Big White is AWESOME! Soccer...

At the school, yes - Big White school! It was AWESOME!

It started with Jude... I coach a bunch of kids - her son Owen is one of them. Jude thought I did such a great job that she bought me a coffee! Yay...! And she suggested I coach a group of Big White Ladies. Boo...!

"Yeah... sure..." I answer… it is the kind of answer that really means "What!? Are you mad, me? Ladies? Me? No… no... no… I don't think so". But she was not listening.

And I am not a soccer coach... yes I am English... yes I have played a little bit of soccer... no I am not a soccer coach... okay I coach 8/9/10 year old boys. But do you know how to coach 10 year old boys? You give them a ball and say "Go!" Then guide - loudly... "not him... he is on your team..." "don't use your hands..." "that is the wrong way…", "yes, you can go pee..." Easy.

Do you know how to coach Ladies…? On a soccer team...?

Me neither… good god man, they have had 20 years experience training men… each...! I don't stand a chance.

Last week, despite my (futile) attempt to resist, I agreed to the first session… on the day, they only had four players. They needed more; where can you find a group of healthy, active, keen, happy, not time constrained players… yes, correct, at the school... 

So... we held the first, international, co-ed, high altitude, inter-generational, flexible rules, Big White soccer championship - also known as 'a game'. It was chaos. But who cares, it was Fun!

By game time we had two dads and six middle aged ladies. Being middle aged… health and fitness fall into a varying range of priorities… from high (zero participants) to low - somewhere below wine, shopping, other stuff they do in the house - TV and giving husbands a hard time (what!? - don't give me a hard time… we're not married!)…


And on the kids team we had 16 young, flexible, eager, agile, trained, energetic kids; accustomed to high altitude, high intensity activities… whose priorities revolve around sugar, chasing each other, electronics, sugar, and er… sugar.

Anyhoo… it was a close fought match and after 60 minutes of uncontrolled, uncoordinated, unsafe, variable rule gameplay, the youngsters won the day 7 goals to 6.







Notable plays - 
Jude - great speed to the ball… soon we will work on what to do when you get to it.
Jolene - great physical presence... remember to play the ball, not the 7 year old…
Joy - great great enthusiastic play… but jeans…?
Miranda - that was the best tumble I have seen, well the best that didn't end at the ER.

Next time… rugby.

Big White is AWESOME! More on Rentals...

What... Really...? Boring...

Yeah well...

I spent quite a bit of time yesterday corresponding with a concerned tenant - not my tenant. He was wondering about landlord's right to enter a rented property. 

Property Rentals are guided by the BC Rental Tenancy Act. The Act is designed to protect the interests of both the owner/landlord and the tenant, in a balanced and unbiased manner.

Big White is a little unusual, rental periods seldom last longer than 6 months for seasonal staff and (and this is a big and) seasonal staff have a reputation for being hard on property, noisy, disrespectful, late paying, leaving early... etc. etc.

Most are great, but... One person can create a lot of damage so landlords are sensitive and try to protect themselves.

So for tenants-

• Try and ensure all expectations are managed from the beginning.
• Find out what the landlords expectations are regarding access.*
• Always ask for receipt of payment or pay electronically.
• Ask where the damage deposit is held - a reputable company will hold it in a separate account.
• Do a walkthrough with the landlord - take pics and point out any damages. Follow up with an email to your landlord noting the damage and including the pics.
• Ask for a inventory list, check it.
• Ask for a contact number for emergencies.
• Stay in contact with your landlord.
• Inform him of any issues.
• Inform him/her if you have friends coming to stay - this is a courtesy.
• Respect the Property
• Don't create friction with neighbours
• Don't have parties every night.
• Don't be continuously noisy.
• Don't have a mess outside the property.
• Don't damage the property.
• Return the property in the condition you rented it - cleaned.
• Don't leave all the heaters on, fireplace on, fridge open and all the windows open.
• Respect the agreement.
• Pay your rent on time - don't wait for the landlord to ask. His/her mortgage gets paid regardless, his strata fees, his utilities etc etc.
• Don't have 8 people in a place designed and agreed for four.

Wear and tear is expected, items break down, your landlord should replace or repair broken appliances. If the 12 year old fridge stops working - it is probably not your fault... unless you chucked it off the balcony. 

If you follow these guidelines you should have few problems.

*Note: It is illegal for a landlord to enter a property without 30 days max to 24 hours minimum notice. Notifying any of the tenants counts as notice, access written into the agreement on specific periods is notice. 

