Canada's 151st -- Our 23rd!

It is our habit to head to Vancouver's Waterfront on Canada Day.

We headed to that end of the SkyTrain line this morning. We usually do. The weather in Ontario may have been hot, but we had on jackets here! We saw the venue for new Canadians taking their oath of citizenship. We visited the military recruiting area showing equipment to the public. We also lingered beside Holland America's MS Noordam because she was parked at one of the slips at Canada Place. It was just our time to say hello to the ship we spent a month and a half on last fall. She's parked exactly where we boarded for our trans-Pacific cruise to New Zealand.







Today, we came back to New Westminster in time for a late lunch. There are, of course, events all over for Canada's birthday. Even now, I can hear a multi-cultural celebration in Pier Park sponsored by the Filipino community. Oh, from our balcony, I can see a barge on the Fraser River containing our evening's fireworks display at the Quay.

We marked 22 years of living here just last week; however, this is our 23rd Canada Day. We were staying at a hotel in the Downtown Eastside on July 1, 1996. It seems like yesterday.

Guess, I'll Wait for the Japanese or Koreans ...

I saw my Telsa today. Well, I saw what would probably be as close to my Tesla as I'll actually get.



I felt a little freaky taking a photo with a lady in the driver's seat. I suppose one might be used to a little attention when driving a new car such as this.

I put $1000 Canadian down as a deposit to get on the reservation list for a Model 3 last fall. I knew it'd take 'em a year before they could produce one for me. Not having 1K in my bank means I had to forgo $20 of interest at today's sorry rates. That was okay.

Seeing one today prompted me to log on to the Tesla website. I'd not visited for a while and they will let me order mine now! However, delivery will still be six to nine months off because I want the cheaper 2-wheel drive option.



Wait. If I add the self-driving package, the total comes to over $76,000 w/o tax and they'd like a non-refundable $3,200 of it today! This was supposed to be the Tesla model for the masses but I think, perhaps, I'm not one of them.

A Chip Off the Old (Writer's) Block

Today seemed like a perfect day to write nothing here.

I have a million little ideas in my head but none which are in a form begging for release. So it can be during the life of a blog! I cannot even get started on these three:

1) I watched an interesting TV program on the life of Socrates last night on The Knowledge Network in BC. It was second of three shows called 'Genius of the Ancient World', which may be available on Netflix too. I'm feeling a bit like the star of the show himself by not being interested in putting thoughts on paper.


I took this shot on the Acropolis in Athens last September.
2) After discovering the necessity of antihistamines as a basic medicine, I was thinking about the importance of first-aid kits. Yes, I should have one in both my apartment and in our truck. I have never bothered with an automotive version. That also could have been expanded to the idea of essential medicines and the importance of stocking clinics from the WHO list of essential medicines. I recall seeing a plan in a donation catalogue on WorldVision when we used to sponsor a kid. Yet, I cannot seem to get those thoughts organized well enough to put into a paragraph, much less into action.

3) The weather today was gross and it was not nice enough to even take a daily walk. (Gross as in awful; not in a dozen-dozen way.) I did spend some time on devices checking info on a possible September, get-away vacation prior to our winter away. I was considering adding some of those ideas to an entry here, especially considering the reasonable costs of some flights from Vancouver on Aeroméxico. None of those ideas are fully baked enough to share yet.

Therefore, I guess I won't write about those things, even though I, kind of, already have!

#NewWest

They're shipping containers. They create a very large "W". It's art.


Pier Park, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

Decades Come and Go

Yesterday, I was a bit remiss in not mentioning a date worthy of celebration. Annually, we note June 26th as the date we first arrived in Vancouver. It was the twenty-second anniversary of the flights from Dubai to Vancouver through Hong Kong. (That would've been the old HK airport.) Yay, for us!

As I was walking to Columbia Station today, I thought how very much our city has changed over the last two decades. The area where we rented from 1996 to 1998 is a great deal different. In fact, the location of these two photographs from today would have been completely unrecognizable when we decided upon New Westminster as a place to live. We are still proud residents of this city, so obviously we made the right decision.

Back in Our Hometown

Air travel still amazes me a little. Jayantha and I have probably spent more time in airplanes than anyone I know. Wait. We do know a flight attendant who lives here but commutes a half a continent away to pick up his overseas flights to Asia, so he's a notable exception for sure!

Still, the physics and logistics involved with a single flight are astounding. Getting back from San Francisco was a tiny flight compared to many. Still, that I could travel so much faster than in a car is pretty amazing. And automotive travel compared to the power of human legs is already pretty remarkable. Don't listen to folks who talk about the good, old days. There may be a lot of really old ones but they weren't that great for most of us.


Monday Morning
To think, we didn't get off the ground until 5:40 PM yesterday but were comfortably soaking in our own hot tub before 9:30. It was only that long as we decided that taking the SkyTrain to downtown Vancouver and then coming out here to New Westminster on another line is preferable to the trusted #100 bus. Just getting from Richmond to New Westminster took one hour and ten minutes. Getting from SF0 to YVR was only 35% longer than that!

Right Now

Remembering a Day of Parade

11-Second Video Clip
We awoke to temperatures which were a bit cooler, in the 20C, but there was not even the tiniest bit of cloud. So we went down from our hotel to watch the San Francisco Pride Parade under blue skies. Already thousands of people were lining the streets. It was about 10:40 and we arrived before the opening Dykes on Bikes roared by this part of Market Street.





We kept watching and watching as the various organizations arrived. Perhaps as a response to corporate sponsorship, the smaller groups and individual organizations came first. The entire parade was enormously long and the large software and hardware companies of the Bay area came.




