Thursday, August 31
Saturday, August 26
Walking the Chair
Yesterday, as I walked to work, I noticed an old dirty looking guy taking a chair for a walk. The chair had a very nice leather leash, and a small chain collar around it's base. It was putting up a fair bit of resistance though, as it didn't have wheels, but Mr. Old and Dirty didn't seem to mind that much. A small tug over the curb and the chair came dragging along merrily.
So I watched Mr. Old and Dirty and Chairy strolling down opposing side of the street; they stopped at the alley, turned, looked both ways, and stepped into oncoming traffic. While there wasn't much traffic coming from his right side, there was tons coming from the left. This probably had more to do with it being a one-way street than it being a particularly good time to cross.
Amazingly, he made it across safely and pulled the chair up in front of the door to an apartment. He quietly untied the chair, gave it a pat, and then turned and yelled to the entire street:
"This chair is for the retarded men that live in this building. It's a good chair, and is really comfortable. I'm going to leave it here now. I just wanted everyone to know that."
Then he left.
So I watched Mr. Old and Dirty and Chairy strolling down opposing side of the street; they stopped at the alley, turned, looked both ways, and stepped into oncoming traffic. While there wasn't much traffic coming from his right side, there was tons coming from the left. This probably had more to do with it being a one-way street than it being a particularly good time to cross.
Amazingly, he made it across safely and pulled the chair up in front of the door to an apartment. He quietly untied the chair, gave it a pat, and then turned and yelled to the entire street:
"This chair is for the retarded men that live in this building. It's a good chair, and is really comfortable. I'm going to leave it here now. I just wanted everyone to know that."
Then he left.
Monday, August 7
Busy weekend all round
Phew. That was a busier weekend than I had anticipated -- a well welcomed break from a generally boring Vancouver. Saturday, I had intended to clean my apartment. Instead, I dipped out for a jaunt to the local Farmer's market (which had some amazing chocolates -- wasabi/ginger, Cayenne pepper, lavender, pomegranate, etc) and a quick trip to the computer store to look at a replacement for my old - and very broken - machine.
A little bit of Sushi and Sangria later, Irf popped by with Rebi's sister in Tow. From Sarah, I got another small-world-story. Turns out that the sister-of-my-former-roommate lives with an coworker of mine (who is now an ex-coworker, and ex-roommate, and has left the country to dance his way through Europe). Some time was spent at BILs place, where we had terribly, terribly fattening deep-fried pork in a honey garlic sauce. Apparently the recipe was stolen off of an elderly Chinese lady, it was well worth whatever fight she may have put up - that was some tasty pig parts.
Shortly afterwards the lot of us (Irf, Rebi's sister, Debb-ay, and BIL) had another impromptu bar-b-q, involving more Sangria, chicken kabobs, roasted-red pepper mashed potatoes and a slightly mushy salad (mushy on account of Irf's busted face, apparently toast makes it hurt). Summer is such a tasty season.
Irf and I finished up the evening with Fireworks, and an impromptu parade as thousands of happy/drunk/happily-drunk Mexicans flooded Davie street. While neither of us speaks Mexican, we were still able to participate in the some of the songs, even though the only words we knew were Ai-ai-ai-aiii.
Sunday morning began about the same. Irf popped by a little late (he's usually very punctual) and we headed over to his friend Kasi's place to watch the Pride Parade. I think that's the first time I've seen a Pride parade -- it was an interesting experience. Highlights included:
- opening with a single person in a wheel chair dragging a toy car behind them
- many, many people wearing nothing but glitter and a banana hammock
- people performing tricks with balloons (Note: No hands were used in the performing of the tricks)
- Hedy Fry stirring up the crowd in a purple can-can style dress.
- Jack Layton. Huge applause.
- a lone guy in a car that was covered with balloons. Behind the balloons you could barely make out a 'Conservative Party of Canada' sign. Behind his arm and hand you could barely make out an embarrassed face.
- A great statue of George Bush.
