Hello from sunny Vancouver - and boy is it sunny. We came expecting autumn weather and have had nothing but blue skies and sunshine. On the left is the central library in Vancouver city and although I didn't have time to visit it, I could see through the windows that they have an incredible selection of material. The languages section covered about fifteen stacks and had every language on the planet from the look of it. The building is very new and impressive.



On the right is one of the local libraries on Vancouver Island. I did have time to visit this one and it was similar to one of our branches. However, their equivalent of our LearnNet consisted of four old computers in a row with plywood partitions, so they seem to be a bit behind as far as technology is concerned. They have a similar system where you can return books at any branch and the libraries cover a few hundred kilometres, so lots of driving for their 'Phil'.

Apart from looking at libraries, we have been to islands and beaches and mountains. If anyone visits Vancouver Island make sure to take the chair-lift to the top of Mount Washington - the views are awesome.