Musées, maquettes, momies et météorites Coriolistic Anachronisms - A Vancouver Blog

Hi, I'm your friendly Coriolibot (as in "ro-bot").

It would seem Vince (shame on him) hasn't posted a fresh entry in a couple of days, so I am here to keep you entertained no matter what!

The post below is a random entry that we hope you haven't read before. Regular current entries follow. Enjoy, and come back soon for brand new posts!

Note: this random entry is served on a per-visit basis and will change if you reload the page. It will also not show up on regular RSS, Feedburner and Twitter feeds.

Dec 18
   Vintage! This is a random post. The year was 2006...

Clearly, Mother Nature hasn’t yet exhausted her fury. The first two months of this winter  season have already gone down in history, and the madness seems far from over. After November’s exceptional rain and snow, it was December’s winds that inflicted the worse wounds to our region, many of them fatal blows.

Last week, the Lower Mainland struggled through winds gusting at just under 100 km/h, leaving a quarter of a million people without electricity. In some areas, the power still hasn’t been restored and BC Hydro might be asking the GVRD population to turn their Christmas lights off, in an unprecedented attempt to lighten the load on the power grid and avoid another collapse. Somebody please tell Jimmy.

On the natural side of things, it didn’t go much better; forests were already extremely humid, trunks were soaked up with water and the soil was saturated and loose; then came the wind. As a result, the Capilano Suspension Bridge remains closed, weeks after the weight of a record snowfall crippled the trees and a large one seemingly collapsed on the bridge itself. The last assault must have made matters much worse, even though I still haven’t seen it with my own eyes. What I have seen, though, is the desolation in Stanley Park.

On December 16th, News1130 online declared « Stanley Park is an absolute mess after the windstorm. The Vancouver Park Board has stopped short of calling it a disaster but has closed the park because of the danger to the public, mostly from hundreds, if not thousands, of fallen trees. » And the truth is, Stanley Park has been scarred for many, many years to come.

It’s by taking a short walk into Stanley Park that one best appreciates the extent of the damage. Of course, the official advice is for people to stay out of the park until it’s safe to return and clearing is progressing well. I was, however, bound by my duties as a photographer and blogger and decided to take a quick walk into the park. A really quick one.

Days after the wind storm, crews are still working hard to clear the fallen trees from main roads and paths, but as I ventured deeper into the forest, I was faced with an inextricable maze of uprooted trees and snapped branches. What used to be a clean, well maintained network of trails has become an unrecognizable mesh of random obstructions. The Vancouver Park Board has admitted looking into letting commercial loggers in  the park to help clear the logs, a scary thought if I ever heard one. Either way, the clean up will take months.

Once again, we are faced with a humbling and saddening reality: it took one single night to destroy what had taken decades if not hundreds of years to grow. The giants lying in agony on their side, defeated and bleeding to death as life slowly seeps away from them, seem to be begging for a « coup de grace ». They will, however, remain there for many generations to come - generations of trees, and of men too, who will be reminded every time they explore the park of the unforgiving power of nature.

And then, as I was waiting for my bus by Lost Lagoon, watching swans and ducks on the pond, not one but two pairs of Bald Eagles came flying low, at tree-top height, obviously unaware that a mere 300 meters away lays the third most densely populated urban zone in North America.

Even through such suffering, Stanley Park retains its dignity and magic.

Defined tags for this entry: ,

 

2006-12-18 16:42 • Posted in Photoblogs: & Vancouver:

6 Comments

Display comments as(Linear | Threaded)
  • 1 - Anonymous says:

    « Et la photo des aigles ?
    ;-) »

  • 2 - nellie says:

    « Awesome pictures. Have seen the helicopter pictures on TV news, these pictures are better and I can send the link to friends who don’t want to believe how hard hit the park was. Another storm on the way for Thursdy (21 Dec 06).
    Thanks for all the work on this blog. »

  • 3 - Vince says:

    « Anonymous: ben, je l’ai ratée... ;-)

    Nellie: Thanks, and glad to be of service... And you’re right, here’s the Env. Canada Warning as of Wed. 7:00 pm:

