Our cases have gone missing between Chicago and Vancouver. Some turn up this morning. I have the pair of shorts and T shirt l came in. But I felt quite at home. The taxi driver was a Sikh from Wolverhampton. We talked about football.
Fairmont Waterfront Room 1703 with a view over the downtown port area, Stanley Park, Deadman's Island, CoaI Harbour, Burrard InIet, sea planes taking off and landing, a small lemon yellow mountain of mineral in an industrial installation on the opposite shore, fuel bowsers - Esso and Chevron whose blue and red logos float in the night, a wooded peninsula reaching into the bay, the hacking roar of propellers cutting through the high window, the Lion's Gate suspension bridge, a clump of dull red-hulled cargo ships at anchor, all on the rim of the deep blue-green water, beneath the rising wave of the forested blue-green mountains, bathed in breathtaking crystal light.
Cycling round Stanley Park proved tricky, demanding a knowledge of local protocols – a knowledge quickly acquired as fast moving skaters, cyclists and runners dash past on either side with abrupt shouts of ‘On your left!’ or ‘On your right!’ as they hurtle towards Stanley Park Virgins.
A cricket match was in progress near some totem poles. I carefully drove over a boundary marker on my way to photo a shed.
A couple there said, ‘It's part of the field of play - you could be hit by the ball.’
‘I know,’ I said, ‘I'm English.’
And knackered.
Meanwhile on Monday evening, August 1st 2005, Brendan Cleary was running one of his many workshops at the Earth & Stars in Brighton.
