I had the morning off yesterday because I previously sent my post to Chris in London the night before. It was a brilliant move and I had originally planned to make that my new habit but have since fell off the wagon and here I am blogging this morning from the Lower Lobby of the Trump International Hotel.
So yesterday morning I decided that i would actually get out of this place, walk and go to Stanley Park. I can see the park from my window but I have never been there which seems a little pathetic considering the fact that I have been living here since the end of April and now it is July. So I got up, got dressed, got a map from Triple B, packed up my Trump water and off I went. But I did not get far because it was over cast and rain was possibly predicted. I did have my trusty Trump umbrella. Cousin Gail and I had the following discussion.
Gail: That umbrella is an advertisement for the hotel.
Me: Not in my case. They look at me and say: “Who would want to stay in the same hotel as that woman?
Gail: Alexis, you are so funny!
Me: But they are an inventive crew here at the Trump. Pretty soon they will be handing me umbrellas from the Hyatt, the Four Seasons and other hotels too numerous to mention.
So instead I went to my room, got six hugs and a “I love you” from Housekeeping, put on my bathing suit and went to the jacuzzi. There I met a wonderful woman from Finland and her darling nine year old daughter. We had an amazing conversation about life. Her daughter’s name is Finnish for Pearl. Did that conversation ever pay off because later I ran into them at the Champagne Bar, I met the husband and then they bought me a drink. More jolly conversation. But I am getting ahead of myself.
After the jacuzzi I went to my room and read and listened to some pod casts. That became boring so I decided to go to the Vancouver Art Gallery. It is just up the street and I am a member. Sometimes it so handy to be living here at the Trump International Hotel. I went to an exhibit on the second floor called Pictures From Here. It was rather amazing. There was more work by Fred Herzog who you read about in my May 13, 2017 blog and there were other photographers. But what captured my attention were works of art that described development projects here in Vancouver and the sad plight of affordable housing. The original planning approval for Olympic Village required that the units (once their use for the Olympics ended) would convert to affordable housing. Not all of them but a huge percentage, as I recall two thirds. But this number got whittled down and whittled down by the City Council and in the end there were none. The maintenance feel were to huge for the remaining few residences.
There was also ‘art’ relating to Little Mountain which I recall is a project being developed by Joo Kim Tiah, the owner of this hotel. The approval in the beginning was to replace the housing for 200 residents but I recall being told that the developer was going to provide 500. So this is strange and gives me pause. I definitely blew it in one way as I did not remember the name of the artist who did these clever renderings. I wrote an email to friend Colette, a planner, about conditions of entitlement, I ended the email with this: “Darn this is confusing. Next time I am going to limit my perusal of art work to the darn Monet.”
As I indicated earlier this is being written from the Lower Lobby. But as I wrote I was not sure if the artist featured at the Vancouver Art Gallery was Monet or some other guy. Triple B was on the phone with an indecisive individual so i asked the question to Luxury Item who was around and promptly answered. Luxury Item, featured in the blog of two days ago, informed me that her official position is that of a Bellperson. Is not that fantastic? – she is of the female gender. She has this great dress that was found on the Internet, perfect for her needs with pockets, a flattering neckline, color coordinated with the guys, stretchy material, wrinkle proof. Luxury Item and I laughingly decided that the guys should have the good fortune of the dress as well. I said that I would speak to the Emperor about this matter as I have his ear. The guys have yet to hear of these plans but should be informed ahead of time because they may have to shave their legs. Luxury Item, in my opinion, is invaluable. She is a great driver, she did concierge duty, she helped me with my writing and she has a great sense of humor.
Enough about her, back to me and my yesterday. I ate at Mott 32 last night but made a terrible mistake. I ate vegetables. So why was that a mistake? I woke up in the middle of the night starving. At least it was not a post traumatic stress attack and there was a solution. I ordered from the Kid’s Menu and was brought mashed potatoes and a grilled cheese sandwich. I ate it, (except for the crusts) fired off an email and went back to sleep. To sleep perchance to dream. I did dream, remembered part of the dream and got an amazing insight. It has to do with my vindictiveness, which is the topic of conversation between myself and a special man.
The picture is me taken a few days ago by Son, the Crooner. It features my new watch with other items of silver picked to coordinate. The necklace purchased at the car boot sale held weekly across the street from Dolphin Square. How I miss it and the Rex Whistler restaurant. A certain restaurant owner should visit it with me. The Rex Whistler is the epitome of fine and gracious dining. Love and miss you Rex Whistler people!
