Work Cover in Ireland

Workcover in Ireland

While walking in Waterford yesterday I saw a couple of scaffolders using a pulley to raise their tools and equipment from the back of a truck which was about 20 metres below.  For some reason I immediately started whistling the song "Why Murphy's not at Work Today.

I have included the photographs Deb and I took which you can look at while listening to the song.

I have listed the lyrics below for your reference, but if you want the hear the song just go to Youtube and search for Why Murphys not at work today.  There are quite a few versions.

Murphy's song immediately came to mind when I saw this

Dear Sir I write this note to inform you of my plight 

And at the time of writing I am not a pretty sight 

My body is all black and blue, my face a deathly gray 

I write this note to tell why Paddy's not at work today 

While working on the fourteenth floor, some bricks I had to clear 

And to throw them down from off the top seemed quite a good idea 

But the gaffer wasn't very pleased, he was an awful sod 

He said I had to cart them down the ladder in me hod. 

Well clearing all those bricks by hand, it seemed so very slow 

So I hoisted up a barrel and secured the rope below 

But in my haste to do the job, I was too blind to see 

That a barrel full of building bricks is heavier than me. 

So when I had untied the rope, the barrel fell like lead 

And clinging tightly to the rope I started up instead 

I took off like a rocket and to my dismay I found 

That half way up I met the bloody barrel coming down. 

Well the barrel broke my shoulder as on to the ground it sped 

And when I reached the top I banged the pulley with me head 

I held on tight, though numb with shock from this almighty blow 

And the barrel spilled out half its load fourteen floors below 

Now when those building bricks fell from the barrel to the floor 

I then outweighed the barrel so I started down once more 

I held on tightly to the rope as I flew to the ground 

And I landed on those building bricks that were scattered all 

around. 

Now as I lay there on the deck I thought I'd passed the worst 

But when the barrel reached the top, that's when the bottom burst 

A shower of bricks came down on me, I knew I had no hope 

In all of this confusion, I let go the bloody rope. 

The barrel being heavier, it started down once more 

And landed right on top of me as I lay on the floor 

It broke three ribs and my left arm, and I can only say 

That I hope you'll understand why Paddy's not at work today. 

Deb and Den

Nearly Time to Go

Thursday 15 May

Today is the last full day in Canada.  We depart Vancouver airport at 8.40 pm tomorrow. 

Deb went to Karen's chiropractor this morning.  She went to see him before we went to the US and her back is still not quite right.  After the chiropractor we went downtown by bus and did a little shopping.  Had a look around the Pacific Centre and Vancouver Centre and we were able to get a new top for Deb to wear tonight.

Tonight we used the tickets all the kids got us for Mothers Day and Fathers Day.

Cover of the Programme of tonights performance

The whole thing was absolutely fantastic.  If I was remaining here I think I would have to go again because there was so much going on at any one time.  I don't think I saw everything.  I cannot pick a highlight because it was so great.

This will be the last blog from Canada,  It is now nearly midnight and I am starting to get over the high of the circus. The next blog will be from the United Kingdom.

Deb and Den

Return of the International Travellers

MAonday 12 May

Today we returned to Canada from the United States.  Karen had to go in to work at the Portland office of Icebreakers for a couple of hours.  We went in to pick her up from her office at about 9.00 am and then headed in to town to get some Captain Morgan Rum. There is no tax on things in Portland so it's a lot cheaper. We are able to take 1 litre each back, so after purchasing 2, 1.75 litre bottles we headed north.

Snow covered mountains

It was a wonderful day for travel, snow covered mountains on the horizon for most of the way.  We stopped off in Seattle for some lunch and to get a basketball singlet for Ian.

Entry back into Canada was a drive through affair.  It didn't take too long at all.  Drive up to a window,  hand over the passports, answer some questions, have the the passports scanned and then returned. Drive off.  Very easy process.  We were back in Vancouver by about 5.30 pm.

Unpacked, washing on, got some take away or as it is called here take out and we were set for the night.

Tuesday 13 May

Deb and I headed down to English Bay today.  We got one of the small community busses that run locally.  There is a park at English Bat that has a number of sculptures that are having a laugh.

Laughing Sculpture

Explanation of Sculpture

The head of one of the sculptures

There are 2 of each pose and there are 4 poses

English Bay is a quiet spot and it wasn't long before we were approached by one of the local tourism ambassadors to see if they could help.  Gave us some good local information and some good local places to see.  He pointed out a building on the foreshore overlooking English Bay that has a tree growing near the roof.  Evidently there was a red cedar tree on the site that was as tall as the building.  The tree was planted as a replacement.