    « SOUTHEAST WINDS 80 TO 100 KM/H OVER REGIONS FROM NORTHERN VANCOUVER ISLAND NORTHWARD BECOMING SOUTHWEST 70 TO 90 KM/H OVERNIGHT. SOUTHEAST WINDS OF 50 TO 80 KM/H WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE SOUTH COAST THIS EVENING. WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 60 TO 90 KM/H OVER EAST VANCOUVER ISLAND THE SUNSHINE COAST AND WEST VANCOUVER ISLAND THIS EVENING. WINDS WILL BECOME GUSTY SOUTHWESTERLY 50 TO 80 KM/H ACROSS PARTS OF THE SOUTH COAST EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. THIS IS A WARNING THAT DAMAGING WINDS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS... » And 30 foot seas expected offshore.

    Why oh why did I leave my Caribbean island? At least there we’d be awaiting the storm in our shorts with a pina colada in hand... ;-) »

  • 4 - Mike Hildebrand says:

    « I just visited this beautiful park for the first time last month but from the pictures I’ve seen here and elsewhere it appears the damage is just not that bad. Probably good for park in the long run and nature’s way of cleaning some things up. Really, people, get a grip ... « mortally wounded »?!?. This is just a little summer/fall storm from my view from Florida. Buck up! Didn’t know Vancouverites were such drama queens! »

  • 4.1 - Vince answers:

    « Of course, we’re drama queens, ‘cause Vancouver normally is the land of no extremes. This season has been as bad by our standards as Katrina was by southern standards. Granted the damage and suffering were nowhere the same, thank God, but locals always compare the extraordinary with whatever ordinary scale they can grasp.

    This being said, the damage IS bad, and this was NO little summer/fall storm.

    And for the record I do remember taking a walk on Miami Beach a few years ago and laughing my a** off at the sight of people wearing winter jackets, gloves and... ear muffs(!) on a particularly « cold » winter day. I guess everybody becomes a drama queen when the weather goes out of its regular envelope. »

  • 5 - Daryl Quenet says:

    « The photographs really relay the sense of devastation that the park endured, yet it they also capture the beauty of the park surrounding them. »

Add Comment


Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed


We now go back to current chronological entries:
May 1

Tourism Challenge, day 10 - 31 stamps.

Je lisais hier sur internet Les Fourmis de Boris Vian, et du coup ce soir il me vient l’envie irrésistible de sombrer dans l’absurde. Voici donc, écrit bien au chaud de mon repère en Absurdie, le récit de ma journée dans le Vrai Monde où l’on s’Ennuie.

Tout a très mal commencé. Je me suis levé en retard après m’être couché de travers, mais c’était de la faute des copains à qui j’avais promis de faire une brève apparition au bowling mais qui ont décidé d’aller jouer au bingo à la place. Moi j’ai horreur du bowling et du bingo. Je suis allé boire un café en face. Le café était tiède. Alors je suis rentré me coucher.

Au matin, quand j’ai réalisé que le réveil n’avait rien à voir avec la Symphonie pour les Soupers du Roi dont les trompettes m’avaient tiré de mon sommeil, j’ai sauté au bas de mon lit sans parachute et me suis cassé trois ongles.

J’ai ensuite hâtivement survolé mes emails et commentaires-blog mais j’avais dû mal régler le radio-altimètre parce que j’ai accroché quelques réponses et gentils commentaires auxquels j’ai répondu sur le champ. Du coup, j’ai raté mon premier bus, loupé le second et décidé de marcher.

S. m’attendait patiemment au HR MacMillan Space Centre et je me suis confondu en excuses après avoir fondu au soleil. Nous avons rapidement exploré les lieux, touché une météorite en nickel-machin de 13 kg, tenté d’arrimer sur ordinateur la navette spatiale à la station (sans succès, le vent solaire soufflant à déraciner les oliviers martiens) et pâli en apprenant que toute vie terrestre disparaîtrait après l’impact d’une météorite de taille adulte. Je n’aime pas les météorites.

