Tanzania Update from a Winter Wonderland

      As we countdown the days to Tanzania we thought we would check in with all our followers. We've booked the flights, been each jabbed 4 times with the shots...not fun and now our thoughts turn to how we can make the days fly by faster.

The view from our kitchen window

      While we've been focused on getting things sorted for our January mission, we seem to have missed the memo that the world has shifted off it's axis...Vancouver is now Ontario as evident from the strange, cold, white stuff that has covered the entire city. It is actually a gorgeous winter wonderland and I (Jill) am squealing with Christmas excitement! However, as we mentioned in a previous blog, some Vancouver drivers are, well..below par to put it nicely, and horrible to put it accurately, and imagine what they are like when you add slippery white snow to the streets...you get DISASTROUS!!!!  I learned this on my morning commute this morning. Before I describe the series of events, I must pass some of the blame off on the city of Vancouver for owning only 2 snowploughs...and not purchasing salt or sand (the salt they do buy is like this weird bally stuff that they leave in large piles sporadically along the sidewalks...not effective either).

       I began my drive, dropping Duncan off and heading out 4th avenue. I turned up Oak street as always, then quickly realized that this hill was NOT a good idea given it had not been cleared yet this morning. So I just tucked into a little parking garage entrance to turn around when.... Down comes the little silver Yaris spinning and sliding straight into a large parked truck. She smashes into the back of it, breaking her window and squishing her driverside door in and her dashboard gets warped, luckily she is alright. A french bicyclist (that's how hardcore the Vancouver bikers are, they have the same motto as the postman, "neither rain nor snow..") and I come over and help her. All these people are standing on the road...taking photos, watching other cars as they slip..no one seemed to think that they might be the next target. We called up the tow truck, which on a side note, I think this is the business to invest in since when they aren't towing parked cars, they are towing from accidents and snow induced crashes, and we get her all sorted out. The best part though was what happened while I was with her:
- 2 SUVs turn and begin to rev all the way up the hill, spinning their tires, but they make it.
- 3 cars turn realize like me that this isn't a good idea, control slip turn their cars around and slide into the busy street below, luckily everyone slips in without any more crashes. Probably thanks to the well broken in horns.
- the icing on the cake was the massive SUV that turned up Oak street, starts to rev and spin the wheels, gets a 1/4 of the way up before slide/turning into the lane way and then...oops right into the telephone pole he goes!

Some call it a disaster, I call it Vancouver on a snowy day.