Vancouver

I always find a stay in West Vancouver relaxes and revitalizes me. This is my favourite city. Even though the place is overpopulated with Starbucks and there isn’t a Tim Horton’s to be found, the pace is laid back. I spent the first part of the morning sitting on the balcony watching the cruise ships as they made their stately way under the Lions Gate Bridge on their way to Alaska. Sandy and Jan decided to go shopping, so I took advantage of the lull to give myself a long overdue haircut.

When I was presentable, Mal and I jumped in his Miata convertible and went to meet the ladies for coffee. This car strikes me as the direct descendant of the old MGB, a car I loved and revered as a true sports car. Nimble and not overpowered, it just looks for winding roads to play on. Some day. The rendezvous at a Starbucks went well and we all sat outside and had some indescribable caffeine drinks that I like but need a barista interpreter to order.


After coffee, Mal and I returned to his apartment and then took a walk around town looking for a bookstore. The used books place we found on Marine Drive had to be the most cluttered I have ever seen but there was a system. Behind narrow aisles stacked with used magazines and shelves of paperback and hardcover sorted by category and author, I found science fiction and fantasy combined together. I selected Stranger In A Strange Land, which I have a yearning to read yet one more time, and Stardance by Spider & Jeanne Robinson. We had to have the obligatory chat with the owner, an older gentleman sorting books just inside the front door, before we left. On the way back, we walked a bit of the beach and stopped at the liquor store for more wine.

Supper consisted of more pizza and Greek salad, a fine light but sustaining meal, washed down with more wine. Then I found the NASCAR race on Mal’s computer, which masquerades as a TV, and was pretty well lost for the rest of the evening.