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Published: August 6th 2011
Granville St by night
neon at Granville St, Vancouver, BCIn the evening Vancouver's Granville St lights up with neon signs. There are many but apparently not as many as there used to be. Before neon lights were considered to represent brothels, bars and bad neighbourhoods, Vancouver could boast as the city with the most neon lights in the world, except from Shanghai - 19.000 in total in the mid 1950's. But as neon signs went out of favour, more and more businesses tore them down and in the 1960's a Vancouver bylaw made it illegal to put up any new neon lights. This bylaw was in force until 2003 when Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics. At this point in time Granville Street among others had gone from being the pulse of the city to a wasteland of dodgy shops, bars and clubs. For the Olympics, however, Vancouver city council decided to clean up the street and encourage the re-instalment of neon signs. Today, what was once known as the Great White Way famous for its Theatre Row has received a renaissance where neon lights, old as new, light up the street.
The World according to Sam This evening I went to Megapizza which flashes neon-lights across from
colourful Vancouver
T-Shirts on Main St, Vanocouver, BC my hostel. Here, I ran into Sam. I was sitting at a table on my own when he came into the pizza joint and bought a beer. After looking around he came to my table and asked if the places around were free. Sam is a tiny guy with hollow cheeks, dark hair and multiple chains and necklaces around his neck, one of which is a golden guitar item, and a black rock band t-shirt. He places his grey cap on the table together with a plastic bag full of home made cigarettes and the movie 'SlutWoman's revenge'. After a while he starts asking me about my accent and my stay in Vancouver and before I know it I am engaged in a one-sided conversation about the world. So here are some of the bits and pieces I gathered from my look into the world of Sam. Earlier Sam had been a methadone addict. Then he was in Victoria but the police who he named as birds, as seagulls, caught him after he had broken into a house. This he did only to get warm, he didn't steal any. But now he lives in a hotel in Vancouver for six
Welcome to the land of neon
Granville St, Vancouver, BC months. Two times has he walked in Stanley Park, once it took 8 and 1/2 hours, second time it took only 3 1/2. But Sam is not just anyone. He know the world. For he is Adam, and though he didn't have to name any of the animals and birds for al that had been taken care of by God, he had been around for many millions or thousands of years. He controls two dimensions of the world. He used to control four but he lost two of them. I think it was due to the arrest in Victoria. Also he has seen himself and his brother. His brother was a small clay figure with a kilometre long erected penis that grew into the sky and he himself was a moss-green figure. But Sam also knows about Vancouver. Vancouver is a stamp. Everything is straight. Once many millions or thousands of years ago other humans lived here. They had also gone though evolution but they got extinct because they had no oxygen. According to Sam they had sex too much. And that is why present females can only have sex in periods, like three times or once a year. But
Faces of the Pride
At Davies St and Denman St, Vancouver, BC Vancouver is still like a stamp. I wish all the best for Sam.
Pride I have never before happened upon a Pride, or sought one out. I always figured it was someone else's party and though willing to show my support for the rights of gay and lesbians, it just hasn't been something I have thought much about. But bumping into Pride Week, I couldn't
not enjoy the huge and never ending Parade on the last day. So many great people had dressed up and walked up Robson, then Denman, turning towards English Bay. All forms of businesses and community groups, ngo's and churches. A huge group of Philippinos, the faculty of medicine, grannies and my secret favourite the RCMP – the Royal Canadian Mountain Police. There were young and old, lovers and friends. There were the overly dressed and the naked. There were the lesbian bikers and the transvestites, the second grade teachers and the paramedics. And it made you happy. A pride is not about gays only, but about all of us and about celebrating our diversity and that though we are different we all deserve love in what ever shape it comes. Thank you Vancouver Pride,
Me and Missy
Gastown, Vancouver, BC for showing off a wonderful group of beautiful and happy people.
Missy But, if anyone should ever ask me what I remember the most about my week in Vancouver, none of the above and neither any of what I mentioned in my previous blog
Wacky Vancouver will be the most prominent memory. That award instead goes to Missy. Having grown up with a mum who started hiding behind the couch every time a snake appeared on television, I have never felt very comfortable with such creatures myself. Therefore, I surprised myself when I in Gastown met a man and his snake at a café, and without thinking asked if I could touch it.
Well, yes dear! You wanna hold her? ARGHHH!!! Her name is Missy. She is an Albino Redtail Boa and quite young still. And it was such a weird and thrilling feeling to hold her in my hands. Pure muscle and the red tail which slowly and deliberately made its way up my arm and around my wrist. It was not until I saw the pictures afterwards that I realised I had been silently screaming.
Thanks to Missy, Sam, Jessica and all the other new and old
Main St
Main St, Vanocuver, BC inhabitants of Vancouver for making my stay so great.
Anna
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