- A Stephen Harper marionette doll - wielded by above statue.
- closing with a single person in a wheel chair dragging a toy car behind them
Following the parade, Irf and I were led on a wild goose chase around the beach and ended up back at my place again for another impromptu bar-b-q. Burgers this time. BIL stopped by with several friends, each of whom brought some great stories to the table. Stories from Gambia by an Aids relief worker who had just returned, Sexual harassment by UN Officials, Golden showers and jellyfish, the benefits of being a piano player instead of a Mechanical Engineer (apparently more common a career change than I had previously thought)
, are but some of the highlights.
Following the (lengthy) bar-b-q, we split into three. Some people hit the gay bar, some people hit the Irish bar, and some people hit the pavement and made their way back home.
This morning, I resume cleaning for the Albertans that are coming to crash on my couch this afternoon. Fortunately I did make some progress this weekend - moving from Disgusting to simply Disgraceful. Hopefully by Wednesday I can get through the Dirty and Dingy stages and well into Dignified so that I don't end up Dead when The Wife arrives home.
A little bit of Sushi and Sangria later, Irf popped by with Rebi's sister in Tow. From Sarah, I got another small-world-story. Turns out that the sister-of-my-former-roommate lives with an coworker of mine (who is now an ex-coworker, and ex-roommate, and has left the country to dance his way through Europe). Some time was spent at BILs place, where we had terribly, terribly fattening deep-fried pork in a honey garlic sauce. Apparently the recipe was stolen off of an elderly Chinese lady, it was well worth whatever fight she may have put up - that was some tasty pig parts.
Shortly afterwards the lot of us (Irf, Rebi's sister, Debb-ay, and BIL) had another impromptu bar-b-q, involving more Sangria, chicken kabobs, roasted-red pepper mashed potatoes and a slightly mushy salad (mushy on account of Irf's busted face, apparently toast makes it hurt). Summer is such a tasty season.
Irf and I finished up the evening with Fireworks, and an impromptu parade as thousands of happy/drunk/happily-drunk Mexicans flooded Davie street. While neither of us speaks Mexican, we were still able to participate in the some of the songs, even though the only words we knew were Ai-ai-ai-aiii.
Sunday morning began about the same. Irf popped by a little late (he's usually very punctual) and we headed over to his friend Kasi's place to watch the Pride Parade. I think that's the first time I've seen a Pride parade -- it was an interesting experience. Highlights included:
- opening with a single person in a wheel chair dragging a toy car behind them
- many, many people wearing nothing but glitter and a banana hammock
- people performing tricks with balloons (Note: No hands were used in the performing of the tricks)
- Hedy Fry stirring up the crowd in a purple can-can style dress.
- Jack Layton. Huge applause.
- a lone guy in a car that was covered with balloons. Behind the balloons you could barely make out a 'Conservative Party of Canada' sign. Behind his arm and hand you could barely make out an embarrassed face.
- A great statue of George Bush.
- A Stephen Harper marionette doll - wielded by above statue.
- closing with a single person in a wheel chair dragging a toy car behind them
Following the parade, Irf and I were led on a wild goose chase around the beach and ended up back at my place again for another impromptu bar-b-q. Burgers this time. BIL stopped by with several friends, each of whom brought some great stories to the table. Stories from Gambia by an Aids relief worker who had just returned, Sexual harassment by UN Officials, Golden showers and jellyfish, the benefits of being a piano player instead of a Mechanical Engineer (apparently more common a career change than I had previously thought)
, are but some of the highlights.
Following the (lengthy) bar-b-q, we split into three. Some people hit the gay bar, some people hit the Irish bar, and some people hit the pavement and made their way back home.
This morning, I resume cleaning for the Albertans that are coming to crash on my couch this afternoon. Fortunately I did make some progress this weekend - moving from Disgusting to simply Disgraceful. Hopefully by Wednesday I can get through the Dirty and Dingy stages and well into Dignified so that I don't end up Dead when The Wife arrives home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
