1090 Meets 5040 2009

So I spent yesterday with the archivist and records manager for the British Columbia Medical Association, which was a fascinating look at modern records management in an organisation with 39 board members! They had great collections donated by doctors who were members of the BCMA, including one who had over 6000 photographs of his research into VD - slightly more detailed than I necessarily needed! It was interesting to see that even in such a large organisation they have similar issues as at St George's with resources and space, as well as getting co-operation within the different departments to ensure consistent practice across the board.

I also got to spend time with the University Archivist, with their state of the art robotic retrieval system affectionately known as Mad Max. The university is undertaking a massive digitisation program to enable them to make students' theses available online, which brings about the issues of which file format to choose, how to digitise bound volumes without damaging the spines, copyright complications, and long term storage of electronic records, all of which are becoming more and more important for archivists to consider, so it was a great opportunity to discuss it with someone who was actually engaged in the work.

All in all, a very productive day!

Today was a packed day for Greg and I as we went to the Delta Police Station. This is a Police Force south of Vancouver and has 200 sworn officers with 165 on patrol and 75 civilian staff. As far as comparisons with British Forces go this is very small, but is perfectly contained and entirely self sufficient. We sat in on the supervisors briefing and heard about the weekend just passed where they had managed to catch a prolific burglar coming out of the house swag bag in hand, through very skillful dispatcher and officer work. We had a tour of the station with staff sergeant Connie Kyle and saw the differences in custody procedures and handling of prisoners then had a presentation for the IHIT manager, Suprintendent John Robin. this is the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team who are contracted by some forces to manage and investigate all homicides, of which about 60% are gang relate which is especially relevant at the moment due to the high profile gang warfare between the 'Red Scorpian' and 'UN' gangs which resulted in numerous shootings in recent weeks and ultimately the arrest of several key gang members just days before our arrival, so all very topical. Our coordinator for the day was the business manager Melissa Granum who couldn't have been more helpful and accomodating. After lunch with the Chief of Police, we spoke with the Inspector in charge of major Crime and explored disclosure (I know for those non police reading tis it may appear a pretty dry subject, but was for a police officer absolutely fascinating, such is the type of lively person that we are!!)
Finally we looked at the in house forensic division, which interestingly is still run by sworn police officers rather than civillian staff.

We were then collected and whisked off for a glass of wine by the river before arriving home and being presented with Ken's cocktail - a mysterious blend of ingredients by my hosts which yet again tastes wonderful! I am no stranger to being fed delicious flavoured drinks, on my first day here I had not been in the house more than 20 minutes before Ken presented me with a home made, authentic margarita. needless to say my hosts Frances and ken and I have got on famously! Two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, I shall be sorry to say good bye tomorrow.
We have a presentation tomorrow morning and then off to Powell River, so for now it's good bye Vancouver!

I've realised that the photos I've uploaded are not showing on this blog; teething trouble I'm afraid. If you are able to see 'wilkinson' listed as an author on the right hand column then click on wilkinson and that, hopefully, will take you to my profile page where there are 12 pictures from our first two days.
It's now 5am here and this city looks quite spectacular at night, especially the Science Globe which is twinkling like an enormous star.
I hope this works - the pictures tell much more than by written stuff.
Greg

We met at 10am at Starbucks next to MacDonald Street on Broadway where we met Vern and friends from 'New Generation'. New Generation is a group of young people who intend to start their own Rotary Club for young people to meet in person once a month and remotely between each personal meeting (possibly using skype). They include previous GSE team members and Koyo an Ambassadorial Scholar from Japan.
The group took us by car to Granville Island and we had a look at this centre of culture and food hall. We had a good lunch there at 12noon and the went for a tour of Gastown, the oldest part of the city. Our tour guide was really good and showed us how the buildings had developed in various styles after the fire in 1886 which had destroyed the existing settlement. Vancouver had really come in to its own when the Canadian Pacific Railway decided to terminate at the natural port that Vancouver provides.
From here we went to Stanley Park and had a brief tour round the outside 10 kilometer road. We stopped to get photos at various points including the totem poles. The weather was super all day and reached 16 degrees in the afternoon. The views, especially of the mountains across Burrard Inlet are spectacular with snow clearly visible on the tops.
At 5.30 we were hosted by Donna Kilgallin at her home to a potluck dinner with various members of Quadra Rotary Club and our friends from New Generation. A potluck dinner is where the guests all take a dish and it all goes together.
Off home with our hosts at 8pm ready for early starts in the morning.
The natural beauty of the whole place, the clean air, the courteous driving and the warm hospitality of our hosts are some of the highlights of the first couple of days.

Alison and I got the 7.45am bus from Reading to Heathrow and met Sally, Emily and Eleanor at Terminal 3 together with three Rotarians from Wallingford, Sally's mum and dad, John (Emily's fiance), the Heathrow Padre (a Rotarian from Langley & Iver, a Dewsbury lad!) and Mike Cannon (definately not a Dewsbury lad) who had all come to wish us well on our journey which was a super start.
Check in was simple enough although I was declared overweight and had to pay for the privilege!
The flight was on time and generally unremarkable save for the excellent choice of films. I watched Australia and then a Clint Eastwood one to harden up again.
We arrived at 12.30pm (8.30pm in English time) and gradually got through immigration and collected out bags. As we exited the airport we were met with a banner of welcome and a group of host Rotarians including 'The Don' which was a brilliant welcome to start our time in Vancouver. We met our hosts and/or our deliverers and got to our locations sometime around 3pm.
I'm in an apartment on the ninth floor with super views over Vancouver. My host, Gary, lives in the same block and Nicole has let me have her apartment whilst she is away.
Gary took me for a walk through Chinatown and BC Place (Football Stadium) and then on an aquabus to Granville Island to see the market. We had a drink at the brewery (might as well start as we mean to go on) and then back to our apartment block where I excused myself from dinner as I'd now been awake for 24 hours and anticipate two full days ahead. The walk was really good and provided a super introduction to Vancouver.
First impression is one of space. The place looks very modern and is very clean. The city has lots of high rise buildings around lots of water (full of rather nice boats) and is surrounded by snow capped mountains. It is extremely impressive.
It's now 8.30pm and the sun has set; the city and the mountains look spectacualr in the twylight.
Time for bed.
PS My user name 'wilkinson' sounds very formal, apologies but they wouldn't let me use 'Greg'.