The weather has been amazingly good of late, with wonderful colourful foliage on the many trees nearby. I've been managing to get out for several walks in the warm sunshine
I left hospital two weeks ago to stay with friends here in Victoria - very many thanks to Roxy and Les for their kindness in caring for me. I'm slowly recovering but still have a long way back to full mobility (neck brace is a nuisance!), although at least my spinal cord and all four limbs were undamaged - TG!
I was lucky to get to the Inner Harbour today to enjoy the celebrations on the final day of the Canada C3 expedition - the 'Polar Prince', an ex-Canadian Coastguard icebreaker, has taken 150 days from Toronto, traversing the three coasts of Canada (Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific), meeting people at stops along the way, carrying out scientific research and enabling a variety of people to join in the various legs of its journey - First Nations, youngsters, musicians, politicians and many others - all committed to bringing understanding and reconciliation to Canadians from all walks of life and backgrounds, as well as highlighting the coasts and oceans and related settlement and environmental issues.
After listening to speeches and music, Mike Webber, Chief Engineer, kindly gave me and a few others a tour of the ship which carries a total of up to 60 on board. The engines are four 8-cylinder 1300hp giving electric power to the two prop-shafts - everything was impressively big! The labs on board were used to investigate the daily samples of DNA and micro-plastic found in the oceans, among other research. A well-presented protest against the fish farms was well received during the speeches - Atlantic salmon are being farmed in B.C. waters and causing major problems for the wild Pacific salmon which are decreasing in numbers as a result....
