
Do you have a ferry? There is a ferry, but we also have our own boat, so yes, we had to.
I've been in, I've, I've been in my hometown where everyone knows exactly what I mean, so I don't have to explain things.
We take a boat.
Yes.
In the city, to the city.
And then you get the car and go to the river, or to the dam or to the lake or or wherever.
So for everything we do, we have to take a boat.
So your car, you're paying for an extra parking lot, is that it? It is, that's true.
That's right.
So we don't, we cannot park at our house because our house is on the island.
We take the boat or the ferry over, and then in the downtown city center there's paid parking.
So, yes, we pay a lot of money for car parking.
Wow, so it's like Japan.
It's like Kyoto or or or Osaka, the big cities where, yeah, you have to pay for your parking spot.
Yeah, that's correct.
I don't imagine.
I don't imagine in ECOA, you have to pay for parking.
We have to pay for parking.
Really? Yes, because I don't have a house, I have an apartment.
Yeah, so, yeah.
You know, oddly though, that's, that's, that's a funny thing.
In Kyoto, let's say, or in Osaka in Tokyo, where it's really densely populated, you have an apartment building, there's 100 apartments, but there's only 10 parking spots.
So those 10 parking spots are up, people have to to sign up for them and rent them or whatever, or you have to pay for separate parking elsewhere.
In Vancouver anyway, the law is that each apartment building must provide parking for all the residents.
Oh my goodness.
So, so, for example, my sister used to live in Vancouver and she lived in an apartment.
She was on the 25th floor or whatever it was.
So we're talking 100, 200 apartments in that big tall building.
They have underground underground parking under the building.
I understand.
They had 7 levels of underground parking.
Oh my God! I had no idea.
And it and and you got to drive down and around, so it's, it's quite dizzying going down to Yeah, 7, imagine by Japanese uh way of of counting it, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 B.
So the building is 30 floors.
Yeah, but the elevator, the elevator is 37 cause it goes 7 underground as well to go to the parking levels.
Oh yeah.
That's me.
No idea.
Yeah.
The advantage of not being in an earthquake zone.
I thought Vancouver's in an earthquake zone.
Not well, yeah, but not as bad as as all of Japan where they don't, you know, fear of building basements, I think.
OK, yeah, yeah, I get you.
Anyway, speaking of that, I love to touch base with you next time we'll hear more about your trip.
Next time, uh, we'll talk a little bit more about food.
Sounds great.
OK, I'm looking forward to it.
Bye-bye.
All right.
Bye
How's it going? It is good.
I got my my Canada t-shirt on today.
Nice work, yeah.
I don't have a Canada t-shirt.
I feel left out.
Oddly, I didn't have one, but uh oddly, a Japanese friend gave it to me.
That's a bit of a switch.
Yeah.
Anyway, tell me, you just got back from Canada.
How was your trip? Uh, it was fabulous in every way, uh.
Yeah, it's, it's really good.
Did all the things we wanted to do, did all the things we needed to do, and uh met a lot of people.
OK, you did all the things you wanted to do.
Tell me 3 things that you wanted to do.
Shortlist Swimming, swimming, and swimming.
That's one thing.
Um.
Swimming, meeting friends, going to my favorite restaurant.
How about that? Swimming, meeting friends, going to my favorite restaurant.
Yeah, pull my fingers out again.
Ocean, River, Lake, dam, pool.
Oh my God, you did a lot of swimming.
Yeah, ocean close to your house.
Well, we live on an island on the ocean, so the closest thing is the ocean, so we swam in the ocean every day.
OK.
Yeah, and then in my hometown there's a really, really, really wonderful river.
Um, my favorite, absolutely my number one favorite place to swim, and that has a lot of different swimming holes along up and down the river.
We went to the river twice, and that's like a 20 minute drive uh from downtown.
Right? Uh, we went to the dam, which is actually, we call it the dam, but it's actually 4 dams, it's a series of 4 downs coming down the mountain.
Right, right.
And the uppermost two dams are filtered for drinking water for the city.
OK.
And then they overflow into the 3rd and 4th dam, and uh those dams are part of a park that we can, we can walk through and jog and swim.
That was really nice.
Yeah, so, uh, a lot of swimming.
Are those on the island? Yes.
Go ahead.
Those dams, are they on the island where your house is? No, the island where my house is, is, is tiny.
And it's only residential.
It's, it's about 250 houses.
Um, about 400 people live there.
There are no shops, there's no restaurants, there's, there's nothing there, um, just houses, houses.
A fire department, community center.
And beaches.
OK, what I wanna get, I, I wanna get an image here.
You said that you drove to the down, but your house is on an island.
Do you have a ferry? There is a ferry, but we also have our own boat, so yes, we had to.
I've been in, I've, I've been in my hometown where everyone knows exactly what I mean, so I don't have to explain things.
We take a boat.
Yes.
In the city, to the city.
And then you get the car and go to the river, or to the dam or to the lake or or wherever.
So for everything we do, we have to take a boat.
So your car, you're paying for an extra parking lot, is that it? It is, that's true.
That's right.
So we don't, we cannot park at our house because our house is on the island.
We take the boat or the ferry over, and then in the downtown city center there's paid parking.
So, yes, we pay a lot of money for car parking.
Wow, so it's like Japan.
It's like Kyoto or or or Osaka, the big cities where, yeah, you have to pay for your parking spot.
Yeah, that's correct.
I don't imagine.
I don't imagine in ECOA, you have to pay for parking.
We have to pay for parking.
Really? Yes, because I don't have a house, I have an apartment.
Yeah, so, yeah.
You know, oddly though, that's, that's, that's a funny thing.
In Kyoto, let's say, or in Osaka in Tokyo, where it's really densely populated, you have an apartment building, there's 100 apartments, but there's only 10 parking spots.
So those 10 parking spots are up, people have to to sign up for them and rent them or whatever, or you have to pay for separate parking elsewhere.
In Vancouver anyway, the law is that each apartment building must provide parking for all the residents.
Oh my goodness.
So, so, for example, my sister used to live in Vancouver and she lived in an apartment.
She was on the 25th floor or whatever it was.
So we're talking 100, 200 apartments in that big tall building.
They have underground underground parking under the building.
I understand.
They had 7 levels of underground parking.
Oh my God! I had no idea.
And it and and you got to drive down and around, so it's, it's quite dizzying going down to Yeah, 7, imagine by Japanese uh way of of counting it, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 B.
So the building is 30 floors.
Yeah, but the elevator, the elevator is 37 cause it goes 7 underground as well to go to the parking levels.
Oh yeah.
That's me.
No idea.
Yeah.
The advantage of not being in an earthquake zone.
I thought Vancouver's in an earthquake zone.
Not well, yeah, but not as bad as as all of Japan where they don't, you know, fear of building basements, I think.
OK, yeah, yeah, I get you.
Anyway, speaking of that, I love to touch base with you next time we'll hear more about your trip.
Next time, uh, we'll talk a little bit more about food.
Sounds great.
OK, I'm looking forward to it.
Bye-bye.
All right.
Bye