Spring has Sprung

 

Well, as they say, March came in like a lion and kind of tiptoed out like a lamb..... Well, almost. We have enjoyed the most wonderful weather in Calgary, some days with temperatures reaching 22°C but earlier on it was cold. Of that, there is no doubt.

The snow has all but relaxed its grip on the Province but we should be cautious about being too hopeful, at least not right now, as we who live here in Calgary know what can and does happen in April and May. 

While firing up our Yoder BBQ yesterday, I glanced at the trees at the rear of our villa and sure enough, I detected small buds beginning to swell on the branches. I guess another month and we might be lucky with some green leaves on the trees.  

The Vaccines arrived, albeit not without some hiccups in the booking system that has to some degree been rectified ..... but not in all cases. 

It was our turn on March 15 to call for an appointment. We tried all day to book but to no avail and then, out of the blue, Donna's cousin called and told us to call a certain number and we should be able to get through. We followed Rhonda's advice and lo and behold, on the first attempt, Donna was able to book an appointment for the Pfizer shots not for just herself but for both of us. 

We had the first of the two Pfizer shots on March 29, so we have to say a big thank you to Rhonda for her help in this matter. Donna had a slightly sore arm after the shot the following day but I was fine. We now wait to hear when we can get the second shot which looks as if it will be 16 weeks after shot number one.

As for the COVID issue, we have seen the passing of a long-time former Realtor we knew due to this terrible virus and back in the UK, another former colleague from my past corps who had retired from the military having completed his pensionable service has also passed away. He was running his own physiotherapy practice in Ipswitch, Suffolk. He also succumbed to this awful virus shy of his 70 birthday I believe. The virus took him in just one month.

We really do hope that our friends and family get the vaccine once it's available to them. We heard on the TV and radio that getting the vaccine really only protects the recipients to some degree or another. We understand we can still be a carrier and pass it on to others. That's why we have undertaken to get vaccinated.  

Unfortunately, the Premier of Alberta, and other Premiers in Canada, have had to take some drastic steps as the variant has really increased the numbers of affected people. He has locked down the Province and gone back reluctantly to stage 1 largely he said because people are not complying with requests to stay at home and social distancing which has become very evident in the past weeks. This revolution against mandatory lockdowns seems also to be growing by the day. The public is becoming impatient with all this upheaval. 

This pandemic has unfortunately become a huge issue for small business owners. We don't want to get into the politics of all this but we do think small businesses are on an uneven playing field versus big box stores. 

Ontario has to some degree changed the optics, because of public feedback. The big box stores seem to be getting away with these restrictions but this is slowly changing as some stores can now only open their food areas to the public. The rest of the store being dark which is what people wanted so it's the same for everyone and goes some way to levelling the playing field. 

Looking at the international news, The UK and Israel have certainly crushed the COVID curve but reverting to what they were doing before, might not be the answer. We sincerely hope they don't end up going backwards but most scientists believe that it's the number of vaccinations they have gone through that is helping them reduce the incidences of COVID.

Canada had a slow start but those in the know believe that we will start to see the benefits of our vaccination efforts starting next month with the powers that be saying that Canada can expect over 2 Million vaccinations per month from now on. We sincerely hope so.   

Easter has come and gone but mother's day is on the horizon. Many will celebrate this at home, cooking up nice meals for their wives and mothers.

Around six weeks ago, we had our first family get-together outdoors per the lockdown rules on a gorgeous day in Fish Creek Provincial Park. It was proposed and organized by eldest son Jason.  He went ahead to secure a BBQ area for the rest of us as the temperature was anticipated to go up to 19°C and it was thought lots of people would have the same idea. He was correct. Jason, Lucia, Conrad and Caroline were all there when Donna and I arrived.  Kath and Roddy, Adam and Amy followed closely behind us. 

With the Provincial limit of ten people per gathering for outdoor venues, we were right at our limit, while Jay and Roddy cooked up hot dogs and hamburgers on their camping stoves. 

We thoroughly enjoyed getting together with the families. We had not seen Jay and his family for a year as we were living in BC. The day was wonderful. We certainly had an opportunity to get our ration of vitamin D that afternoon.