We were a bit determined to stay through all the parade entries. I think there were about 260 and we didn't see the sweepers at the end until after four o'clock. We'd not eaten lunch! I had sunburn on my arms. It was definitely worth saying we witnessed the actual 2018 parade and crowds!

We head home this afternoon. We will need to check out of the hotel at noon. Then, we can have lunch and take BART to the airport before 2:00 PM.

Pride Weekend in SF

Somehow, I got sort of a day behind here. So, I'll add information for yesterday and save a few of today's pictures for tomorrow. The trip back on our 4:00 PM flight to YVR, probably won't merit much of a blog entry. Therefore, I'll post about what we saw in the 48th San Franciso Pride Parade tomorrow!

So this was our Saturday: We looked at the map and decided we'd never visited the Golden Gate Park here. I thought that meant the lands near the bridge but obviously, this park wasn't. We took an N-train and got out near the stadium. It was such a nice day that many others were visiting. We walked around the Botanical Gardens stopping at a few places on our map. It was nice.





We also make sure to find the Dyke March and it was really crowded down at Dolores Park and the Castro District. Summer is such fun especially as it so recently became official. There is something special about inclusivity in diversity. It is especially needed in times such as this, with renewed fascism so openly threatening to gain traction.

11.5 KM on the Old Keens

Jay and I are not first-time tourists to San Francisco. We don't come frequently, but we've done the most touristy things before. A $7 cable-car line wait was not on order for today. Still, being so close to Powell Street, watching the crowds is an option.

We started yesterday by taking the underground MUNI to the Castro District. When it's sunny in San Francisco, everything is so bright. After, we took a tram to the Embarkadaro and still ended up walking about 11.5 kilometers today.

Some of that was after a nap and a walk to Civic Square. We saw them setting up for the weekend festivities and the many, many homeless. San Francisco has always been a little rough around the edges, right next to rather obvious poshness. That is sort of what makes SF SF.

Good Morning, SF!

It was a smooth ride to SFO on our WestJet flight. We grabbed a BART train right to Powell Street Station. Our hotel is just a five minute walk on Mason Street.

We walked in the Tenderloin and found biriyani for dinner. We try that on our travel and always receive something a little different. We also stopped at a Trader Joe's and picked up some small items.

The sky has been and remains really blue. The news on TV talks about a wicked heat wave coming. I've been rather chilly so far. I had no idea the bay and shore were so much cooler than the inland areas. They're saying it'll be 100+F is some areas but it looks to be a perfect 70F here for all our time remaining.

The bed in the King George was comfortable and I feel rested.

Lock, Stock, But No Barrel

Packing seems to take as long for a four-night trip as when we head for the 150-nights of a whole winter away.



It all has to fit in here because I'm not volunteering to provide WestJet with any additional revenue.

Finding Short-Lived Deals

When I was teaching at BCIT, I remember a student who was quite an accomplished photographer. He maintained that digital photography would never replace film. The year was back at the beginning of the current millenium. Well, that ship certainly sailed, didn't it?

The Internet has allowed many old business models to wither. I cannot remember the last time we bought an airline ticket at an agency. In fact, I am more than a bit surprised that brick and morter travel agencies are still a thing. I guess really old people aren't confident that they can find what they need by using a computer. That is really sad and a clear indication that some folks have already been left behind. What about those who cannot afford Internet-enabled equipment? In order to fully participate in life one needs access to the Internet.

Rather than a lack of information, I find myself with an excess. I can waste a lot of time playing 'what if' scenerios. For example, what if we do a little extra travel during September? The whole world awaits ...

Look in All Directions

A few years ago, I got interested in 360° photos because the option was first cooked into Google Camera on my Nexus 5. If I think of all the stunning places I've been since but neglected to save in this format, I'm sad. Last year, we travelled a lot, from Santorini to Sydney to SE Asia!

I must return to creating many more. Now, it is as easy as opening up the Google Street View app. I need to pin a note on my shirt pocket or something. This is the riverside park in front of my apartment building in New Westminster, BC.



I must remember to make future contributions to Google Maps.

Love It. Love It. Love It!

Jay generally goes to the gym on Mondays and I take that time for four or five-kilometer walks around home.



Going uptown via Fourth Street lets me check in on Tipperary Park, near City Hall. That is truly an oasis as is the whole heritage neighbourhood on the other side of Royal Street. It is an especially satisfying climb when the weather is like this.

After a trip to the municipal library, I chose to walk down the busier Sixth Street. There is little shade so I got a full dose of the sunshine. The eastern end of downtown is surely growing as new residential towers rise in my neighbourhood.



I admit to having my big, over-the-ear headphones on. I was blasting current music as I use walks as a time to keep up on contemporary pop music. I've got a special library of 100 tunes featuring current artists. It's good to not simply fall into a rut of listening to just music with which I grew up. I submit for your consideration that people can stay younger if they act younger.

Ducks Come Home to Roost

It finally felt like summer, after the first half of this dreary June. We were invited to the downtown West End for one of our reoccurring duck-swap dinners.

Before dinner, we walked across the Burrard Street Bridge and out to the end of Vanier Park. The bridge's upgrade to separate bicycle and pedestrian pathways made for a safer crossing. The view from over False Creek is always an interesting way to see the city of Vancouver.




After returning, we enjoyed the food and chatted. How nice to have the windows open wide! It stays light so late now, as well. Shinji had to work later for his night shift so things wrapped up early. Jay and I stay for a bit, but, of course, Tim needed to work tomorrow as well. Ah, those souls who have to put in a sustained effort of employment; I can kind of sympathize. A little.

The rubber ducks came home with us, meaning we need to host next. We'll hear of Ed's schedule in a few days and we can try to set a date in July to have the gang out to New Westminster.