Vancouver is 125

Vancouver celebrates 125yrs - I know, right? My grade school in Sri Lanka is 121 years old! But Sri Lanka is also a country that has a continually written history from as far back as 2500 years ago (and I don't mean cave drawings - these were notes kept in books, the Mahavamsa, Deepavamsa) and cities founded in AD 500 and the world's first hospital and what not; Canada's oldest cities celebrated 400years in the late 2000's (and that is CE for you). The reason I remember these nationalistic pride points is because I had to grind my axe for an obnoxious French guy who stayed with me recently and belittled Sri Lanka in the face of the oh-so-great-country of France! I was able to instil some culture and world history in to this redneck and shut him up for a bit - but redneckism isn't something that goes away that fast… so I need to keep these things fresh in my mind… I am beginning to conclude that all people from France, except the ones from Paris are a whole bunch of rednecks right on par with all the bible-belt Americans. Ah, but you can't quite blame them too much - rural France, rural US, rural Sri Lanka - why would they be any different from one another? Anyway, where was I? I remember when I first came to the US finding it a little amusing that people would take a plane to go see 200 year old "historical" sites, i.e., in Boston. So then I dialled down my historical marker to 200. And then I went to Québec where cities were celebrating 400years and that felt "old" and "very historic" to me; so I dialled up to 400. And now I am back in Vancouver. But that's ok, I think these young countries like the US and Canada are doing quite well in the present. For the record, the oldest city in France, modern day Marseilles, was founded in 400CE - such a young country France is!!! Ok so really, where was I? ;)

Ah yes, so I headed off to Stanley Park for the celebrations - they were not exhilarating like such a celebration would have been in Montréal - the passive Vancouverites were sitting on their picnic blankets and quietly enjoying the music… There were ice cream carts and hot dog stands - how quaint? Now where's the beer? Oh that's right - anglo-saxons and fun! roll eyes! Where was I now? I don't seem to be able to get anywhere beyond English/Franch bashing today….

Anyway I was walking along, still not over my depressive state too much, and then these teenagers asked if I could take their photo and I readily took a couple. And that incident alone, put things right in my head. It is funny how just an exchange of 10 words can set things right for me. I am really a people person - the problem is I don't find girls to be too fun too often, with the exception of a very few, like my ex-landlord turned role model and good friend from Minneapolis, and I find a lot of guys fun and interesting but it is sometimes hard to hangout with them without sending them mixed messages (and I don't necessarily want to get in their pants, so…). And then I proceeded to walk the perimeter of Stanley Park - a good 10km, with my camera and all in tow - it was a beautiful evening of stunning sunsets and I even got to watch Lions Gate bridge light up. I walked a total of about 20km for about 7hrs, mostly by the serene bay and when I got close to home my feet were gone, but my mind was at rest and I treated myself to a nice Falafel pita wrap from the small Meditaranian resto near my home (not the Falafel King) who advertise themselves as the best(!!??) shwarama in town. Life is still good!