6 days......

As an appetizer, I thought a prawn skewer was in vogue. (just not used to it being served, uhhh, whole.) Kudos to B&D Authentic Viet Cuisine in my hood in Burnaby.

 

Retirement? Bingo? No, I'm not ready!! Actually it was a fun night with junior at the Lougheed Village Bar & Grill in Burnaby. 

Well, it may be back to work soon after this booster fan was installed to help get the dryer air to the outside. Yikes, trades are expensive these days. 

We went to honor the veterans on Remembrance Day at city hall in New Westminster. A toast of course was mandatory after the ceremony, so we headed to the New Westminster Legion to do exactly that.

A toast and a chance to win at the meat draw. (Dang, I love the meat draw, a raffle to win meat, come on!) Unfortunately we will be buying our meat on this day. Still was a good outing.

What! Are you kidding yourself? Yup, back on the ice after a near 17 year hiatus.

The, after the booster fan was installed, we noticed the grate on the balcony needs replacing, but not until January, according to the strata corporation, pic.

So it was time, after wearing skates I got from one of junior's team mates back when he played minor hockey, to get a new pair. Not looking forward to the sore feet, lol.

Spent a Wednesday hanging out with the Calgary Stampeders football fans (and horses) at the Billy Bishop Legion in Kitsilano. It was one of the Grey Cup week festivities in Vancouver.

Well, a sausage syrup pancake sandwich. When in Rome......

I was there to visit diehard CFL football and 2010 Olympic Torch Relay teammate Jenn and her mother who flew in from Hamilton, Ontario.

Out on a walk, nice to find this time of year.

Ha! After skating a couple of times I went out for "stick and puck." I think my new nickname could be "rusty."

Hyuk, time to cut down on the calories, so I'm only having one sausage for my breakfast.

My last gig of the 2024 filming season. It was what they call additional photography for a show called Blue Moon. It is an 8-part limited series about the Amanda Knox story. Knox is one of the producers. This Brentwood neighbourhood is supposed to be Seattle. The fog for the first 3 days made filming a little tricky.

Well, I knew they were coming, but please, not in my neighbourhood!, I'm not ready!

The fog finally cleared and we got back to work taking over another neighbourhood.

........anddddddd action!

During this week I drove one director for the first 3 days and another for the last three days. This early morning I waited for Mike outside of Analog Coffee in Yaletown. 

There's that fog again.

A picture says a thousand words, lol. On this  day I had to take the head of health and safety for Disney down to Ironwood studios on Marine Drive in Vancouver. I had time to visit my transport co-ordinator Andrew, who is working on a pilot, called "Phony."

My choice for coffee early in the a.m. that week was Cafe Artigiano at the Yaletown Roundhouse.

One of the locations was Barnett Marine Park in Burnaby, a jogging scene. We'll see about that.......

Most of the action was in my rear-view mirror. Hard to tell that Burrard Inlet is just steps away.

Okay, back to thinking about retirement, lol.

Hanging out outside of set waiting for my director, why not?

The hatch open, back-up camera, waiting for the director at the Level on Seymour, pic.

Sitting and waiting on wrap of  this 6 day shoot. What's next, I don't know, Christmas? Maybe retire.......(What's that sound? Oh ya, the sound of a broken record.)

Re-tired.......

Well, when you get to sleep in a little bit and not go to make-believe land while it is still dark, you get a chance to see one of the most beautiful sunrises over Mt. Baker that I have seen in the 8 years I have lived in our condo.

 

Standing by bay 8 at Vancouver Airport. I was waiting for Uma Thurman, one of the stars of Devon House. (Additional photography for Old Guard 2, which originally filmed overseas in 2022.)

If you get to the airport early, you can park in the outlet mall parking lot and watch.........

Day 1 of picking up Uma was another first in my not so illustrious cast driving career, lol. This first was driving down Kingsway at 4 a.m. and being the only one on the road. I had to pinch myself, thought I might be dreaming!

Ahhh, hanging out at the Rogers Arena parking lot. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times we have had our base camp here.

If you're going to do additional photography at a Catholic church that is supposed to resemble churches in Rome and Britain, then you better spend a day at Holy Rosary Church on Richards Street in downtown Vancouver.

Standing by, this time watching the action from the J.J. Bean coffee shop across  the street.

Ritsue's green thumb has the plants starting to tower over her, lol.

The not sure why I added this, cluster of fungus, on one of my walking routes, pic. ((I guess when you're finished a show, and close to retirement (Ha!), you see interest in many things.))

We've been talking about moving, sure would miss this........

The not so interested, but many repairs needed around the humble abode, including the washer taps, pic.

The clouds were swirling on this day, kinda like my brain thinking about retirement plans, hyuk.

Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be a thumbs up!

A real treat, I'll tell you what. A little egg, cheese and Jalapeno Asiago Ciabatta bread snack, yum!

Okay, I'm sure I'll find more to do in my retirement, but this, this was pretty darn entertaining. What a blast from the past!

.......wait for it.......

.....wait for it........

Yay!

Straight to Devon House, too.

Once again, no rest for the "yada, yada, yada." Shifted over from Haven Green (Black Mirror) to Devon House (yes, a code name.) On this day we filmed in Steveston. I had to take a pic of the downtown main street, so many memories of "Storybrooke" when I worked on Once Upon a Time.

 

.....flashback to the end of our Black Mirror episode. We spent 3 days at Riverview, including one day at the Center Lawn Building.

Ran an office run to the Haven Green offices at the Bridge Studios. Once again a reminder of the end of our run on The Good Doctor. This stage used to be the emergency ward of the hospital. That bay door at the end was the ER bay, wowsa.

Time to kill before my cast pick-up downtown, why not take a quick stroll around Granville Island?

The sun coming up under the Granville Bridge, pic.

Yay! Had a chance to work with Ed Rocker again. In my opinion, the number 1 background performer in Vancouver.

We spent the last 2 days filming at Allied Shipyards in North Vancouver. Hey, that's a lot of bosses on this film crew!

Lots going on here.

Near the set, are those props props?

Interested to know how they got a film crew in this small space.........

Close to wrapping on this evening, and I'm definately on the wrong side of the tracks.....

Morning moon over Mt. Baker  pic.

Ha! At the Tesla super-charger, charging at 1512 km/hr , never did figure out what that meant.

The railway bridge close to the shipyards pic.

Looking back towards set, soon to be a wrap on another show for me. What next?

Fellow Teamster cast driving peep Jordan is a little too close to the action.....

.....and I mean this wasp nest action, yikes!

It was a short 2 days off before we were back in action again. On this day, filming was close to the mighty Fraser River in Burnaby.

Looking up from the lower level of the Shangri-la hotel in Vancouver, where I spent a lot of time these past 3 weeks picking up and dropping off cast and execs.

We filmed one day out in Steveston at the historic Britannia Shipyards.

Now that's a poser!

What a gorgeous day it was.

....and the sun sets on day 5 of 9 days of filming additional photography for Old Guard 2. (It was originally filmed in Italy and Britain in 2022.) It was an honor to be Uma Thurman's driver while she was in Vancouver.

All that filming meant I had to listen to the baseball games on satellite radio.

The waiting for a booster fan, the dryer is blowing into a bucket of water, how frustrating, pic. (Don't get me started on the washer. Samsung never again.)