My resolve to return to the USA grows with each passing day. A dear friend (a sort of relative) responded so beautifully when I told her of my decision.
She: That’s quite a change – again. Back to the Future for you! You certainly never shy away from change – good for you!
Isn’t that sweet and supportive. I count back the years and realize I have known her since 1989. We never lived in the same place so our seeing one another is sporadic but in an interesting way she has really always been there for me – particularly in our later years. She is younger than I am – who isn’t. She dutifully reads my blogs, by the way.
Do let us get this over with. The world of the day is sporadic which means: occurring at irregular intervals or only in a few places; scattered or isolated: sporadic fighting broke out. I am not sure why I have gotten into the habit of having a word of the day – I guess it is because a man once said: Every time I read an email from you I learn a new word.” That was most darling – I do not email him anymore. I wonder if he reads my blogs or if he has become vocabulary bound. I am sure that English is his second language.
I awoke in a relative cheery mood with the joy of an email from Tracey and, goodness gracious, she is lactose intolerant as well. Perhaps we should form a club and sit around and eat frozen yogurt and drink wine. My friend Jean. W. wisely opined that it was a good thing that there is no milk in wine. She definitely got that one right.
Rather than say bad things about Vancouver I am going to say good things about here, about Marin. I have not strayed into the city (SF) on this visit.
1 It is amazingly clean and uncrowded. Smoking is negligible but where it occurs there are ash trays provided so the streets are not littered with butts.
2 2. I have not seen one homeless person – much less being attacked by one which happened in Vancouver. They do exist, apparently in SF in certain, but not all neighborhoods. It is wise to avoid the Tenderloin, for example. I was attacked at the Science World Skytrain Station and there are homeless littering the downtown area. I encountered them constantly on my forays to the Equinox and shall on my trips to the YWCA. I met a man who said he would help me find an ideal place to live and already gave me a great suggestion.
3 3. Everything here is unbelievably inexpensive in contrast to Vancouver. A fraction of the cost, a fraction. Taxi fares in Vancouver are less expensive, come to think of it. but that is all.
4 4. Marin can best be described as lily white. But there are many people from Mexico and some from the Philippines. There are cheerful, happy, polite and a joy to be around. The folks from mainland Chinese who habitats Vancouver – not so much.
5 5. The children and young people here are extremely well-mannered and respectful. A young couple from San Francisco were at Crate and Barrel with their charming young four year old daughter. They were a delight and such good parents. Vancouver parents are harried, distracted and the children most frequently rude. There are exceptions of course.
6 6. By and large, the restaurants are uniformly fine and the service and courtesy impeccable. Vancouver suffers from two problems. The huge influx of tourists during the summer means that returning customers are not a priority. Canadians put up with bad service and are quite rude to the servers. There are, again exceptions to the rule and I have found them. But even that can be inconsistent. For example, Italian Kitchen and Bistro Verde, that Italian restaurant.
But onto brighter and better things. I had great time in the hot tub with my new bathing suit and met lots of interesting people. The most surprising were four handsome men from Montreal – surprising because that is where JRG lives and works in a big deal job with the Canadian government. These four men did not know him – well two were seven, so that has to be taken into consideration. Small work people say – I say big mouth – mine. As fondly remembered:
The Emperor: She is going to be mayor of Vancouver in two years. She talks to EVErYONE.
Me: One year. I shall be mayor in one year.
But I no longer have that desire and he has moved on as well. He uttered those words in May of 2017 to one of my cousins and her friend. They are not in my life either.
Another man I met in the hot tub is here on business – he and his business colleague make robots. I met his colleague around the fire pit afterwards. I supplied the peanuts, they the beer. I did a hilarious post on Instagram. She is German and very funny and she says she will visit me in Vancouver. She did not want to be pictured so became the German spy. He laughingly said he was from New Jersey and was on a witness protection program. Well – I think he is from New Jersey. I do laugh!
I came to this horrible realization two days ago. One, almost unconscious reason I returned to Canada rather than the USA was because of the immigration policy in Canada. It is extremely easy for people from the UK to immigrate to Canada. I had in the back of my mind that two – not just one but two – men might join me in Canada. I could not live in the UK but they could live in Canada. They did profess to care about me. But it did not happen and I have wisely given up. It is best, it never would have worked with either of them and what if they both came? That would be a mess. I am happier being alone with hordes of male friends. One of the photos attached is of London – one of the precious tours that one of the men provided with great knowledge of history. The other is the guy himself taken from a strange collection from Apple iPhoto.
The day yawns before me. Now off to breakfast.
