Category: Travel

After a week in Vancouver – a week, already! – under clear blue skies, we have our first overcast day. For me, it is very welcome. It is a display of the city’s more familiar face: one complimentary to the sun-blasted one sometimes revealed in summer.

As I was telling Sarah yesterday, it feels really good to be back in a city. The change feels like going from a computer full of complicated software to a computer with a few familiar applications and a connection to the internet. The place feels more embedded in the world, more empowering, and generally closer to possibility.

Clear days are loveliest during the short time between when the sun falls below the horizon and the time when it actually gets dark. Because my judo classes used to end at exactly that time, during the summer, I still associate the particular quality of that light, and the way the shifting temperature feels, with those short walks home in judo pants.

Overcast days are excellent for hiking and biking, as well as for photography. There is no need to muck around with hats and sun creams, and the light is diffuse and well suited to being captured on film or with a digital sensor. All told, it makes me look forward even more to going walking near Trout Lake with Sasha W later today.

A visit to Nick’s house today reminded me of an odd (and self-reinforcing) canine behaviour. Namely, dogs seem to sense which people like members of the species Canis lupus familiaris and which people fear them, then react so as to strengthen that response in the person experiencing it. They drool and wag their tails at the dog lovers and exude all manner of ill-will towards the wary. Ever since being bitten several times as a humble North Shore News delivery boy, I have had a strong dislike for all dogs that are not manifestly harmless. I don’t mean the growling beasts that clueless owners tell you are ‘harmless’ as they champ at the bit to disembowel you: I mean dogs that are small, awkward, and preferably mostly blind. To me, other dogs are full of malice and aggression.

As such, Nick’s new dog J.D. decided to stake out the front gate to their house and snarl, pressing toothy mouth between chain-link strands, when I approached. Wandering over to Jonathan’s, his dog buddy bared its teeth in equal menace and prompted a cautious, backwards, step-by-step retreat. Eventually, I managed to flank J.D. and enter Nick’s house by a different gate.

While it may be a stereotype to say that cats are clever, independent, elegant, and aloof while dogs are stupid and playful, it is one that has more than a bit of a truthful basis. Personally, I would be quite happy to never see a member of the latter species again.

PS. Please note that these pictures have nothing to do with the posts in which they are embedded. They are just nice portraits from CF2 that I wanted to include in the blog. The very best photos will appear on Photo.net once I get my lovely Mac back.

As expected, Cabin Fever 2 was a great success. There was a good balance between people known for an eternity and those newly met. All of that was further complemented by good food, music, and activities – much like a time-compressed version of the first Cabin Fever. The best part may have been the boating, both on Friday night under the nearly full moon and admist much exciting water skiing and tubing on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Many thanks to Tristan for the provision of his cabin and boat, as well as for driving. Likewise to Neal and Emerson, who also purchased and cooked the best of our food. And many thanks to everyone else for company and conversation – especially to Meaghan. Best of luck to Jonathan during his long bike ride home. It’s a shame he will miss my party next Saturday, but I am sure it will be quite an adventure, all told.

Normally, I would be uploading the hundreds of photos I took, but I am unable to locate my own computer at present, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. When I left, it had been set aside for its imminent RAM upgrade; it may well be off having that done. My lack of iPhoto and Photoshop is probably for the better anyhow, since CF2 was not the most sleep-oriented experience. Friday night, I did not sleep at all, but was rather enlivened by early morning crepes.

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[Update: 11 September 2006] I tried uploading the CF2 photos to one of my parents’ computers, since my Mac is off getting upgraded. Firstly, it got them completely out of order. Secondly, because the colour and contrast are both so badly off on this monitor, I don’t want to adjust any for the blog or Photo.net. People will just need to wait until Wednesday for such things. Some raw image files are on Facebook, where the image quality doesn’t really matter.

