Fun in Vancouver

A funny thing happened yesterday. After several rapidfire first interviews (don't call us, we'll call you), I decided to head to Gastown and find the Irish pub where an old Guelph friend now works. It was a balmy 15 Celsius Vancouver afternoon, and I strolled through downtown somewhat haphazardly, smiling and nodding at the increasing number of winos and druggies as I head towards Hastings Street.

Arriving in Gastown, I discovered the address I had for the pub was wrong, and the coins in my pocket (bus fare) were drawing some undue attention on my stroll through Blood Alley Way. It started to rain for the first time of the day, and I discoverd I had left my umbrella at the last interview. That being the last straw, I gave up, and headed for home. Then again, I wasn't really sure where home was, so I just caught a bus, rode to a Skytrain station, and rode the Skytrain to another station that felt close to home.

To my surprise, upon exiting the train station, there was a queue for free pizzas! That's right, Toscana was giving away frozen pizzas off the back of a truck as a promotion. With pizza under arm, I strolled down Nanaimo Street in search of a way home. I got there five minutes before Laura did, just in time to grab garbage bags at the dollar store.

After our free pizza dinner, Laura and I decided to take a stroll. Coffee in hand, we set out at 8:00 to discover the neighbourhood in our sweatshirts and running shoes. We found a great little grocery store (1/2 bulk barn, 1/2 corner grocer, all organic) with prices comparable to Ontario - $1.79/lb. for lean ground beef! We walked up to the Nanaimo train station, so that I could time how long it actually took.

On our way back, we found a little green space under the train tracks, and Laura stopped to admire a pretty bush. I pointed out a sign to her, the green space was called "Filipino Plaza" !?! There wasn't very much about it that was Filipino or a plaza... Almost home, walking through a quiet unlit neighbourhood, we were arguing the finer points of various run down older houses, when a drug dealer with a knife jumped out from behind a tree, scaring both of us.

Actually, it was someone's garbage out for pickup that fell over, and we made it home safely just after 9:00 for a cup of tea.