It’s time for a visit with my parental units. The Greyhound express route Vancouver–Kelowna now features fancy new buses with adjustable back rests, cup holders, free onboard WiFi, and electrical outlets. The only thing missing from those spiffy black leather seats is a massage button.
It’s a far cry from the adventure I had about two years ago when the old Greyhound bus I was on broke down in Chilliwack and it took Greyhound several hours to send a new one from Vancouver, leaving us passengers stranded at the depot there (or free to explore the delights of nearby suburban strip malls). Most Greyhound bus depots are hurtin’ places where you soon feel like the scum of the earth, which is probably the main message received by the single moms, the unemployed, and the elderly people who all have to use buses as their main long-distance transportation.
On this week’s cushy ride, however, I was fully wired and got almost 5 hours of work done on the bus, probably close to my weekly average during the slacker summer I’ve just enjoyed. But it’s September now, so my clients are eager to get started on projects.
When I visit my parents, I usually bring work along, I do IT support for my father, we play card games, and lately, I’ve added health advocacy to my duties. But since this is the Okanagan wine region, I always make sure there’s a visit to a winery on the agenda.
There is a creek near my parents’ place with 17 km of walking/biking trails, and salmon ladders. There are a series of steps in the river to enable Kokanee Salmon to make their way upstream every fall, where they spawn. One of the steps can be seen in the distance, it looks a bit like a small dam made of rocks. But I don’t know what exactly this particular turquoise-green contraption in the foreground does.
Not saying this is exactly like my father and me, but there are certain elements.