One tree to replace another

He also told us that the penthouse of the building was once owned by Patrick Stewart of Star Trek fame.

After a nice cup of coffee at a local coffee shop called Delaney's we headed to the to the local Safeway Supermarket to get things for dinner.   Ian and Karen came over and it was really nice.  Unfortunately these dinners are coming to an end.

Only a couple of more days left in Canada.

Deb and Den

International Travel Day Four - 11 May

Sunday 11 May (Mothers Day)

Ian and Karen gave Deb a very nice Mothers Day card with a ticket for Cirque du Soleil and because I wouldn't be here for Father's Day they gave me a card  and a ticket as well. The tickets are a gift from Ian, Karen, Liz, Liam and Bec  (and guess what? Ian and Karen are coming too!) The performance is on Thursday which is the day before we leave.  I saw some advertising for it but thought it was a little late because we would be leaving.  Both Deb and I are really looking forward to it.

Deb and I had a bit of a rest this morning.  Ian and Karen went to the Nike Employees Store because they were able to access it in order to get Nike products at a greatly reduced price.  When Ian and Karen got back at 11.00 am we had to get a taxi because we were off to another sporting event that started at 11.30.  It was a soccer game between the Portland Timbers and LA Galaxy.

!

Portland Timbers Logo displayed at the start of the game.

The Timbers Army - They beat their drums and didn't shut up for the whole game

Boy Scouts Guard the Flag

At every game we have attended there have been a guard with the US Flag at the beginning of each event.  At the baseball it was the Police, at the basketball it was the Army and at the soccer it was the Boy Scouts,

The game was absolutely fantastic which ended in a 1 all draw.  Both goals were scored in extra time with the Portland Timbers scoring in the last seconds.  I might have to try and get to an A League game next season.

We headed downtown after the game and while we were passing one of the big hotels Ian recognised a couple of the basketbal players from the San Antonio Spurs and he asked if he could have his photograph taken with them.

Ian with Manu Ginobili

Ian and Karen with Patty Mills - He is an Australian

After our sojurn downtown we took a street car to 23rd Street. 23rd Street has a lot of shops that have been set up in converted houses.  All the buildings around seem to be normal residences.  The day was absolutely beautiful as can be seen from the photographs taken at the football.

We took another street car back towards the city and visited Powells Bookstore.  This is a wonderland of books.  I could get lost in there.  It covers nearly one block and is a number of floors.  There was some renovations going on so didn't see its full potential.  Something to do next time.

Karen had booked us into a nice restaurant for Mothers Day.  Unfortunately she got a call earlier in the afternoon that they had had a blowout in their hot water system and they had to close for the night.  We had to make other arrangements and found a really nice brewery/restaurant where we had a nice meal.

We had all had a pretty big day by this time so we headed back to the motel, again by the light rail system.  Got back at about 7.45 pm ready for a bit of a relax.  Back to Vancouver in the morning.

Deb and Den 

International Travel, Day 3 - 10 May

Saturday 10 May

Headed off to Portland this morning.  We are travelling to another state, Seattle is in Washington State and Portland is in Oregon.  To give you some idea of the sizes of the American state, here is a comparison:

Washington State   184,827 sq km

Oregon                   255,026 sq km

Queensland           1,852,642 sq km

New South Wales    808,444 sq km

The states here are much smaller but have a larger population per square kilometer.

It is interesting to note the speed and distance signs because since we crossed into the United States they are all in miles.  Had to have a bit of a think when a signpost said the next town or whatever was 60, had to remember it was 60 miles and not 60 kms.  The speedo in Karen and Ian's car was marked in both km/h and mph.  The capacities are in gallons etc., and US gallons at that.  They have a curious way of displaying the price per gallon.  When we filled up with fuel the price displayed was 3.89 9/10, where we would display 3.899.  It worked out to approx $1.12 per litre taking into account the conversion rate for A$ to US$.  Diesel was a little dearer.

We arrived in Portland mid afternoon and went to our motel and dropped our luggage off.  We then headed off to a mall where there was a skating rink inside.

Skating Rink at Lloyd Center 

We had a look at a number of shops here and then headed downtown to checkout more shoes for Ian and to get a keyboard for my iPad.  I had checked them on the Apple website and they were $99.95 and sure enough they were $99.95 at the Apple Store.

Buying at the Apple Store was an experience.  I walked in and there was a person with an iPad who asked me what I was looking for, I was then passed on to a sales person who took me directly to what I wanted.  Once I had made the decision she got a device similar in shape and size to an iPhone which was used to scan the barcode.  My credit card was then scanned by the device, debited and my receipt sent to me by email.  The whole process took about 10 minutes all together.  Everything was done electronically.

