Author: Rae

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Nesting Weather

All this time spent cooped up in Miranda is making me eager to get rid of those fur-collecting window treatments! But before I start investing in the third stage of the great big remodel (new valances, new blinds, new curtains), I need to improve on my organization in here! Everything has a home, but not a very neat one, so I need to work on making things more accessible. My wardrobe, especially, is proving to be a real challenge. I need a full-length closet!!! I’m actually so desperate for a full-length closet that I actually found one that would fit in the space by the shower, which means that I would have to get rid of the bathroom storage tower, which means that I need to rethink my bathroom storage to remove the need for that tower. I’ve got a lot of wall space in the toilet room and I really need to better utilize the upper portions.

I can see that I’m slowly beginning to make Miranda ‘mine’ with no consideration for how modifications could affect her resale value. The more I’m out here, in western Canada, the more I find RV parks where the RVs stay parked long term without ever being moved. I can just about visualize myself, in several years time when I’d be ready to settle down for a bit, setting Miranda on blocks in one of these parks instead of renting an apartment or buying a house.

The day I get out the paint brushes and get rid of these bland speckled wall coverings is the day I’ll know for sure just how long term I’m looking at being in here. 😀

I’m off to remind myself of what I stored in the dinette benches, throw it out (how important can it be if I forgot what it is?), move linens under there, and move winter gear to where the linens were. Eventually the winter gear will end up back in the basement and I’ll be able to breathe again. 🙂

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Like March, Only Wetter

We were treated to brilliant sunshine and BLUE sky  yesterday afternoon and this morning I was awoken by SUN. It doesn’t last, though. It’s started to rain again, but the weather is sooooo mild. It’s such a joy to be able to dash out to the laundry in just a sweater and slippers instead of having to throw on a heavy coat and boots!

Some parts of Surrey and the Fraser Valley are severely flooded right now, but I’m still safe and relatively dry where I am. I don’t see water pooling anywhere in the park. I am keeping watch on conditions in case there are evacuations, but it seems like this is a good place to ride out the inclement weather.

A lot of roads into this area are closed because of avalanche risks, including the road I took from Oliver. I really got out of there in the nick of time!

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Mail Improvements

Until I got here, all the parks I’d stayed at preferred that mail not be sent directly to them (courrier deliveries okay, though). So, I’ve been having my mail sent general delivery. This worked out fine until I got to Oliver. The post office there was really bad. Canada Post’s services are notoriously poor, but these guys were the champions of bad service. They misplaced some of my mail, didn’t lift a finger to find it even though I was able to prove that the mail go to their office, and tried to blame me for the error when the package was finally located. I wound up having my mail forwarded directly to the resort by UPS at 30$ a pop!

At Pacific Border, mail can simply be sent to your attention. There are bins at the front desk where mail is sorted alphabetically and guests can go through the appropriate bin to find mail they’re waiting for. Sure, it’s not the most secure method, but, really, how secure is your mail when it’s sitting in a box on your porch anyway?

I continue to be pleased with the service I’m getting from the clerk at the UPS store in Gatineau where I rented a box. Several weeks ago, I emailed him to ask if some mail I was expecting had arrived and if so to please send me all my mail to Oliver, otherwise I would try again in a week. He replied that the letter hadn’t arrived. Two days later, he sent me another email telling me that he’d spotted my letter and my mail was on its way. This is a busy store so talk about service!

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Venturing West

I spent the bulk of the day with my aunt and uncle who live in Maillardville, a neighbourhood of Coquitlam. Maillardville is the largest French-Canadian enclave west of Winnipeg. It is not nearly as francophone as Saint-Boniface nowadays as it was in its heyday, but boy was it nice to see French street signs and to spend six whole hours speaking French! I don’t see this set of relatives very often as it’s rare for our trips to Montreal (theirs much, much rarer than mine!) to coincide. So, we had a lot of catching up to do! My aunt drove me around her neighbourhood a bit, showing off the sites including the location of the home she and my uncle lived in for forty-four years! I can’t imagine living that long in one place, but they’ve been in Maillardville just about all their life. My uncle came in 1941 and my aunt in 1962. There is a part of me that envies people who can firmly root themselves in one place and then there is the part of me that screams “But there’s so much out there to see!” The nomad always wins. 🙂 I forgot to bring my camera, so next time I go visit, I’ll take pictures as Maillardville is quite quaint.

It was confirmed that going into Vancouver is not a good idea until all this snow goes away, so I’m going to stop pressing the issue, enjoy life at home, and continue my job hunt. Thankfully, I don’t feel cooped up in Miranda in the least and I do make it a point to go out once a day for exercise, even if it’s ‘just’ to the pool. 🙂

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How NOT to Get My Business

When I was researching parks in the area, it came down to deciding between here and another park I won’t name. I waited for them to get back with a quote for me for monthly sites and they never did, so I came here. Speaking with the camphost, she said that the other park would have been a huge mistake, but I took that with a grain of salt. Until today. The other park just emailed me with the following message:

Hi
Sorry I am slow as we have been busy.
You would need to call XXX.
He takes care of all monthly sites.
I do not know if he has room so call and deal with him.
Thank you

What?! The proper reaction on the person’s part would have been to call XXX and get the information for me.

I’ve started to look at other parks in the area and I have yet to see one I’d be willing to move to, even if the rent would be a lot cheaper. Here, I feel safe and secure, never mind the amenities, while the other parks I visited seemed run down and in poor parts of town. I’m highly motivated to stay here.