After a walk yesterday looking for apartments for lease or rent, there are none, I rewarded myself ordering a gin and tonic on the outside patio of a restaurant near my place. Two guys came in and took the table next to mine, and the last one available, introduced themselves Cameron and Rob and said we hope you don’t mind but we have some friends showing up with their kids and we would like to spill over onto your table. No problem I said I only came in for a quick drink. The waitress appeared with my G&T and the guys insisted on putting it on their tab and after some conversation asked me to join them for the evening. I thanked them and declined, those days are gone. Their friends arrived, one family in a car waiting to turn right at a red light next to the patio and much to the surprise of me and the 20 folks sitting on the patio, they allowed their small dog to jump out of the car window, run across the sidewalk, under the railing and into the patio where it was grabbed up by one of my new found friends.
On my way out I stopped and found the waitress dealing with my table and paid for the first drinks of my two new acquaintances. Recognizing her accent I inquired which part of Cork are you from, to which she answered with a big grin I am from Limerick but I am going to university in Cork but how did you know.
I asked and those 8 young men sitting opposite us at the big table across from the staff cash registers, inhaling burgers and drinking large beers they are also Irish. A one eyed person could have picked them out of a police line up as being Irish, plus it was Happy Hour. She looked even more surprised so I tapped my card on her reader, gave her a smile and left. I only have a trace of my old Northern Irish accent and it would have been impossible for her to recognize it is a noisy restaurant.
That or a variation of it is how I spend my days wandering around Kitsilano.
PS A cynical ? friend says the Amazon educational announcement for their staff is a long term, tax deductible PR success and you will not get much in the way of degree for the amounts announced.