It’s Raining Again.
The one characteristic that best defines Vancouver and the west coast of BC is that it rains. Correct that. It rains a lot. I was told by a Chinese gentleman once that the Vancouver airport code, YVR, stands for, Yes, Very Rainy. The good part about the excess rain on the coast is that trees and plants grow very well, especially when combined with the mild temperate climate all West coaster’s enjoy and is one of the reasons most residents enjoy living here. Never too cold and never overly hot.
My complaint about the rain is timing. We just had a run of sunny weather, almost 4 days (that’s a long spell for spring), and I have been forced to work indoors preparing one of our rental units for new tenants to move in early. This morning it is still sunny. I do my daily chores, and then decide to get on with the spring clean-up, take advantage of this sunny day. I know it won’t last.
Power Washer on Tailgate.
One of my spring jobs is to power wash all the winter grime away and I am already late in starting. I bring out the power washer, dust it off, pump up the tires, check it for oil then give it a drink of gas and start it up. Great, third pull and it starts. Shut it off, take it to where I would like to start cleaning, hook up the hose and nozzle and give it a pull. Oh drat. The starting pull cord breaks. No big deal. Take off the recoil housing and replace the cord, 45 minutes tops.
I drag the power washer over to my truck and lift it onto the tailgate, bring out my tools and proceed with the repair. I like to do repairs of this sort on my pick-up tailgate because it makes for a convenient workbench. Solid, no clutter and easy to clean-up. How-ever, I no sooner loosen the three bolts on the recoil casing and boom – a sudden downpour. What, Why now?
This is not the typical rain or even downpour. This is the start of Noah’s food. Two minutes and my toolbox tray is full, my shoes are soaked and I am drenched to the skin. Throw a cover over the machine, drain out my tools then collect the hoses. It’s all over for today. Mother Nature must hate me.
Almost forgot, this is Vancouver.