After we finished our shopping expedition we returned to the motel by light rail.  The light rail system in both Seattle and Portland was a really good way to get around the cities.  From what I could see the Portland system is much more extensive than the Seattle system.  Takes me back to when trams ran in Brisbane.

After a bit of a rest we headed down to the Moda Center which is the stadium of the Portland Trail Blazers, the local basketball team.  It was game 3 of the playoffs between the trail blazers and the San Antonio Spurs.  The Moda Center (I have deliberately used the American spelling) has seating for 19,980.  The tiers of seating seem to go on forever.  We were two rows from the top and it seemed so high I thought we might need oxygen.

The Moda Center

Before the game and during half time they were able to fly a blimp that advertised a certain brand of car.

The Ford Blimp

The Portland Trail Blazers (Blazers) are in the white.

Unfortunately Portland who I was told I was supporting lost by about 14 points.  There was quite a few fancy moves and lots of movement.  I wasn't too disappointed because there are two Australians on the San Antonio team.

I don't think there was a San Antonio supporter in the stadium.  If there were they would have been out numbered and out shouted.  The crowd made a tremendous amount of noise and when the opposing team was making shots from a foul they were encouraged to make noise.  There was a baby there that actually had ear protection on.

When we got to our seat there was a red T shirt on it.  So I can now safely say, been there, got the T shirt.

Deb and I in our T shirts.

If you have a look closely at the picture there were some seats that had white T shirts on them.  It spelt out to the right of picture "we are" and to the left "rip city" which is what is on the T shirts.

Some more of the action.

The only thing I have attended that has come close to the atmosphere of the game was a State of Origin match at Lang Park with quite a partisan Queensland crowd.

After the match we took a leisurely walk back to the motel which was about 300 metres away from the stadium.

Too much sport is not enough as they say.

Deb and Den

International Travel, Day Two - 9 May

Friday 9 May

Off to downtown Seattle this morning to have a look at the Space Needle.  The structure was envisaged in 1959 on a table napkin and construction was completed in 1962 for the World Fair.  The aircraft warning beacon is 184 m above the ground and the observation deck is 158 m above the ground.  The foundations are made out of a solid block of concrete 36 X 36 X 9 m.  The centre of gravity of the building is only 1.5 m above the ground.

Space Needle Seattle

Seattle looking north

Downtown Seattle

Puget Sound

We got to the space needle by mono rail.  This was built at the same time as the needle to give access to the needle.  During the World Fair 8 million people travelled on the monorail.  There are only two stops, the start in downtown Seattle and the end, the Space Needle.

The views from the top were absolutely fantastic.  It was quite windy and cool at the top but the view made up for it.

In the park below the Needle there was a large fountain that played to music.  There were quite a few sea gulls that were flying around and one or two tried to get a drink but were chased off by the water spouts.

Sea Gull trying to drink

Fountain in full flight 

After leaving the vicinity of the Needle and returning downtown by monorail we had lunch at a chinese  restaurant called P. F. Chang's.  The best spring rolls I have ever eaten.  The rest of the meal was really good too.

We had a good good walk around Seattle after lunch.  Ian was still checking out Nike products prior to his visit to the Nike employees store in Portland on Sunday.  We also visited the Peoples Market which reminded me very much of the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne.  The flowers were fantastic.

Some of the flowers at the market - bunches were from $15 to $20

More flowers

Karen and Ian then took us to a place called Gameworks.  It is a large area where there are lots of arcade and computer games.  It also has a restaurant and bar.  We or I should say Ian and Karen were ready to play games.  Karen and Ian were playing "Deal or No Deal" which is similar to the game on television.  They talked us into playing as well.  They did very well but we didn't do too well at all.  We then had a go at air hockey.  We did better here but not as well as Karen and Ian.

We headed back to the hotel by light rail.  A very good system.  Reasonably quick and the price was pretty good as well. 

We went to an Italian restaurant called "The Olive Garden".  This is a restaurant chain.  Must be very popular because we had to wait 20 minutes for a table.  A really nice meal.  I don't know where Karen and Ian find all the nice places to eat.  Back to the motel and prepare for our trip to Portland tomorrow.

Deb and Den

International Travel Day One - 8 May

Thursday 8 May

Karen and Ian picked us up from our apartment at 6 this morning and then we headed south.  We are on our way to Seattle for tonight snd tomorrow night and then on to Portland for the next couple of days.  We went over the Canada/US Border, where it cost Deb and I nothing but cost Karen and Ian US $6 each.  We were through there at about 6.45 am so there wasn't a hold up.  Went in and answered some questions.  Out in 10 minutes.