Sólido Properties Ltd owns, manages, rents and operates property at Big White Ski Resort.

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Big White is AWESOME! er... not about Big White...

So I wrote a brilliant blog yesterday, man it was funny. It included the Isfan's, Al Reid, me, my wife, the Thanksgiving Dinner...

Funny! But not PC... not even after I toned it down... So it is there, hidden from eyes, but if you ever want to see it... don't tell wifey.

So lets er... talk about nothing.

Did I tell you I now get paid for writing...? $3.12 in September, a professional I am now. Granted I am not a Shakespeare - I haven't even read his stuff... lots of people rave about it... seems a bit too wordy for me... "A horse, a horse... my kingdom for a horse..." Romantic grand gesture, but a bit of overkill... how about "...Wigan for a horse..." 
*Richard III, - story of a short but Machiavellian rise to power. Shaky 1592+/- Don't say you don't learn anything from Lummy Pie.

A bit more realistic, no? Cos you know he won't honour the kingdom/horse thing. He will get his lawyers involved, the horse was the wrong kind, he mis-spoke, it was a rash comment in the heat of the moment... blah blah blah... And he is Machiavellian, he is gonna cut your head off.

Now Wigan on the other hand, I can see that going for a horse... actually if I was king, giving Wigan up would not be a bad thing... here take it... no no no, please have it... a gift :) That's very generous of you kingy, but, what do I do with it? It seems to be full of those thingy's... er... Wiganers... eating pies and they don't speak English...

Granted Wigan has a couple of things going for it... it is easy to leave for one... And er...

...er fish and chips... best in the world... oh yes they are... and best mushy peas too... you listening Ben? You cannot squash up a bunch of garden peas, add mint and call it gastro... No, no, you cannot! I don't care what Paul says - he is Irish and used to be Debbie Harry - who was not famous for mushy peas... 

Who is Paul? He is your boss you numpty... of course he exists, where do you think I learned that word from...?

Alright were am I? Yes, Wigan. Mushy Peas (the real kind), pies and easy to leave... not worth a horse you say... what about a carrot? Wigan for a carrot... 

I think that is it... for today... oh wait, how about a story?

...here is a short army one... Eddy.

Eddy was a nice guy (probably still is) when I knew him in Germany; not that it mattered, but we were stationed in Osnabruck - 43 Plant Squadron. Now, Eddy was a bit of a bragger... bit of a show off, he liked to display his accomplishments... talk about his conquests...

One weekend a couple of the guys (including Eddy) did a road trip to Denmark. Eddy met a girl one night... and woke up the next day with a... memento, no not an STD but a single hair in his teeth... you know the kind... And he decided to keep it, in his room, in a little glass frame...

Every so often (when friends were around) Eddy would pull out the... and play with it... in his teeth... on his tongue... in his lips... making little noises 'mmm mmm mmmmm...'. 

Eventually the boys had had enough. One day when Eddy was out, it was swapped for another...

Big White is AWESOME! A Christmas Story...

But it is Thanksgiving... Christmas is way off... what are you up to Sherriff?

Not much, searching the bottom of the barrel for things to write, and it not really a Christmas story, more of a birthday one... mine... my 25th.

But my birthday is Christmas day... you see a little connection.

I had just left the army and like many arriving at Big White, I went to spend a season at a ski resort - in my case - Chatel, in the French Alps.

It is funny how quickly you meet new friends when you are travelling alone... the bar is the perfect place... of course it is. Anyway I had arrived in Switzerland (actually) a week or so before and despite my command of the French language being similar to my command of Hindu, I had managed to 

• find accommodation, 
• got a job in a French restaurant as a plunger (say it with a French accent), it's a dish-washer.
• and I probably knew most of the brits working in the resort. I went to the bars... easy.

Plunger is a hard job, I literally ran in the kitchen trying to keep up with the mountain of dishes... each morning would start with last nights dinner... and just as I got through that, breakfast was piled high, and before I finished breakfast... lunch arrived... ahhh! 

Anyway lets get to the story. At this restaurant there was a French girl... (Frenchy) doing house-maid slash waitress jobs... she did not speak any english. We never conversed (cos we couldn't) and besides she barely acknowledged my existence - 'dumb English hooligan' French accent again please...

So, it is Christmas Eve, and the eve of my 25th birthday. I am with a couple of Friends, both who speak French, one is half Swiss (the French side) so is fluent... We are drinking and having fun when Frenchy arrives... it appears her standards have now dropped and 'I' am on her radar. Actually I am not just on her radar, I am target acquired, missiles are locked and loaded - she is all over me... all over... let me say that again (cos it never happened often, okay okay... never...) All Over me!

