Blueberry Social at Otter Co-op on BC Day, Monday August 1 2011

If you're looking for something to do on Monday's BC Day holiday, you might consider a drive out to the other side of Langley. The Otter Co-op is on 248th Street, just a little south of the Fraser Highway, so if you're driving up the Fraser Highway towards Aldergrove, turn right at 248th Street and their parking lot is a bit up on the left hand side. If you're driving east along 16th Avenue, when you get to the 4way stop at 248th Street, hang a left and drive north until you see it on the left.

I've never known the Otter Co-op to have a blueberry social but I've been to their raspberry social on Canada Day a few times. They set up in front of the store with tables and chair and guests get raspberry shortcake and a beverage. Free! Couldn't ask for better! They have a band set up to enterain the guests and on Canada Day the old truck museum in Coquitlam brings over some trucks for the guests to admire.

All I know is their blueberry social will have a band. I don't know about vintage vehicles. Its from noon to 3pm on Monday August 1.

Oh the beverages are their generic brand water, pop, juice. I think they also had coffee available.

Free Donairs in Cloverdale Tuesday August 2 2011

Had a flyer in my mailbox today from Shannon Donair who are having their grand opening on August 2 2011.

Grand Opening specials are free donair wraps from 12pm to 2pm. After 2pm the special is half price on all wraps and plates to closing.

They are located on 57th Avenue near the corner of 176th Street - Unit B, 17581-57th Avenue.

Cloverdale Blueberry Festival Saturday August 6 2011

The Cloverdale Blueberry Festival takes place in downtown Cloverdale on Saturday August 6 2011 from about 9am to 5pm.

There are all kinds of events taking place. 176th Street is closed off to traffic between 58A Avenue and Highway 10. Also 57th Avenue is closed and some of 176A Street too.

There is a Show N Shine taking place on 176th Street. Lots of nice old cars. I have some photos from last year here.

The Cloverdale Legion will be serving up blueberry pancakes, eggs, sausages, coffee, tea, and orange juice/drink from 8am to 11:30am for $4.50. Located at 17567 57th Avenue. This might also be a good place to try to find a parking spot to wander around Cloverdale.

Other parking spots? Perhaps try parking along 58th Avenue or 177B Street and walking downtown. There are public parking lots on 176A Street at 58A Avenue and betwee 58th and 57th Avenue. Get there early. I'm not sure when and where 176A is being closed off.

There's a pie eating contest and various entertainment happening around Cloverdale. Doesn't seem to be any set hours. There will be vendors selling blueberries, fresh produce, and crafts.

The free trolley bus will make an appearance for the day giving rides around Cloverdale.

End the day at the Cloverdale fairgrounds, corner of 176th Street and 60th Avenue, from 5pm to 9pm. Admission is $5 and includes a burger at the BBQ. There will music and dancing. Gino Gerussi will be performing. For those of you who don't know who he is, back in high school his claim to fame was his uncle was Bruno Gerussi of the Beachcombers TV show fame. He was in a band back in junior high and still has a band, though I doubt its the same group. He sings a wonderful rendition of Billy Joel's "She's Got A Way" that I hear frequently on QMFM 103.5.

Last year the day of the Blueberry Festival was HOT. Its really tough to be walking around in the heat looking at cars when the pavement is just burning and reflecting up on you. And that was pretty early in the morning! Hopefully we'll still be having some of the weather we've been experiencing most of this summer. Cool and dry.

Playing at the Clova from July 29 2011 to August 4 2011

Playing this week at the Clova from Friday July 29 to August 4 is:

7pm - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

9:30pm - Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Last show lets out after midnight. 12:10. Times are approximate. The Clova doesn't start the movie until the lobby is cleared of customers lining up at the concession.

Admission is $8 or $15 for 2 people. Add $4 for each additional person. Tuesday nights $5. Stay for one or both movies at that price. Bring your own reusable popcorn and drink container and fill up at the concession for $2.50 each.

SOS Security Solutions Cloverdale

There's a company in Cloverdale called SOS Security Solutions. They are in a building on 176th Street next door to the Clova Theatre.

A little bit of trivia. My father owned that building in the sixties and sold it in the seventies.

I don't know anything about SOS Security Solutions other than I've seen their office when I'm walking down 176th Street. I use a different security company.

Across the street from us we have what we refer to as the party house. Its a rental - obviously! There were some young men in their 20's there last year and they moved out to a bigger and better party house but they recommended two females they know to the landlord and those girls moved in. Well it wasn't long before their boyfriends moved in and the house became party central. I'm pretty sure all the neighbors have the landlord's phone number to complain about the late night loud parties. Their parties don't bother me. What really bugs me is some guy in a blue Camaro that badly needs a good, quiet muffler!

Nobody in this neighbourhood used to have blocks on their lawns to prevent people from driving on the lawns before those kids moved in and turned it into a party house. One neighbour's lawn was messed up pretty badly by one of those kids peeling out and creating huge ruts. We have concrete parking bumpers along our lawn to keep the partiers off. I think one of those kid's friends didn't see the bumpers and drove over one because it was dragged out of place by several feet. Those things are heavy, over 100 pounds, and about 6' long. You couldn't see that?!