I am not going to write much, because there are more interesting things to be done. The food and company here have been excellent so far: likewise, the boating and general ambiance. Seeing friends who have long been across the world is likewise very welcome. Many photos will find their way online in some form or location eventually.

PS. We are really roughing it out here – this post had to be made over a dial-up internet connection.

I shall be off at Barrier Lake until Sunday. I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.

The weather in Vancouver is stunning. So much so, and for so long, that there is a kind of thin haze obscuring the view of the mountains. Thankfully, there can be little doubt that the city will get a blast or two of cleansing rain before I depart.

Considerable progress is being made on the tasks that I resolved to complete while in Vancouver. A trip to Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC) with my mother, this afternoon, yielded a replacement to my venerable but now far-from-waterproof Gore-Tex coat. The successor is a really superb three-ply Gore-tex shell, which should be suitable both for general Oxford wintertime wandering and for more daring activities in the outdoors. The bright red colour should make me easier to spot. In addition, I got a few other things: a fleece vest, some shirts, and another pair of liner socks for hiking. I am now hoping for a proper Vancouver downpour: that will let me see the city in its natural state, test out my new jacket, and clear the haze that is obscuring the view of the Coast Mountains to the north.

This afternoon also involved pizza, coffee, and the taking in of ambience on Commercial Drive: a famously bohemian part of the city. It is a place to which I have to return, ideally with Sarah Pemberton or Sasha Wiley.

With my UBC accounts now expired, I have no effective means of accessing the internet for free in downtown Vancouver – which is annoying. There are a good twenty wireless networks operating around this little park beside Robson Court, but they all require WEP keys or some other form of authentication. Also irksome is the fact that the Lens and Shutter location in Pacific Centre is closed. Perhaps I will be able to make a stop at the Park Royal location later tonight, amidst the assembling of food and gear for Cabin Fever.

Having just realized how prudent it would be to bring bathing trunks to an event where water skiing is probable, I have another item to track down.

Soft water! Phone numbers with the right number of digits! Friends and family members long unseen. The visit has been going very well so far. I spent a few hours with Nick, Jonathan, Topher, and Emerson – engaging in our endless habitual pursuits of conversation and the consumption of food and drink around his most welcoming house. I have also begun ticking my way down the list of essential tasks that I set out before leaving.

I expect that blogging while here will largely consist of short posts accompanied by an unusually large number of photos including people.

PS. Forgive me, but my keeping track of other people’s blogs will be somewhat lax during the time of my stay in Vancouver. I am sure people will understand. 236 posts have come online among the various blogs I read, just since I left Oxford.

PPS. I was quite astonished by how nice the international arrivals area of the Vancouver International Airport is. After leaving Gatwick, it is like stepping into another world. As such, it is a really excellent introduction to our city, for those arriving the first time.

After a long but favourable trip, I am back in North Vancouver. Returning to Vancouver after a year feels like putting on a properly tailored coat that you haven’t worn for a while: it makes sense immediately, and there is considerable pleasure to be derived from that fact.

I am off to explore the neighbourhood. Vancouverite friends, please call me. Temporary cell phone information pending.

Thinking back over this year spent in Oxford, the most valuable aspect of it has definitely been those who I met. That is a definite continuity with Vancouver, as it is the people there who are the reason this return trip is so exciting and desirable. Having the opportunity to spend two weeks with Vancouver family and friends, followed hard upon by a return to Oxford at the same time as so many people will be returning for the resumption of classes, is an appealing social cascade.

While it may exaggerate my studiousness of late just a bit, it still seems apt to think about this trip as the temporary abandonment of the Tree of Knowledge in favour of the Tree of Life. Barring any serious delays, I will be in Vancouver by about 9:00am Pacific Standard Time.

People in Vancouver who want to get in touch with me should email me or call my parents’ house. I will try and sort out a cell phone for while I am there, but the feasibility of that plan will be determined by how well the cost matches the benefit over my relatively brief time in the city.