Now the language barrier problem... is no longer. I am understanding (with a little help from my friends and the All Over bit) that she is telling me I shouldn't be alone on my birthday... Okay... I can do that, the 'not' being alone thing.

She is sat on my lap, her arms are wrapped around me, she keeps kissing me, she keeps talking to me in French... 'not alone on your birthday... not alone' Okay, me man, I will do as told... keep her happy, do what she wants. Which funnily enough is exactly what I want... it is my birthday after all... And Christmas too!

So, I go to the washroom... (mistake) when I come back Frenchy is leaving... and is mad...! Mad! Despite my lack of French, I can tell when a woman is mad... I think it is a natural talent. Anyway, her jacket is on, there is some feet stomping, I get a final dirty look and she is out the door... gone!

What the hell did I do? What...? At this point I notice my 'buddies' giggling to themselves... b*******!

No they had not told her I was married, or had kids, or had a girlfriend - none of those by the way.


No... my friends had explained to her that I was a prostitute and she would have to pay...

Ha! We laughed... Not. B*******!


Pitch-
If you are coming to Big White for the season... go to the bars...

Big White is AWESOME! The Annual Migration...

Yes, yes it is that time of year again. The annual migration from Australia, to a central gathering spot in the central interior of BC... a mountain called Big White.

No one knows the exact size of this migration, nor how they navigate the almost 13,000 km... some say it is instinct, others say internal compass... others claim international flight schedules... others indicate an inter-generational knowledge transfer... ('talking') Whatever the reason - like students returning to the bar, these strange humanoids - arrive at Big White en masse.

Now there are two categories, 'Returning' and 'Newbies', each with varying personality traits between both the male and female.

The first category, the 'Returning'
The returning seasonal worker has seen it and done it at Big White; not only surviving the experience but thriving in the (liver) challenging conditions. The 'returning' source better jobs, better places to live, avoid (somewhat) the party scene, are more settled and tend to budget their income better. 

Now don't get me wrong the 'Returning', is usually an 'expert' drinker, and can be seen falling into the 'who wants a shot?' trap... be careful of this trap... 

On par with the 'who wants a shot?' trap is the 'here drink this...' pass if possible. However, avoidance can often lead to the withdrawal of the 'man card' membership status... This can be costly when it comes to attracting potential partners - critical if said target, has fallen into the 'here drink this...' trap.


The second category is the 'new seasonal worker...' - 'Newbies'.
The Newbie is often seen wondering around the village come mid November asking 'where is the village?' Another common trait of the Newbie is to group walk, looking for nesting sites - often the Newbie is forced to accept costly, yet inferior, nesting sites.

As a result of the inferior nesting sites, Newbies spend little time in the nest, often reverting to the local gathering centres "watering holes" this leaves them greatly exposed to the 'who wants a shot?' and 'here drink this' traps. 

Note:
These two traps often contain toxic elements, fortunately the physiology of the species allows a natural counter, often triggered by the 'staggering home' activity - Pizza tracks.  The 'nightly produced tracks' can often be seen, early morning, radiating from the watering holes...

The Male Migratory Beast.
Whether a 'returning' or 'newbie' can be identified with common physical attributes... more often than not it is skinny jeans, canvas pumps and facial hair... 

Note 2: The skinny jean can actually serve as an indicator to outsiders trying to gleam a knowledge, some jean waists are found around the the buttocks or even mid thigh of the species. No research has been completed but the finding are interesting-

• The question of "why is your trouser waist around your thigh?"
• If the answer is - "because it is comfortable." then you are dealing with a person on a different level of intelligence.
• If the answer is - "because I like them." Ditto.
• If the answer is - "because I cannot pull them up properly." Ditto
• Of course if the answer is "they fell down." Then in that instance you are dealing with Ditto.

Of course there seems to be a correlation between the height of the waist and the IQ of the wearer. But only to a certain level... jeans around the neck... 

And males outnumber the females... this often leads to territorial and testosterone driven conflicts... Unsurprisingly the these conflicts often occur post or during the 'who wants a shot' and 'here drink this' traps.

The Female.

The Female, as in many species tend to be much smarter than the males. Often securing reasonable nesting sites and engaging in positions to secure a continuous and ready supply of the "beer token", this allows them to participate in the nightly watering hole rituals. Often the Female is able to secure participation in the rituals without expending any of their tokens - we find the Males enabling this situation with the "Can I buy you a drink...?" approach.

