Vancouver – Day 3

Today I went shopping! More on this shocking story later. (Try to imagine in newscaster voice.)

Well it is Saturday in Vancouver, and everywhere else this side of the International Date Line – I know.

Having got up, I ran away and hid in the shower rooms to have a shave & shower whilst the lads got their bags packed for moving out. Having done that, they then decided they need their daily fix of “Denny’s” – to which they generously invited me to join them. Denny’s is a diner at the corner of Davie and Thurlow Streets. Having indulged in large breakfasts we then returned to the hostel and the lads checked out & called a cab to transport them to their new home. I saw them off and wished them well for their futures – to which they wished me well for my trip.
I returned to my room to get myself ready for my shopping expedition and it seemed really empty without them. They were good company and fun to have around, but, as I’ve said before, all things are transitory – and so I move on.

I hit the main shopping centres of downtown in search of waterproof jackets. I wandered around a few malls, something I don’t (and wouldn’t) do every day. I won’t bore anyone with the details here but I did shop around as I found things ranging from $100 to $1000. Needless to say I went for one of the $100 items. In the sports shop where I made my purchases (jacket & sweatshirt) I got talking to the assistant who was a German student over here on a working holiday before his final exams at university.

After this I wandered back to the hostel dumped off all my new bits and set about trying to catch up with my blog entries. I installed myself in the library (with the lead piping) with a cup of coffee and set about this monumental task. It had become monumental because I had four or five days worth of photographs to download and sort as well as this diatribe to complete & correct before posting. I thought I would get it all up to date and then splash out on a day’s worth of Internet connection (one has to pay for it here) in order to get it all posted and catch up on some emails.

This was proceeding apace until I realised I was very hungry and in need of food. I stopped my typing, packed up the laptop and set off for the little Greek tavern I had spotted on Davie Street. Normally this has a queue outside it but, as it was 10:30, I didn’t have that problem to contend with. I started with a lovely dish of olives & feta – yum. By the time I finished my main course of a very fine mousaka I was the last one in the restaurant.

People watching opportunities were kindly supplied by a bunch of gay guys in one corner – black leather and moustaches certainly seem to be the uniform – and it was rather amusing to here “camp speak” with a Canadian accent. One of the group had obviously got a new boyfriend as he was being shown off and introduced to everyone. I couldn’t help a wry smile at the campness of it all and my cynical side wondered if it was all an act – Julian & Sandy go Canuck – but they all seemed very genuine and never once slipped out of character.

As I wandered back to the hostel more Hardley-Rideable Velvet Bottoms were cruising about, it does seem they only come out after dark, seeming to operate a “pick up a shag” service; i.e. they would cruise up to the curb and wait to be approached by some “pretty boy” (actually some of them were plain ugly) and after a short conversation they would both ride off into the sunset of traffic lights down Davie Street. Aaah, it was almost romantic.

I decided to check out Granville Island Market tomorrow & see what that was like. With my plans made for the following day I toddled off to the land of nod.