NBS I think a.k.a. the land of the diamond encrusted Amex card? Conspicuous consumption is the name of the game.
Walking around the West End (specifically Knightsbridge/Kensington & down to Chelsea & Fulham Rd) can be a scary experience when some of the mad-cap drivers of these kinds of car are about.
It’s very much a case of ‘a race between the lights’ (to cite Dire Straits IIRC) at times, with many screeching brakes, with comings together far from rare.
Don’t run! Grizzlies can outrun horses, so they’re faster than you. They can also climb trees pretty quickly, but not as fast as black bears.
My son lives outside Seattle, and bears are common visitors to their property - especially after a delivery of dog & cat food. The dog is a pit bull, but even she keeps her distance.
Quite a day here for weather. There’s an airliner in the centre of the photo, not clear in this reduced resolution image.
My wife’s cousin works as a tour guide in Alaska. He once rounded a bend of a dry river bed with a group of tourists in tow to see a mother grizzly with her cubs, 50 or so feet away. Quietly shuffling back the way they came did the trick, and all lived to tell the tale.
Running from any wild predator only kicks in their natural instinct to chase and they can all run faster than you! If attacked by a black bear you can at least try and fight it off. You have no chance against a grizzly though. Playing dead and covering your neck with your hands is a last resort and you’ll only survive if he’s not feeling too hungry on that particular day. Bear spray is always recommended when travelling the backcountry in these parts.
My only encounter with a grizzly was between Magog Lake and the Mt Shark Trailhead.
Female one side of the trail, with a cub on the other side.
We stopped about 100 m short of the bear and waited best part of an hour during which time she made one bluff charge down to about 50 m.
Eventually the cub moved back across the trail and we passed by with about a 50 m clearance.
CrossCurrents
I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for over 25 years and I’ve never seen a bear in the wild. But most times I go camping or out for a hike the thought flits through my mind “is it a brown bear or a black bear I should play dead for / absolutely not play dead for” 
A Flapper Skate. Normally mooching about at around 100 to 200m under the water, this unusual behaviour is being seen more often. This one was about 5m offshore in relatively shallow water. I estimated it to be somewhere between 2 and 3m in length. Other large Skates have also been observed close to shore in recent weeks and the local marine conservation guys are puzzled by this out of character behaviour. No doubt, a magnificent thing to see though.
Cheers,
Ian
Lovely idyllic photo.
