bridge and viaduct crowd
Every single trip over the Georgia Viaduct or the Cambie, Burrard or Granville bridges I feel like I'm in a big city. Does anyone else feel that way?
Whether I'm in a car or on foot or on a bus, I always feel so cosmo zooming over their expanse. I know - it's a little sad that I associate large concrete roadways over polluted little False Creek as vanguards of Vancouver's metropolitaness. I think this association is left over from living in Johannesburg. Flying over that city, the view is nothing but a mess of curly over passes and six lane, circular roads. The Nelson Mandela Bridge isn't so bad either. If I'm going to fall in love with Vancouver finally after all these years/months, I might as well heart its uglier parts as well as it's pretty ones (namely, what I refer to as Vancouver's tits and ass: our mountains and ocean.
Next week I will volunteer at my 4th BEST pancake breakfast. If any Vancouverites who ride, walk or skytrain to work want to nosh on free pancakes, organic coffee/maple syrup then join me June 27. The breakfast happens @ the 200 Granville Plaza right near the Waterfront skytrain station. I'll be there early with bells on and pancake batter smeared across my shirt no doubt. Pssssst. Summer's here. Go for a picnic. Make out on a bench. Pick some flowers. Take road trips south.
learning to strum the chords of chivallry
Just back from Alberta and all things flat and green. I spent the weekend in the praries with family in one of Calgary's illustrious bedroom communities. I haven't visited Alberta in the summer since I was 3 years old. Each one of my east-of-BC experiences has been in the biting cold of winter. So I was completely floored at the green, slightly pretty boy that Calgary transformed into during summer.
After 2.5 days straight in small town 'berta I made a break for Calgary to visit some old friends and new. Old = Rotary Exchange buddy, fellow UVic alumni and of course C-town's newlywed power couple. New = friends met at said power couple's wedding in that place I would now love to frequent yearly and chronicled below.
My day/night in stampede city was spent drinking too strong homemade Mai Tais, attempting to dance jive to house music, playing Guitar Heroes (miserably) and catching up on post-Maui life, gossip and photos. And we went for lifesaving, hangover-stopping dim sum and later a hearty amazing potluck. THANKGOD because I really did feel like a pirate on Sunday: my head throbbed, my leg felt like a peg, my hair was natty and only one of my eyes was working.
Speaking of the biggun above...ever noticed the flatter the land, the more the more spirals pointing skywards. Alberta is extremely churchy. I wonder if this is a correlation for the amount of chivallry that exists there. All weekend I thought about one Elaine's May 29 blog about chivallry. It seemed everywhere I turned doors were being opened and people smiled and did something nice, unasked for. At first I thought it was just my friends and family, but nope it's Calgary in general. Everyone is so bloody friendly, polite and nice.
Is it economic? Is is social? Is it religious? I'm not sure, but if folks want to open the door for my mom on crutches or let me jump a grocery queue because they're lovely, swell people then I'll go with the flow of human kindness. I've decided to recant at least 1/2 of the bad things I've ever thought about our neighbors. Now if I could only mimic their manners a little more.
hella buses worth seeing my old friend
Vancouver Island + Mir + Mel = 42 hours. Visiting the indomintable Mel right now - friend of a gazillion years and at least as many laughs, good times and bad. I've been feeling fairly rubbery and "whathefuckamIdoing" since my Maui return. Mel always makes me feel strong and fun and has done so since we were about 12 years old. She lives near Courtenay with her uber talented boy Jamie and their cutie patootie daughter Molly. Jamie provided my Maui beach soundtrack for the duration of my trip with his "Somewhere Down in Royston" (SDIR) mix here.
It took a longer to get here today than it did to go to Maui. I started travelling at 12noon and arrived at 8:30 after an attempt at a standby flight with Harbour Air, a walk across downtown with my gypsy friend Sarah, two bus rides and one ferry trip. Courtenay is beautiful and near Fanny Bay. Who doesn't love Fanny Bay oysters? Has anyone ever had a Fanny experience with someone from down south. No, not that silly. I mean saying the word fanny in front of anyone from South Africa, Oz or NZ elicits an entirely different response than here in the great white north.
It's great to be on an island once again. I swear to god the stress and craziness of Vancouver sheds off my shoulders the minute I touch ground here.