Highway Exit to the Border

Peace Arch at the Canada/US Border

Our first stop was in a town called Everett.  For those who don't know, this is where Boeing aircraft are made.  We stopped at the Boeing Factory and had a guided tour.  Before we went in we were searched because  we weren't allowed to take phones, cameras or guns into the factory.  Unfortunately there are no photographs,

Some truly useless information:

                Building area  399, 480 square metres

                Building volume 13,385,378 cubic metres

                There are 6  Coffee Shops on the factory floor.

We had a look at the production lines of the 747 and the 787 aircraft.  The factory is absolutely amazing. When you are looking down onto the factory floor you do not realise how many people are working at one time.  The factory has 3 shifts, 6.00 am to 2.00 pm, 2.00 pm to 10.00 pm and 10.00 pm to 6.00 am.  There are over 30,000 people who work at the factory.  We were going through on the 9.30 am tour and we hardly saw anyone.  There were people there of course, and if I was asked to put a figure on the number I would have said not much over 500.  In fact there were over 10,000 people on the 6.00 am to 2.00 pm shift.

Although we weren't able to take photographs I have downloaded some from the Internet.  I just did a Google search on Boeing Factory Everett.

The doors of the factory are just under 100 m wide.  A completed aircraft passes through these doors as they are at the end of the production line

As it says on the image the 747 final assembly.  

The green is a protective coating which is washed off prior to painting

787 Production LIne.  

White coating is protection against UV light.  These aircraft are constructed of Carbon Fibre which is susceptable to UV light.  Notice that the pilots windows are covered as well.  This is to prevent UV light getting inside.  When complete the aircraft will be completely protected.

I think this is the 767 line.  We did not see this as they were producing the tanker version for the US Air Force and we weren't allowed to see it.

We were able to get one photograph that was taken at the end of the tour.  It didn't have a background.  The background was selected by us at a kiosk and then the completed image was emailed to us.

Dennis, Deborah, Ian and Karen at the Boeing Factory.

After the boeing factory we headed off to the Museum of Flight.  This is an amazing collection of aircraft.  Outside near the entrance there is a B47 and alongside this was an aircraft I think was a B29.  I couldn't tell because the whole aircraft appeared to be wrapped in plastic and shrink wrapped.  Everything was wrapped in plastic including the propellors.

Inside was a large hall where aircraft from all eras where displayed.  There were aircraft that had contributed to the advancement of aviation and aviation records.  There was a Lockheed Blackbird, a 1930's vintage Lockheed Electra, a Mcdonald Douglas Skyhawk just to name a few.

There were displays specifically for space, WW I and WW II.  Outside on the tarmac was a Concord and a Boeing 707 version of Air Fiorce One which were open to the public,  

 A Car Plane - Evidently it flew

Lockheed Electra

Ian in the cockpit of a Lockheed Blackbird.  This was on display alongside the aircraft 

F 86 and MIG 15 (F 86 is Canadian version)

B 47 Outside Museum of Flight - White tail behind is the shrink wrapped aircraft

As you can see from the above photograph the weather was a little inclement at the time so we headed off to our hotel.  The hotel was within a short walk of the light rail system that they have in Seattle.  We used this to get us to and from our next adventure.  A game of baseball between the Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals.  Although it was raining outside, in the stadium it was dry.  They just shut the roof.

We went into the stadium well before the game in order to watch them practice.  Any balls that are hit out are kept by the spectators.  Karen got a ball that was hit out during practice.

There is a lot of hype going on throughout the lead up to the game.  While walking through the stadium Deb and I got our photograph taken with the Mariners mascot, a moose.

Deb and I with the Moose

Karen introduced us (probably more me) to a local delicacy called a Funnel Cake.  It is like a donut.  The batter is drizzled into very hot oil and when cooked comes out as big as a plate and is sprinkled with powdered sugar.  It was delicious. Much lighter than a donut.

Karen and I with our Funnel Cakes

It was a low scoring game.  I was told by Ian at the start of the game that we were supporting the Mariners so it was good that they won one nil.  The run was scored in the 5th innings if my memory serves me correctly.

Deb had her camera there and got some good shots.

Ready to hit

SAFE

As mentioned earlier, all the balls that are hit into the crowd are kept by the spectators.  We had a foul ball come very close to us and Ian was able to retrieve it.  When it hit the seat in front of us it sounded like a gunshot  I'm glad I wasn't in the way.