Nous sommes ensuite passés de l’autre côté du bâtiment dans le Musée de Vancouver et avons rencontré la momie garçon. Au début, je ne voyais que la télé qui diffusait un documentaire à son sujet mais pas l’objet lui-même, et je me suis dit:

« Mais ils ont omis la momie. »

Mais elle était là, un peu plus loin. Un garçon de 10 ans avec le crâne fracassé et la peau toute tannée, mais pas ridée. Tout petit aussi. Il s’appelle Panechates et j’ai eu la chair de poule en pensant qu’il nous regarde du haut de ses 1500 ans. Ça m’a rappelé la souris dans la baleine en plâtre du Musée Océanographique de Monaco quand je n’étais pas grand. Javaiseutrèspeur.

Nous avons récolté nos tampons et sommes parti en regardant derrière nous de temps en temps. Les momies me mettent encore plus mal à l’aise que les salles de bowling. Mais pas que les tiques.

Après il restait le Musée Maritime. Là c’était beaucoup plus marrant. Bizarrement, il y a avait des maquettes de bateaux partout. S. devait partir travailler mais moi je suis resté et j’ai pris mon temps et plein de photos.

Les bateaux flottent parce qu’ils sont remplis d’air. On devrait les remplir d’hélium, ils flotteraient mieux. Mais le capitaine ferait rire tout le monde en parlant à la radio comme Donald Duck. Je crois que c’est pour ça que l’on réserve l’hélium aux ballons, mais je n’en suis pas sûr. Ce sont les scientifiques qui prennent ces décisions là.

Je joins quelques photos que j’ai prises aujourd’hui. J’ai un appareil photo. Il est très facile de prendre des photos, il suffit de bien viser et de respecter la règle d’éthières. Voilà.

Je suis toujours debout sur la mine... Je n’ai gardé que mon carnet et le crayon. Je vais les lancer avant de changer de jambe et il faut absolument que je le fasse parce que j’en ai assez de la guerre et parce qu’il me vient des fourmis.

[Boris Vian – Les fourmis]

À suivre…

Defined tags for this entry:

 

2006-05-01 02:28 • Posted in Photoblogs: & Schtroumpfissime:

7 Comments

Display comments as(Linear | Threaded)
  • 1 - NYAngel says:

    « ’Aussitot dit, aussitot fait!’...T’as à peine le temps d’écrire que me voila déjà! And even before ‘anonymous’, how cool is that? (Sorry, anonymous, you’ll be second this time.Hehehe :-))
    J’ai juste éclaté de rire quand j’ai lu ça: ‘Les momies me mettent encore plus mal à l’aise que les salles de bowling. Mais pas que les tiques.’
    Cool text, really. The mummy freaks me out though! How bizarre to read you in French! »

  • 2 - Sigrid says:

    « Pas mal le vianisme...ça ressemble un peu aussi à « Quand j’avais 5 ans... » moi personellement je trouve. Je pensais que j’étais la seule qui, après certains livres, me mettais à penser dans le style de l’auteur. Tu me rassures! »

  • 3 - Sigrid says:

    « There’s a page that’s not Papou-proof. He AIN’T gonna like a momified little boy. »

  • 3.1 - Vince answers:

    « Well then, we wouldn’t want that, would we? So I’ve adapted the photo into a Papou-proof version, just in case he reads this. ;-) And I guess he wouldn’t have been the only one to be freaked out, eh? ;-) »

  • 4 - Vince says:

    « NYAngel, so you’re in a competition with anonymous? Beware, she has many names... ;-)

    I hope you appreciate the fact that I delayed posting my text until I was sure you were up and awake... But yeah, there’s a slight time-lag problem here because I can’t keep doing this very long or I’ll soon look like my mummy... ;-) Not that I need to sleep this much, but you know, once in a while...

    « Yo necessito pocas cosas y las pocas cosas que necessito, las necessito poco. » (I believe it’s from St F. d’Assise) »

  • 5 - Anonymous says:

    « Francisco di Assisi is one thing. The next best thing is Talleyrand :
    When you think a thing, the thing you think is not the thing you think you think but the thing that makes you think you think the thing you think you think. ( For the French and Spanish versions, ask Anonymous ). »

  • 6 - Sigrid says:

    « Vince: Muy obrigado!!!
    Anonymous: Take it easy before tu te coules une bielle. »

Add Comment


Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed