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Books

After my last dead end foray into serious reading I have opted to switch to something lighter and more fun. With that in mind I have emailed my second hand bookshop PulpFiction and asked if they have copies of 5 of the mystery authors you suggested.
 
My task for today is to find a copy of the Financial Times Weekend edition, they have some excellent writers and since the money wants to know what is really happening in the world their articles are well sourced and thoughtfully written. Sort of an Economist but only for the weekend, so a less labor intensive read. Every time I recycle a copy of the Economist I feel guilty because I know I only read a few of the articles and scanned the rest.
 
One of the great advantages of being here is you can walk to nearly everywhere, the butcher, fish monger, hardware store, bakery, grocery store, I try to walk past Whole Foods. The beach is 10 minutes on foot and by the end of the day you have often walked 5 Kms without setting out intentionally to get some exercise.
 
And being very (too) talkative I speak with lots of people, compliment the owner on a nice looking dog and you have a brief conversation, ask a new mom if you can peek at the baby and you have another one. The bus driver from England with his splendid bow tie was OK with my taking his picture. 

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.  

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It’s Another Story

I asked him how many Kms  it gets to the gallon he answered none, it doesn’t do f…… Kms it does miles so I sat down with him and his little dog TT, TT has no eyes, on a bench outside his house across from the beach in Kitsilano and for half an hour he told me story after story. Some maybe mostly true.
 
His wife came out of the house, a very good looking women in her late thirties, said hello, picked up TT and they drove off for supper arguing about which restaurant to go to.
 
Life in Vancouver is not dull,
 
John
Vancouver is always interesting 
 
 
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Vancouver – Kitsilano

A few friends have asked how I am enjoying Vancouver and my favorite suburb Kitsilano.

So herewith a few lines.

Seeing a poster on a lamppost saying the University of British Columbia school of music will perform Don Giovanni in a few weeks time and there being a bus stop for UBC a few blocks from my apartment I decided rather than buy on line I would go to the campus and get a ticket.

On the campus I saw a group of cheering children, with parents protesting climate change.

But very much in favor of pizza.

Walking back to the bus terminal I saw this etched into a bench on the campus.

On the way this young man asked me to take his picture using his mobile phone and I said sure. He asked I be certain to get all of him including his sneakers in the picture which I did. I asked if I could take his picture and it was his turn to say sure. His name is Okot, he is from South Sudan and is studying creative writing at UBC.

After getting my ticket I took an electric bus, Vancouver has had electric buses since 1948, back down 4th Avenue.

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Some Photos I Missed

While in Pham Ngu Lao the backpacker district of Saigon I sometimes have breakfast, op plat (oeufs au plat), two eggs, a small baguette and a Vietnamese coffee on the sidewalk outside the La Vang Cafe, here the owner is having an early morning smoke, on Bui Vien street and watch the international tourist street life go by.

Some of the photos I missed while seated there.
The dog flying past me down Bui Vien street right to left at about 30 plus miles an hour, nose well forward and hair flying back in the wind, seated on the Vespa drivers knees with its paws in the middle of the handlebars, a not unusual sight in Saigon. The dogs here must be have developed a keen sense of balance, or the ones that didn’t fell by the evolutionary wayside.
This one was not quite so impressive. The wife hopped on behind and they drove off with the dog leaning out looking round the fairing.

The one I really regret missing, twice. The guy heading down the street straight towards me and the restaurant steering the motorbike with his right hand and a tray full of bowls of food, breakfast pho ? balanced on his his left. On both occasions I was so engrossed watching him make the right turn onto Bui Vien that I sat there with my fork in my hand and my mouth open.
Vietnam has a motorbike taxi service called Grab, you schedule a ride on your phone or flag one down, no insurance required. They are very visible, the driver wears a Green jacket or tee shirt and a green helmet with Grab logo on them, the passenger is provided a loaner helmet also with the Grab logo. Today I saw a Grab motorbike go by and the driver was wearing an Uber tee shirt.

It is an odd thing that the adults wear helmets, its the law but not the kids and they sit on the gas tank on motorbikes and stand upright in front of the driver on Vespas

OK we found the limes but did you bring the vodka.

Finally are there Venezuelan anti Maduro tourists in Saigon.