While there, I had the chance to try out the electric bike Jason is selling from the new company he's formed along with electric scooters, coolers and all sorts of neat items for outdoor pursuits and camping. We wish him well. He's off to a good start. He told me many people are stopping him and asking where they can buy one of the electric bikes, so hopefully, he's on a roll.

We have taken delivery of part of our new furniture order We anticipate that we would have waited six months for delivery of the remainder of our furniture which is a long time for a simple order but we do realize these times are certainly slowing down production at all levels.

Evidently, the hot tub market has gone nuts. Hot tubs are mostly sold out until 2022 in our area and the Recreational Vehicle market for Campers and trailers seems to be the same because people are clambering for other things to do during the pandemic, so camping is high on the list.  

From our point of view, we are itching to be able to get away. Las Vegas is calling but for now, we cannot risk it even though we have had one of the two vaccine jabs. We will just have to be patient until this all blows over. We both hope we can all surmount this obstacle fairly quickly.

Subject to this ending this summer, we are contemplating maybe renting a park model down in California for a month and then driving to New Mexico via Arizona or, if we can find a good deal, flying to Hawaii.  

If we stay on the mainland, we would probably drive in our SUV. We are more comfortable driving taking our time as we head south, but if it's Hawaii, we have no option than to fly. If we can manage a couple of months away it would be nice, but that's something we cannot decide upon yet.  

We both agree it is becoming increasingly more difficult to occupy oneself in these times of lockdown at home. One can only bake so much bread or cook meals that we can freeze down before we run out of space in our freezers so we will have to turn our attention to something else.  

Donna is working on a 1000 piece puzzle that seems to need a bit of a boost. I am going to go back to the electric piano to teach myself some chords. If that works out great. It will give me something new to do and will keep me occupied for a while.

By mid-April the snow had disappeared and today, May 3 rain is forecast. To be perfectly realistic, we all know what happens on the May Long Weekend - It snows on an all too frequent basis so we won't hold our breath.

A couple of weeks ago, we saw the passing of Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth's husband of 73 years. We watched the funeral right through on the TV when he was laid to rest in St George's Chapel, Windsor. It certainly brought back memories for me as Windsor Castle was my newspaper round when I was around 13 years old and then there was the pomp and ceremony of the troops. I saw my old regiment represented there and I have to say, it was a grand and well-managed occasion, not that Prince Philip wanted a grandiose ceremony. It was toned down some but was still heart-wrenching to see the Queen sat by herself in the pews of the Chapel.

The Calgary Real Estate Board reported over 3200 sales last month compared to just 570 for the same month last year.  No wonder we have seen property moving so quickly. Last month, we had five properties available in our complex of 35 properties ranging from over $660,000 up to almost 1 million dollars. All five sold during April, three of the five purchasers have already moved in. Listings are also up by a massive 400% and when that figure is realized by the market, It will swing the pendulum back towards favouring a buyer.

The same type of market exists currently in Courtenay, BC, on Vancouver Island where we have just left. So we were very lucky to be able to secure a brand new home with the full 5-year warranty when we arrived in Calgary. Mind you, we were determined and found the place in two days. 

There is no doubt, this market cannot continue. Sooner or later, it will slow down due to an impending rise in interest rates, the increasing inventory of homes and other factors, so our advice would be if you are contemplating selling, NOW is the time to do that to maximize the sale price you could expect. 

Finding a really good buy now is the other ugly side of the coin.  It could also be a testing time as once you have sold, invariably, most people become buyers again unless they are moving down in price or into a less active market region which is difficult to find right now all across Canada.

If anyone in Calgary needs a really good committed realtor, please contact Donna or me. We have a wonderful relationship with a realtor here in Calgary and we can refer you to him and his wife Diana. These two have already assisted us and eight of our family and/or former clients, all of whom were delighted with the prices they got for their homes.

Our thoughts are that people are so sick and tired of looking at the same walls day in day out over the past year and a quarter, they just want a change of scenery. Another reason could be, that many people have not been going out for lunches or expensive suppers or even buying clothes and other items due to the lockdowns, so the amount of disposable income has increased somewhat for some. They, are the people who are in the market right now but believe me, as I previously stated, this will not/cannot last. We have seen these markets before and it's always the same.

Well, it's time to close out this current blog. All we have to say is, stay safe, keep vigilant and hopefully, we will be out of this in a few months... And we stress the word. "Hopefully".

Ken and Donna.