Back to an Exercise Routine

It has taken me two and a half weeks to get back to my 'home-for-the-summer' exercise routine.  Walking uptown is a bit of a hike because of the 90 meter gain in elevation.  Consequently, it is a perfect place to get in some enjoyable exercise.  Last summer, I became enamored again with my thrice weekly walks to uptown New Westminster.

We're down near the Fraser River but a lot of the city's shopping is around 6th and 6th near the Royal City Mall.  And, that was my destination today.  I ducked into the Walmart and bought a year's worth of baby aspirin.

As they say, getting there is half the fun.  I walked up 4th Street and through Tipperary Park.  Then, today, I walked up 3rd to the height of the land at 6th Avenue.  Many out-of-town folks do not really know about the lovely neighbhourhood streets that stand between uptown and Queen's Park.

I love the manicured lawns and heritage houses.  I love seeing folks out walking their pets or pushing strollers.  Today, I used my new Sony headphones and played a Spotify playlist called, Wake Up Happy.  Seeing the scenery and hearing the music was intensely emotionally uplifting.

It would have been pretty darned difficult being in a sour mood on a day like this!

   

Uptown Near Sixth and Sixth

We got home from our winter travels on March 16th. In the short time here, it surely seems as though we experienced a whole Lower Mainland winter. Today was the first day which finally feels as though spring might actually show up. The weather was bit clear this afternoon but that means we can expect a low temperature of 3°C tonight. 

Also, the trees have barely budded and things continue to look pretty dreary. This weekend, however, our region's cherry blossoms may begin to provide a more determined demonstration.

   

This picture was taken from the roof of the Royal City Mall this morning. We park up there as there are seldom many cars and it's rather fun driving up the spiral ramp! Our city's main library is right across Sixth Avenue.

Pier West

I stepped onto the balcony.  It's 6°C at 9:31. The tiles were cold as I didn't have on slippers. We've noticed the towers are finally getting full of new residents.  The buildings block our view down the Fraser River but they are now a sight unto themselves.

Crossing the Fraser River

We drove over the river to Surrey, BC. The population of our neighbouring city stands at around 700,000 and is due to surpass the size of Vancouver in a decade or so!

 

Today, we drove over the old, two-lane Pattullo Bridge from our home in New Westminster. The four-lane replacement sits next to it and was due to be completed in 2024. Now the completion date is set for this year.

 

We stopped at the T&T Asian Supermarket to see if Jay could pick up some chopped, frozen lemongrass for cooking. We haven't see any since we've been back and there was none today either. 

On the way back, we also drove to the new Recreation Center that is near the Home Depot by the Scott Road SkyTrain station. My app showed six new provincial DC fast EV chargers. I found them and only three from six were occupied. This was just a scouting mission and I didn't need any juice.

 

Another item of note today was that my new Canadian passport arrived in the mail.  I'd dropped off the application form and photos on March 20th.

Strike Up the Bands

I've a couple of extra metal watch bands for my Pixel Watch. I'd been wearing the original rubbery silicone one. It was beige but it must've come into contact with some chemical I handled because some sections took on a greenish hue. I decided a multi-coloured, eight-pack on Amazon would be fine for $2 each. The picture shows the new white ones. I have a variety of other choices including purple.

   

Oh, I downloaded this face the other week too. I like how it looks. A purely digital screen makes more sense though because the hands can sometime cover information. For example, when I want to see my heart rate it might be ten minutes to the hour. The calories-burned or kilometers-walked might be what I want to see at quarter past.  I've grown used to it, so I'll keep this face on the watch.  Yet, I might change the colours right after I publish today's entry.

Our Day Was Brighter Nine Years Ago

Google insisted that was 17°C today, but I don't believe it was that warm. There wasn't any precipitation yet there was little sun today. We drove uptown to check on Regina Street. New Westminster has a grid of fairly hidden residential streets. Many folks transit through the busy streets because our little city sits in the center of the Lower Mainland. Regina Street is lined with cherry trees and we went to see how the spring blossoms were going. Due to the late spring and cool weather the annual visual treat has not yet arrived. The display was not ready for any pictures. 

So, I chose this photo to include. It was not taken today; rather, this is where we were nine years ago on this date.  This was our bungalow on the east bank of the Nile River in Luxor Egypt. We spent our second retirement winter in Luxor, Egypt. It was a great rental for five months. I do rather miss living there.

 

Our Dinner Downtown

This evening, we arranged to meet up with Ed, Shinji, and Tim. We took the SkyTrain to downtown Vancouver at around 3 pm and noticed that the cherry blossoms at Burrard Station are still muted due to the recent wet and dark weather. 

Tim had invited us over for a chat at this place first. We had appetizers and drinks. Then, he'd made dinner reservations at the Dosa House on Davie for 6 o'clock.  It was a short walk.  We surely had our fills there.  After that, we returned to Tim's place for a few great homemade deserts, even though we'd had a some at the restaurant.  We group Facetimed with Jiwan in Nepal who'll be coming back in May.  

It was about 11:00 by the time we got back to our apartment in New Westminster.  Tonight was a happy initial chance to see the guys during our 2025 summer and fall.

     

Happy New Ears!

I hadn't opened Spotify to listen to an entire song in a very long time.  I can tell that is about to change, though.  I am preparing to get back to pumping some sound directly into my ears.  

I have a fairly good pair of Sony headphones that I bought seven or eight years ago.  However, they've been gathering dust for very long time even if only their box got dusty.

Those black, extra-bass, over-the-ears were comfortable but I got them in the days when my cell phone had a mini jack.  So although Bluetooth headphones have been popular for a decade or two, I am late in joining the bandwagon. 

Yesterday, my new, lower-range set arrived in an Amazon box.  I snapped a photo. They were on sale and, for some reason, the white ones were 30% cheaper than the others.  Overstocked, I assume? The colour didn't matter to me. I guess white is supposed to be a sign of purity!  So, perhaps they will actually fit me to a tee.

I realized my Spotify playlists seem to place me squarely into the nursing-home demographic.  All those songs from the 70s (the decade not Fahrenheit) must have been what I was listening to the last time I was actively streaming.  I had to change that and I'll let me tell you how:

During our very first early-retirement winter, Jay and I stayed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was a great introduction to a new lifestyle.  I got used to daily walks in the delightful weather when days hovered in the 70s (Fahrenheit not the decade). Back then, I refused to pay for mobile data and wound up pirating MP3s via our laptop, so I could curate my own playlists.  A song had to be residing on my phone if I were to listen to it.  When ambling around with even older headphones, I learned a lot about the 'current' music scene of those days.  I really enjoyed what I heard.  So today, I found a Spotify playlist that contains the same music.  It is called 'Summer 2014'.

My new headphones, lovingly named, SNOW WHITE, have primarily played music that's around one decade out-of-date. I guess even my favourite new music is pretty old.  Anyway, today's listening experience should increase my automatically-curated Spotify playlists by about four decades.