Vancouver

It's funny driving around Vancouver and reading all the very English names on everything. There's Lord Byng High School, Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School, The Kingsway, King Edward, Trafalgar, Victoria, Prince Albert, Windsor, Dunkirk, Blenheim, Duchess, Rhodes, Gladstone....and many others. Yet the population here is so ethnic. I'm sure most people here have never heard of these folks. Yes, Vancouver has changed dramatically. It's a vibrant, busy place -- sort of reminds me of London.

I'm getting used to daughter Susanne's dog, Pearl. A springer spaniel, she is very head-strong, but so am I, so we are meeting in the middle. I have to walk her twice a day and that doesn't always go so well because she is used to Susanne taking her to a big dog run and letting her loose. With me, she has to heel and behave herself. Today she started to get the difference and we managed pretty well.

Determined to keep up with my swimming, I have gone to the Vancouver Aquatic Centre twice. You know those parking machines, where you have to get a tag and put it on your windshield? I can never figure those out. I mean, you have to have several university degrees to get the blinking tag! Today it kept saying my card had been declined. Dread seized me because every time I visit Vancouver I either have my pocket picked or my card "compromised". Had it happened again? While standing there, looking panicked and lost, a young man came along and wanted to get his tag. Unfortunately, I was still frigging around, trying to get mine. In frustration he offered to help and inserted my card. "Declined" came up again. "Oh, there's something wrong with your card," he said, assuming I was some old bag who couldn't keep track of her account. I protested that there was no way, I always paid my card off and practically spilled out my entire life story in the parking lot. Yeah, yeah, he thought. Then he produced coins from his own pocket and paid for me. I was floored! I offered him $5 and he refused. Every now and then, humanity surprises me. But, as I said, he probably saw me an a helpless old bag. Hey, today that worked.

Now this pool is 50 metres long. So, I am doing many more lengths and pushing myself harder to hold onto the right to stay in the "medium" lane and not be kicked into the "slow". It's become a matter of pride, I have to keep up the prescribed pace or I get dirty looks from people gaining on me. Guess what, I'm hanging in there and not letting the "old bag" side down.....so far.