The landlord was over there a couple of weeks ago and came over to talk to us when he saw us working in our yard. He told us he was getting ready to evict them when they told him they're leaving at the end of July. He's still trying to collect their rent but that's his problem. We told him we suspected they were going to have one last good party before they left. We've seen them moving stuff all month. Just how much stuff do they have in that little house anyway?!

This past Saturday night they had an eviction party. There were cars all over the street and they were pretty loud. I was watching TV after midnight so they weren't bothering me but I could see how their next door neighbor with 5 children under age 8 would be a little ticked. The following morning the house was toilet papered.

One of the partiers arrived in a van plastered with SOS Security Solutions advertising. He - or she I didn't see the driver - parked it on our neighbour's lawn. That's always nice. At least its dry right now so couldn't cause much damage but I bet the driver didn't ask the house owner's permission to park there before going over to the party house. It was still there on Sunday morning so I'm assuming the driver had too much to drink and did the responsible thing by not driving the van home.

That's the picture of the SOS van above parked on the neighbour's lawn with the party house in the background. Talk about great advertising! Does SOS Security Solutions not care where their employees park their vehicles and that they're driving them to and from parties instead of using the company van for business purposes?

A company I used to work for had company vans with our company name well advertised on them that were assigned to the staff members who drove them for maintenance calls. They had to keep them at their houses instead of at the office in case they were on call and there was an emergency and they had to leave ASAP. Also sometimes that day's schedule may have included a call to a location closer to their home and they would start there instead of coming in to the office first. They were not allowed to use the vans for personal business. Just to and from their house, the office, and to service calls. Many companies have a similar policy especially when there may be times for after hours emergencies and dispatching service calls directly from the employee's house. Otherwise they don't want their staff driving a well advertised company vehicle to somewhere that might give them bad advertising.

There was that very sad story in the news in May of the 22 year old woman who was driving home from a baseball game at the Cloverdale Athletic Park and was killed by a drunk driver. The woman driving the van fled on foot but was captured a short time later. She was driving a van that said Precision Restorations on it. Like there's a big clue to the police! If they couldn't find the driver one phone call to the boss would have told them who was in control of the van. Apparently Precision Restorations has a company policy that their vans are only to be used for business purposes and they did not have any service calls that night and there was no reason for their employee to be driving it. They fired her for violation of company policy. That was probably the easy way out for them. Very sad.

At least the driver of the SOS Security Solutions left their van parked all night on the neighbor's lawn instead of getting behind the wheel.

Shannon's Donairs Getting Closer to Opening for Business?

Tonight Shannon's Donairs has some noticeable changes from when I walked past this morning. The city of Surry's inspection and renovation tags are no longer in the window. The appliances have been pushed back from the centre of the room to their designated places. The cooler closest to the door has pop in it. There is a menu board posted on the wall. Prices seem to start at $5 and up depending on the type of donair.

Does this mean that Shannon's Donairs might actually be opening soon as the sign out front has proclaimed for many weeks?

When they open this will be the second donair restaurant in Cloverdale, not counting one of the pizza places that serves them.

On the other hand King Tut's Donairs opened in Cloverdale earlier in July. They have a sign with their hours posted. They have unusual hours. They open at 11:30am I think every day but close at 2:30pm several days a week and at 10:30pm the rest of the week. I'm not sure if this means the operators have other things to do after 2:30 on those days or if they've figured out business is slow on those afternoons/evenings and it makes more economical sense to close. The unfortunate thing is I've walked past some evenings when the sign says they shoould be open till 10:30pm and the restaurant is closed. Reminds me of their predecessors Rico Burrito and Clover Creek BBQ never being open. Again the reason could be as simple that business slowed down and their was no point staying open if there were no customers. 10:30 is kind of a late hour for Cloverdale eateries.

Have an answer for missed garbage pick up on stat holidays for Cloverdale residents

Ah ha! I finally have an answer from the City of Surrey on what options are available for Cloverdale residents on missed garbage collection on statutory holidays when our pick up gets bumped to Saturday.

Harry Janda phoned to tell me they are going to implement one of my suggestions on their website and add the phone number for Emterra for missed pick ups on Saturdays. As he said even though no one at the City of Surrey is working on the weekend, Emterra is open and answering their phones and can dispatch a truck back for a missed pick up.

In the meantime he also suggested Cloverdale residents can phone him on his cell which he answers on weekends to assist residents 778-846-0597. His direct line at the city hall is 604-590-7208 but he's only at work on week days.

So I hope this helps for anyone in Cloverdale wondering what to do if for some reason the garbage truck misses your house to pick up the garbage can.

I still don't have an answer on the city's 10 days reponse time to their website's form and I'm still waiting for a response. Mr Janda does agree that 10 days is unacceptable and doesn't know why this has fallen through the cracks, though its probably what I suspect and that the city staff figures a missed garbage collection is going to resolve itself within the week the next time the truck swings by.