Hikado

In Surrey, there is a small agricultural island located off on the coast of the Fraser River. A recent proposal to removed Barnston Island out of the agricultural land reserve (ALR) sparked concerns over the lack of consideration given to protecting more farm land from disappearing out of the ALR. A classmate in my political science class did her project on this problem and after hearing about the growing amount of land being taken out of the ALR, I made an effort this summer to take a moment to go and visit this unique island in Surrey.

Once I turned off into Exit 50 of Highway 1 East, I had some difficulty deciding whether I was suppose to turn left to 140 Ave East or right to 140 AveWest. I eventually found the ferry terminal located at the foot of 104 Ave. In less than five minutes, a tug boat with a ramp pulled up towards the dock. There was a little traffic light posted on the left, used to indicate when it was safe for vehicles to drive up onto the ferry. In five minutes, the ferry had reached the other end of the river and I was at Barnston Island. I was greeted by a large vast landscape of green, rich farm land with barns, stables, cows, and horses habitating this unique island in the middle of the GVRD.

There is no parking on the island so, I just quickly took a couple of snap shots of the place. During the drive, one could spot a family of eagles soaring in the sky. It is difficult to take photos while driving in a 50 km/h zone. Fortunately my uncle agreed to take over as the driver. The trip was a pleasant, peaceful experience that gave me, the city girl, a good feeling of what country life would be like with out any running water.

Barnston Island is a great place for any bike enthusiasts or hikers. It took me about 45 minutes to drive around the island because I was driving at 30 km/h, but if you follow the 50km/h speed limit you should get around the whole island in 20 minutes. During my visit, I learnt Avalon Milk company, an independently run and locally based dairy business operates out of Barnston Island. If you look across the river from the ferry terminal, a visitor will see a local saw mill plant. Some local residents on the island also have their own fishing boats parked out on the side of their land just a kiddy corner away from the small barnston island dock. Apparently a portion of the island is a First Nations Land Reserve and when you enter the reserve area, you will see a sign posted up on the side of the road with the following message: "Welcome to the First Nations Land Reserve on Barnston Island."

A couple of households still had signs posted that said "Save Barnston Island!" These signs were left overs from the Barnston Island protests when there was a high possibility that the Island would be taken out of the ALR and this would mean the zoning code for the area would also change in conjunction to this developement. All of the local media outlets covered this well publicized story and how there was a lack of accountability on the ALR board commitee. The final decision was to let Barnston Island remain in the ALR despite a large amont of pressure brought on by some developers and land owners on the island to have this place developed into a industrial or commercial area.

I am glad to hear the ALR commitee ruled in favour of keeping this unique agricultural island in the ALR, because BC is one of the only provinces in Canada that still holds rich, top grade 1 soil, a very rare kind of soil in the world. It would be a shame to see this land developed for commercial uses when, there is already a shortage of farmland in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. More and more farmland is disappearing as the growing pressure and need for more residential housing rises, but the question is what would we gain if we remove more farmland out of the agricultural land reserve? Developers and land owners would probably gain a short term profit, but the whole GVRD would lose valuable farm land and a stable food source forever. It is important for us to protect the remaining agricultural land in our province, because it helps to sustain and level off the food demand from the city. We all need food to survive and if we continue to diminish our agricultural land, our city will be forced to become increasingly more dependent on international food sources to provide a sufficient food supply for the population.

This Thursday our community noted a police drug bust at a residential house in our area. Police officers told neighourbouring households the residency was being used as a grow operation for drugs. RCMP officers, city officials from Richmond's public works department, and hydro spent close to five hours confiscating plants from the home.
A police officer went around the neighbourhood collecting information and conducting interviews with anyone living near by the residence.
Everyone living in or around our street thought it was strange how a rather large house could remain vacant without any tenants for so long. Furthermore, one neighbour spoke to me about how bright light could be seen from the house late at night.
We always hear the RCMP launching ads about educating the public on how to identify grow ops in the neighbourhood, but in this case their tips have failed to help residents in this neighbourhood identify and reduce more grow ops from poping up in the municipality.
In the afternoon, I went to do some snooping. It was fascinating to see the inside of a grow op house . From the outside window of the house, any resident could peek in and see large heavy duty wires hanging from the ceilling, well cut out gysum board, remanants of the light system used to help the plants grow quickly, and long silver tubing used in this elaborate grow op set up to redirect toxic fumes from these plants.
Three days after the bust, a strong odor still seeps out of the house. A couple of people were spotting at the house today cleaning and renovating the interior. As I sit in the kitchen, looking out of the window almost every car passing through the neigbourhood has stopped to take a look at this house. It has almost become a local tourist attraction and a source of curiousity for many of the residences living in this small Steveston community.

There were a bunch of crazy aircraft designs at this first time event. Young and old spectators came out to line the shores of Concord Pacific to see the wacky, hilarious, and energetic teams as they launch their aircraft machines off a massive 20 metre ramp and into the water.

Every team is judged on three criteria:
A) Distance: How far their aircraft fly?
B) Creativity: Did their design suck? or was it neat?
C) Sportsmanship
A team is composed of 5 people (1 pilot and 4 pushers). Only the pilot is allowed to remain in the aircraft for the whole time, during and after the launch.

My favorite aircraft was shaped as a pig. Some of the teams had some awesome costume designs and others had some really wacky dance moves. The crowd was really hyper and rowdy which was sort of nice because, every team got a good cheer from the spectators before they launched their aircrafts.
The event was great! Most importantly the hot, sunny weather made the buff beach guys turnout without their shirts. OOoo la la!!!
I hope there will be another Flugtag event next year, because it was a blast to see all of these teams launch their creations off the flight deck. Wwhoooo!!!

I went to go see the Vancouver Premier of Snakes on a Plane last night. The advanced screening session in the Downtown Paramount theatre was definately filled with energy enriched, testosterone ragging males and most importantly female Samuel L. Jackson die hard fans. While in line I saw a fan with air plane wings made out of white cardboard like material straped on to his back like a knapsack. "ZZzzzoooommmm......"
A couple of scenes in the movie will make you jump out of your seat! There was a lady sitting beside me who was easily startled by the quick, rapid movie shots where a snake will dart out of no where and attack an innocent passenger on the airplane. A lot of digital special effects scenes helped to make the film more thrilling for the audience. I credit the actors and the writers on their ability to implement comic relief throughtout the film so, it did not appear to be lame or awkward. I definately laughed at a some of the hilarious parts of the film. The movie is aimed at augmenting our Ophidiophobia of slliitheringgg...reptilia creatures on a plane.

Some of my favorite lines for the film with Samuel L. Jackson playing a FBI agent named Neville Flynn:
"Snakes on CRacK?"
"Enough is enough! I've had it with these motherf**kin' snakes on this motherf**kin' plane!"