Ian and Karen with their souvenirs

Vegetating in Vancouver

Sunday 4 May

Having a nice quiet day today. Have to get over the trip through the Rockies.  Karen and Ian came down to us for lunch and then we went to the pictures to see the "Amazing Spiderman".  Been to the pictures twice since we have been here. It was pretty good.  Both of the movies had amazing special effects.  It just amazes me the imagination of the movie makers and their ability to bring it to the big or small screen.  It pretty well filled in our day.

We went back to Ian and Karen's apartment for dinner and had baked spaghetti.  Ian had it when we went out to lunch the previous Sunday and he wanted to give it a try.  It was really good.  A nice way to complete the day.  No photos taken today so I thought it might be nice to put in some local colour from previous days.

The Street where we live - Homer Street, Vancouver looking North

Homer Street looking South

Looking from Homer Street down Davie Street towards the harbour

Monday 5 May

Had another nice quiet day today.  Deb and I walked downtown to do some shopping.  Ian is working from home and he was able to come down mid morning to meet us.  He took us to a place that sold coffee and doughnuts.  There was quite an array of various flavours.  We all had something different.  All the doughnuts I have seen here are sold cold with some sort of galze on them.  The glaze can be very thin or fairly thick which can make them very sweet.  I haven't seen any hot doughnuts similar to what you can get from Donut King in Australia.

Deb wanted to get some meringue powder which is found in some American recipes for icing on cakes.  Ian took us to a place called Michaels which is an art supplier, however they have a lot of things for cake decorating.  We got the meringue powder there without a problem.

Ian took us home to his apartment for lunch. We walked a slightly different way than we had been before.  It went through a slightly older part of the city where there a quite a few houses and older apartment buildings.  There were lots of gardens which were flowering nicely.  If we have time when we get back from Seattle and Portland I will definitely take another walk through the area, this time with a camera.

After a lunch of leftover baked spaghetti we headed home because I had a blog to complete.

Dropped into a drug store on the way home (they sell just about everything) and checked our blood pressure.  Suffice to say we should remain on holidays forever because the results were spectacular.

There are heaps of water features here in Vancouver.  We took some pictures of them.

Water feature outside the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel

Outside Westin Bayshore Hotel

Another One

Tuesday 6 May

This morning we headed off to Granville Island.  We have been there a few times now.  We were heading down there to get some souvenirs of our trip here.  We also wanted to get some meat and veg for dinner and we know that there are some very good butchers and green grocers there.

Because Vancouver is a little hilly we decided that we should arrange our travel so that we went downhill there and back.  To do this we walked down hill to the harbour and caught a ferry across to Granville Island.  There are quite a few of them and they go past at very regular intervals.  We only had to wait for a few minute before a ferry arrived.

The Ferry to Granville Island.

Another view of a ferry.  They all seem to have a list to starboard (right)

View of Vancouver from the ferry

Ferry operated by another company

We completed all the shopping and headed home by bus.  It is only a couple of stops from Granville Island and our stop is at the top of the hill above our street.  It is about 800 metres down hill to our apartment.  We had another good walk.

Dinner tonight was spectacular.  Deb prepared baby back pork ribs which we got at Granville Island.  She adapted a recipe she found on the Internet and they couldn't have turned out better.  Unfortunately Karen was unable to get here because of work.  We sent some home with Ian for her. ( not sure if she got to eat them though!)

Wednesday 7 May

Ian and karen have told us of some very nice areas downtown that we haven't seen yet. Near the convention centre that was constructed for the Winter Olympics in 2010 there is the Olympic Flame and a statue of an orca made from bricks.  Looks like it is made out of Lego.

Orca on the foreshore in Vancouver

The Olympic Flame from the 2010 Winter Olympics - It is also a water feature

If you have a special occasion you can have the Olympic Flame lit.  So if you want to celebrate a birthday or an anniversary what better way to do it for $10,000 per hour.  

The floatplane base is also in this part of town and you can get a very good view of the aircraft.

de Haviland DHC 3 Otter

de Haviland DHC 3 Turbo Otter

House boats in the Marina

Another House Boat

The day was absolutely beautiful and there were quite a few people taking advantage of it.  The group of people below were having a game of bocce.

Bocce Players

An example of the flowers on display.

Garden outside the Westin Bayside Hotel

Today was a good wander alongside the harbour at a location called Coal Harbour.  It was a really pleasant way to spend our time as it was one of the nicest days since we have been here.

Ian and Karen are picking us up outside our apartment at 6.00 am tomorrow as we are off to Seattle and  Portland in the United States so I'll finish here.  The next blog will not appear until Wednesday at the earliest.

Deb and Den