November can be the most challenging month in Vancouver. It’s wet, cold, and windy. The weekly weather forecast usually sounds something like “rain, rain, showers, heavy rainfall warning, cloudy with a chance of showers, rain and windy conditions, and a Sunday special – more rain!”

It really is impossible to tell what time of day it is by simply glancing out of the window, because the sun makes rare guest appearances. Sometimes it appears just around sunset, cracking a little break in the clouds to remind you it’s still sunny somewhere else on the planet. Forget fifty shades – Vancouver natives probably have a hundred words for November greys! It’s too easy to get really crotchety, craving sunshine, light, and colour, or hoping for some snow to come along, just to pretty up the scenery.

You could hibernate, I suppose, but the thing to do is get out and about, and I don’t mean booking tickets to Mexico, though that is just what lots of people will do over the holidays! You don’t have to go far – take downtown Vancouver on a rare clear day. Make a trip to Victoria, where it’s a little drier. Or drive south to Seattle, which shares much the same weather as Vancouver, but with all those great places to eat, it offers ample compensation for the effort of driving there… and we need those extra calories now, don’t we?!

Did I say grey? There’s still a surprising amount of colour out there. Chartreuse, amber, purples and reds, hints of gold.. take a look!