Note 3.

The "Can I buy you a drink...?" is not the real question, it is "would you like to see my nest...?" Do not confuse with the male to male question "Hey, want a beer? This means 'hey, want a beer?'.

Finally, if the beasts fall into the various drinking traps they can find themselves in the morning going through this thought process...

• "Where am I...?"
• "Man my head hurts..."
• "...Who are you...!?"
• "Where are my clothes...?"
• "I am never going to drink again... Ever!" - Don't believe this, it is a lie.

Pitch

Sólido Properties lives, works, owns, and rents property, falls into drinking traps, and writes a crappy blog about living at Big White. If you need a nest... contact us through Facebook, our website or email

Big White is AWESOME! Sun Peaks...

Wait... What? Sun Peaks...?

We took the kids for a quick break and to look at another ski resort that is working on improving the summer program. Luckily for me the Mayor of Sun Peaks (Al Raine) granted an audience - I was hoping for a hour... I had 'call me Al' all morning...

Sun Peaks and Big White.
On paper Sun Peaks does not seem to be as strong as Big White. 

• Local population 98,000+ in 2011 vs Kelowna 180,000 in the Metro areas. 
• Flights - 1.44m travellers through Kelowna, 263k through Kamloops.
• Kelowna has international throughout North America, Kamloops - none.
• Travellers to Sun Peaks have to fly into Vancouver or Kelowna.
• Elevation - Big White - 2,315m, Sun Peaks 2,080m
• Skiable terrain - Big White resort area 7,355 acres. Sun Peaks, 3,678 acres.
• Vertical - Big White 777, Sun Peaks, 881
• Average annual snowfall - Big White 24.5ft, Sun Peaks, 18ft.
• Up hill lift capacity - Big White 28,000 p/h, Sun Peaks 12,000
• Accommodation - Big White 17,000 beds, Sun Peaks 9,000.

On paper, Sun Peaks is inferior... on paper...

But Sun Peaks is now a Resort Municipality.

Sun Peaks municipal will spend $1m+ on capital upgrades this year, in 2015 they plan to spend almost $4m - these funds are external to the lift operator (Sun Peaks Resort). 'Call me Al' estimates the municipal government receives in the region of $600k - $700k per annum in other funding - grants etc. Funds available to improve the resort and develop the summer and shoulder seasons. Health centre, community centre, new cooled skating rink, baseball diamond, tennis court upgrades... etc etc. 

In addition the resort and municipality provides-

• free concerts (Colin James...) 
• there is a farmers market every week
• Geocaching,
• mountain biking
• hiking trails with lift access
• sports and aquatic centre
• canoe, kayak, stand up paddle boarding, horse riding...
• Golf...

Restaurants are open, retain stores are open, lifts are open, tour buses are there every week (they stop off on their way to Jasper).

According to 'Call me' properties average roughly 33%+/- annual occupancy, the flag hotel - Delta 37%... Big White? Annual occupancy 22%+... for Big White to increase 22% to 33% is a 50% increase.  Big White has 17,000 beds with an average 23% occupancy - this equates to 4.78m vacant nights per year...

Granted Kamloops is pretty ugly (sorry Kamloops but it's true), Kelowna has a beautiful lake, numerous wineries, golf etc etc - if I was in Kamloops, I would escape to Sun Peaks...

But Big White is better... well I would say that, I don't call the blog Sun Peaks is awesome do I...?

How do we as a community catch up - Sun Peaks is pouring $100k's into developing all season and shoulder activities, every year. The Sun Peaks Tourism Association spends $2m+/- every year, $300k of this budget goes to exclusively to summer promotion.

Sun Peaks became a resort municipality three years ago. Three years ago their school enrolment for the year was 22, last year 38 and this year 65. Not that school enrolment is a direct critical factor but...

Can we compete, can we catch up?

Imagine, 50% more visitors, 50% more business revenue, 50% more jobs (Big White attracts 1300 seasonal staff every year)... what would 50% more revenue do for property values?

But that is only if we equal the performance of Sun Peaks... Big White has the location, infrastructure, and accessibility.... we shouldn't be competing with Sun Peaks, we should be leaving them for dust...

Incidentally, our regional district the Regional District of Kootney Boundary has a budget for $6.4m of recreational and cultural improvements for 2013...

And even though Big White property owners contribute 23% of the regional districts total  property tax revenue... $0 of this $6.4m is being spent at Big White... zero!