Jean and I were in Vancouver for a conference, first time in a long time. We had gone to school there a while back and lived downtown, so it was kind of like coming home. Cool.
One of the first things we did was go to Queens Feet for a combination massage and reflexology/foot massage. We’ve been going there for years and it’s very nice, 50 minutes each and a very good price for 110 minutes. We left there like we were floating.
Across the street from Queens Feet is a liquor store. Seeing it reminded me of one night when I was going to school there and I saw a woman frantically running to the liquor store near closing time.
She tried the door and it was locked. A store employee was still standing at the door inside after locking it. “It’s five to,” she yelled at him. “No, it’s 11,” he said, pointing to the clock on the wall. Sure enough, it showed 11:01.
“Open the door the woman screamed,” and tried to show him her phone, “It’s 10:55!” The guy said. “Sorry.” And she screamed, “Bring the manager here.” He said, “I am the manager. Sorry.” And he walked away. I looked at my phone and saw it was 10:55.
This was a block away from the GEC, which is a student residence and hotel. It has monthly rates and I was lucky enough to get a room there for the two semesters I was in school in 2017.
Three blocks away from school and on Granville Street. How sweet is that?!
We also stopped at Arts and Nails to see our friends Lee, Michelle, and their daughter Katy. They are a Vietnamese family who provide hair and nail services. Lee used to cut my hair regularly and we had great discussions.
One time I was getting my hair cut and could smell marijuana. I said it smells like someone is smoking weed. Lee said, oh that was me. I have a permit to smoke medicinal weed, but I just buy it from a guy down the street because it’s cheaper. LOL!
So, Lee was telling me about his dad who worked for the police in Vietnam and when he retired, the police officers would bring him the booze they confiscated.
His dad became an alcoholic but he told everybody he only drank one cup of booze in the morning and one in the afternoon. He didn’t say his cups were the size of an extra-large Tim Horton’s coffee. Mwahahahah!
Acting like a student
We stopped at a new high-end apartment building they built a few blocks from where we used to live when Jean and I were in school there together. We were looking closely at the sidewalk.
“Looks like it’s gone,” said Jean, sadly. I went a little further and said triumphantly, “Here it is!”
In the sidewalk covered with dirt we could see, “Roy and Jean, Mar 2014.” I had scrawled it in the new cement when we were students and I was feeling footloose and free – and, well… acting like a student. Eschia… take it easy, eh!
From there we went up Drake Street to check out BC’s Best Coffee, a little corner coffee place where we had celebrated Jean’s birthday in 2017. The owner was an Iranian named Khalil.
Kahlil had told me how he and his wife and daughter escaped from Iran in the back of a vegetable truck with a false bottom. Unfortunately, Khalil’s wonderful little shop is now closed.
We also went down Davie Street to check out a very unique native art shop that Jean had found. When we got there, we were disappointed to see a big hole in the ground. The building was gone.
Why did we want to go there? Well, the native owner had a wooden cowboy outside his shop.
Jean had asked him why he had that cowboy outside a native art shop and the owner said white people have a wooden Indian outside their shops, so I thought I would put a wooden white guy outside my shop. Mwahahahaha.
We were waiting for our friend to meet us for dinner and the restaurant wasn’t open yet so we went across the street to a grocery store that had a deli. We sat down at a table and a few minutes later this guy came and stood next to us and we all said, “What the heck are you doing here?” We all laughed. What are the chances of seeing someone from Yellowknife in a city of one million people? It was so nice to see Darrel Beaulieu.
We never had a chance to walk along the sea wall. We used to walk it nearly every day all the way over to a huge Inukshuk on the beach. Apparently the GNWT gave it to the City of Vancouver after Expo 86.
When I got to the conference, I picked up my breakfast and was walking into the meeting room and someone called me. I looked around and there was Jack Poitras, who used to be the CEO at the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.
What a surprise. Man, it was sure good to see Jack. Vancouver was full of surprises and memories.