a weekend at home.......

Well this was the weekend i was supposed to be back in England watching Charlton reach their first FA Cup final in 59 years - unfortunately Middlesborough put paid to that a few days ago & so it was that another weeekend in Canmore was played out

I was down in BC on Friday, Invermere to be precise - another (arent they all round here) stunning drive through jaw dropping mountain scenery, past the Hot Springs resort at Radium, past a bizarre stetch of tacky tourist tat on the highway between Radium & Invermere, past the huge lake at Invermere & on to see a client. Invermere was windy, so windy that great clouds of dust stung your face & hurt your eyes - I'm sure it's not always like this but it was a relief to get out & back into the mountains.

Back home for Friday night & the sun was shining, the smell of BBQ's permeated the air & joggers ran past in not much more than shorts & trainers

8 hours later, we awoke to just under a foot of snow

Overnight the balmy had been replaced by the barmy & Canmore was shivering under a blanket of wet, heavy snow - bang went our plans for a bike ride & instead I hopped in the car & headed up into the Peter Lougheed Provincial Park & took some photos. PLPP is a huge expanse of wilderness, with a single rutted & muddy road threading through the lakes & peaks - it was hugely enjoyable (& I am not a car man, oh no) to splash through the great muddy puddles in the road, bounce over the potholes & skid round bends - the car came back swathed in a thick blanket of Albertan mud.

Given all the fresh snow that had fallen, it was inevitable that we'd be up a mountain snowboarding today & so it was that 6 of us shredded 'til we could shred no more, under brilliant blue skies & warm sunshine & to the echoing accompaniment of the obligatory big shorts, backwards baseball capped, goatee wearing, fat bass playing group laid on by the resort management at the top of the Gondola

no real substitute for being back home amongst friends, family & football BUT my bank balance is heaving a sigh of relief & the mother of all jet lags can wait another day

in other news looks like we might have sold the London house, but thats another story for another day

couple of fresh tunes too

my LP of the year so far is undoubtedly "Three's Co" by The Tyde - read about them & it here

close behind is Nobody & The Mystic Chords of Memory - another wonderful Californian band, formed from members of the super-awesome, but now defunct Beachwood Sparks -buy their new LP here.