Nothing too extraordinary, but its very definitely a "snow day" here in Vancouver.
It happens a few times each winter here, but this is the first time that it has happened this year and the first time my only form of transport has been a motorbike.
As you might imagine, this has rather drastically limited my activities for the present!
... and guess which day I had arranged three different appointments for.... Yep, today!
They were, a meeting at the bank to sign off my mortgage, a dental appointment to have my teeth cleaned and checked before I head off to live in the developing world for an indefinite period, and finally, dinner with a friend.
Now, my motorbike runs fine in this weather of course, and it has some "off-road" type tires on it too, but it does only have two wheels and that makes it rather prone to"assuming a horizontal aspect" when things get slippery. Thats not too much of a problem if I just go slow and be careful. The problem is that in the area around my house, its very hilly and the roads are very steep. The lot that my house is on drops 15 meters in a length of 50 meters... thats over a 20% grade!
So, I really dont think its a good idea for me to try to ride my bike around while the snow is dumping down (which it has been for most of the night and all of today). There's about 25cm of snow everywhere at present (it usually melts quite quickly but for the moment it is building up faster than it is melting).
The other really good reason for not trying to ride it is the "Vancouver Drivers" who really dont have much clue about how to deal with these conditions - particularly on hills!
So, after a rather short period of consideration, I canceled my dental appointment and decided to walk/bus to my bank appointment.
It all went well, and I now have a renewed mortgage for five years with a variable interest rate of "prime + 0.85%". The mortgage is for a "huge amount of money" that is over double the amount outstanding on the last mortgage. This is so that I can use the equity in the property to fund "other things" if I want to. I only pay interest on the extra if I draw it out.
This seems like a good plan and gives me lots of flexibility but also gives me plenty of leeway to "hang myself" if I make foolish choices... I guess I'll try to avoid doing that :))))
It feels really good to have locked this all down now.
Another step closer to my unknown future!
On the way home from the bank, I walked past a business that makes concrete statues and garden ornaments. It was rather amusing to see all the naked Greek statues standing around in the snow.
The Budha and Adam were looking (as always) detached and self confident respectively, but the women were faring less well... Three of them had got together in a huddle to try to stay warm but one who was by herself looked very forlorn and cold in the snow...
As for that dinner, I'll see if its still snowing later this afternoon.... maybe I'll use the bus again :)
