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| Yours truly, Kio, Makiyah, Alexandra & Hilary - Lillooet - 25 July 2020 |
In this the age of instant communication, my daughter who
lives in the interior British Columbia town of Lillooet, has only one way to
leave town (for example to visit us in Vancouver) and this is with her SUV.
In his wisdom, former BC Premier, Gordon Campbell sold BC Rail
to CNN. They almost instantly dissolved train service to the interior. Lillooet
has a lovely train station. The train never stops there and Greyhound and other bus companies ended their service, too.
For bad medical problems citizens of Lillooet have the
choice of driving (or being driven) to the bigger Kamloops or to Vancouver.
And there is something else. My daughter Ale is renovating
her house that sits almost on a one acre piece of land. She was going to re-floor
it when she realized that any company that had the adequate material would not
ship to Lillooet. Ale bought her flooring ( a metric ton of it) at Windsor
Plywood in Chilliwack.
Enter here into this story, her 78-year-old father, who volunteered to drive a large truck with the flooring. Fortunately going, I had the pleasure of my younger daughter Hilary who wanted to spend a week with her sister. With both of us wearing our facemasks we drove by Canada Highway 1 to Chilliwack, then past Hope and then took the turn off to Lytton. From Lytton there is curvy road to Lillooet. I managed, as I did, driving back the same way on my own.
Enter here into this story, her 78-year-old father, who volunteered to drive a large truck with the flooring. Fortunately going, I had the pleasure of my younger daughter Hilary who wanted to spend a week with her sister. With both of us wearing our facemasks we drove by Canada Highway 1 to Chilliwack, then past Hope and then took the turn off to Lytton. From Lytton there is curvy road to Lillooet. I managed, as I did, driving back the same way on my own.
Lytton (vies with Lillooet as the hottest place in Canada in the summer) has a special significance for me:
In Lillooet we found Ale in the midst of removing the old
carpeting with her deft assistants Kio and Makiyah. They unloaded the flooring
and some plants my Rosemary had sent along. By the time we had taken a portrait
of all of us with the Dodge Ram, my Rosemary had already nagged that we take
the photograph.
I sat with my two daughters for an hour and a half. I marvelled
at that bond that sisters have that I will never understand and enjoy. But
knowing that it exists and being aware of my enjoyment is what counts.
I drove home enjoying the hot (30 Celsius) air and I had
plenty of time to count my chickens and to realize how lucky I am.