For VanRamblings, this has not been the quietest week we could imagine.
Driving home from work last Thursday, we were stopped by the local constabulary, informed that we were driving without a valid license, had our car impounded, and were otherwise … well, actually, it wasn’t that bad.
Although we were stopped, and initially the situation seemed quite perilous, a kindly officer intervened and whispered into our ear, “The same thing happened to me awhile back.” Seems that we could not just let our Class 4 license slip and automatically revert to Class 5, we had to go to an ICBC office, surrender our license, and apply for a Class 5. In the meantime, we received a $276 fine / ticket. The police officer was kind enough to lay out an alternative to impounding the car: get a friend down to the causeway underneath BC Place to pick up our car to transport us home, and we would avoid the tow and impoundment. And that’s exactly what we did.
The next day, we surrendered our license, applied for a new license, paid the $31, and all was well. Actually, better than well. The folks at ICBC conducted a vision test, and declared our vision 20/20; for the first time in 46 years, we do not have to drive with glasses! A fortuitous silver lining!
Upon arriving home, we discovered that our Telus Internet and Telus Optik TV service was down, and so it remains almost a week later!
No Internet, No HDTV? VanRamblings is in withdrawal (not to mention, not being able to reliably access the Internet — we’ve been using the spotty tethering service available through our iPhone — has meant that we have not been able to complete various of our Union and political responsibilities, what with no reliable e-mail, and no ‘Net, access to the Union bank account that is required to complete a quarterly report that is now overdue!).
Yes, it is a sad tale, indeed.
As it happens, we have been feeling a bit unmoored of late, so we’re going to take a few days off next week, and travel over to Tofino, where we’ll stay at the Middle Beach Lodge, a few pictures of which are available here. Of course, we’ll take our own photos and video of our sojourn to Canada’s verdant west coast, and hope to post them on VanRamblings next week.
We will attempt to find the time before we leave Vancouver to follow through on our commitment to post more of our favourite cinema-related websites, but should our Internet connection at home not be up and running prior to our departure, you may have to wait a bit for the final, definitive list of the blogs and websites that are must viewing for anyone as enamoured as VanRamblings with modern age film and film culture.
