Hol-ee-deh-eeeeee, get-a-weh-eeeeee
Well, you all are a bunch of spoilsports, I must say, ruining my clean, efficient bullet train dreams with your practicalities! To answer briefly to the best of my logic -- I don't think the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean is the most tectonically active part of the world, no more so than, say, the English Channel; I'm sure there would be appropriate levels of super-duper reinforcements in place for something going along the bottom of an ocean; I don't think wear and tear would be a huge issue as the whole point of the magnetic system is that there be no contact, so therefore very little maintenance required; and of course there would have to be some descent from the cities if going onto the ocean floor. An additional issue I thought of was the incredible changes in pressure involved in going to the bottom of the ocean, but then I thought, why would that be a problem? -- if they can control the pressure in airplanes, they could do the same for these trains. So I still think it's possible and would be so way cool.
All that said, in the news of environmentally-unfriendly, polluting, bad travel... my passport just arrived, it is safely in my purse and I am good to go to Vancouver! Just over a week to go, I can barely believe it.
And I'll get to see...
Mum, Keith and Nana; Shawn, Lorraine and baby Graydon (well, toddler Graydon, now I guess); Shari, Darryl (well, maybe not, he'll apparently be at the cottage with all his crew working from the Monday after I arrive), little Lucas and baby Alyssa (see baby Graydon!); and Joey, Jess and all Joey's wedding guests which should be somewhat like a miniature high school reunion.
I shall eat sesame fries and miso gravy at the Naam, the best vegan hot and sour soup in the world from Mavis Chinese Kitchen, and probably some of their lettuce wraps too (mouth watering copiously here), and a Mum's Gelato when already full to the bursting from the Naam. (No, I don't plan to have Naam food and Chinese food on the *same* night, I'm just looking forward to both!)
I shall take in a film at the Fifth Ave with Jessica (preferably something artsy and indie -- Canadian in fact would be ideal, as difficult to see in the UK...) and, on a different evening, have a walk with her along Kits Beach between the Naam and Mum's, weather always permitting (which it always seems to, for me and Jess. Oddly enough). I shall watch at least one sunset across Gibsons harbour from the cottage.
I'll rent a bicycle and cycle round Stanley Park -- I've never done it before, but I don't have my own bike there now and it seems as good a way as any of killing two birds! Perhaps one day I'll take the little seabus from Granville Island to the Aquatic Centre and go swimming.
I'll visit Commerical Drive and hang with the Birkenstocks-and-skirts-wearing, granola-crunching groove, and have a cup of tea and a relaxing read in a mom-and-pop Italian coffee shop.
I shall listen to as much CBC radio as is humanly possible (well, possibly interspersed with the Fox Rocks and XFM Alternative) and watch This Hour Has 22 Minutes and the National. I shall read the Globe and Mail daily and the Georgia Straight weekly (perhaps in aforementioned coffee shop).
I shall get caught in the rain and catch a number 9 bus from downtown and come home with tangled dripping hair and complain about the weather and spend an evening in watching Harry Potter films with Jessica because the rain... just... won't... stop!
I'll wander around Granville Island for a day, gawp at the beautiful yet stroke-inducingly overpriced jewelry and clothes, resist making a purchase in Edie's Hats despite how good they look on me, have cheap yummy soup from the Stock Market, fight the crowds in the food market and cook a meal with fresh B.C. produce and/or some specialties and delicacies to be found only on Granville Island.
I shall attend a service at St Bart's and two at St Paul's and be told by umpteen people that they knew me when I was knee-high to a grasshopper (not that I've grown much, hardihar har har).
I'll go to Joey's wedding at Christ Church Cathedral and it will be beautiful, because Joanna is a princess and everything must be perfect for her (daddy will see to it). I'm to share a table with Jess, so I'll met her new man and laugh and dance the afternoon away. I am absolutely determined I'll look gorgeous, because Blake will be there and I haven't seen him in... four and a half years (that took a mental calculation -- my God, has it been that long since McGill?).
I'll walk all along Broadway to Dunbar and try on pretty beribboned dresses in the House Gallery and funky recycled sari wrap skirts at BC HempCo and have a bowl of Mongolie Grill goodness and spend hours listening to CDs by local groups at Zulu Records and probably buy something (not to mention some ultra cheap second-hand CDs, because oh, the cheap Vancouver CD happiness). And see if the Salvation Army thrift store has any treasures for two or three bucks. I'll go through all the astrology books, the feminist spirituality stuff and the pretty tarot card decks at Banyen Books and Sound. Maybe I'll look in on old Kitsilano High.
In short, I shall saturate myself in Vancouver so I'm good to go for another year away....
All that said, in the news of environmentally-unfriendly, polluting, bad travel... my passport just arrived, it is safely in my purse and I am good to go to Vancouver! Just over a week to go, I can barely believe it.
And I'll get to see...
Mum, Keith and Nana; Shawn, Lorraine and baby Graydon (well, toddler Graydon, now I guess); Shari, Darryl (well, maybe not, he'll apparently be at the cottage with all his crew working from the Monday after I arrive), little Lucas and baby Alyssa (see baby Graydon!); and Joey, Jess and all Joey's wedding guests which should be somewhat like a miniature high school reunion.
I shall eat sesame fries and miso gravy at the Naam, the best vegan hot and sour soup in the world from Mavis Chinese Kitchen, and probably some of their lettuce wraps too (mouth watering copiously here), and a Mum's Gelato when already full to the bursting from the Naam. (No, I don't plan to have Naam food and Chinese food on the *same* night, I'm just looking forward to both!)
I shall take in a film at the Fifth Ave with Jessica (preferably something artsy and indie -- Canadian in fact would be ideal, as difficult to see in the UK...) and, on a different evening, have a walk with her along Kits Beach between the Naam and Mum's, weather always permitting (which it always seems to, for me and Jess. Oddly enough). I shall watch at least one sunset across Gibsons harbour from the cottage.
I'll rent a bicycle and cycle round Stanley Park -- I've never done it before, but I don't have my own bike there now and it seems as good a way as any of killing two birds! Perhaps one day I'll take the little seabus from Granville Island to the Aquatic Centre and go swimming.
I'll visit Commerical Drive and hang with the Birkenstocks-and-skirts-wearing, granola-crunching groove, and have a cup of tea and a relaxing read in a mom-and-pop Italian coffee shop.
I shall listen to as much CBC radio as is humanly possible (well, possibly interspersed with the Fox Rocks and XFM Alternative) and watch This Hour Has 22 Minutes and the National. I shall read the Globe and Mail daily and the Georgia Straight weekly (perhaps in aforementioned coffee shop).
I shall get caught in the rain and catch a number 9 bus from downtown and come home with tangled dripping hair and complain about the weather and spend an evening in watching Harry Potter films with Jessica because the rain... just... won't... stop!
I'll wander around Granville Island for a day, gawp at the beautiful yet stroke-inducingly overpriced jewelry and clothes, resist making a purchase in Edie's Hats despite how good they look on me, have cheap yummy soup from the Stock Market, fight the crowds in the food market and cook a meal with fresh B.C. produce and/or some specialties and delicacies to be found only on Granville Island.
I shall attend a service at St Bart's and two at St Paul's and be told by umpteen people that they knew me when I was knee-high to a grasshopper (not that I've grown much, hardihar har har).
I'll go to Joey's wedding at Christ Church Cathedral and it will be beautiful, because Joanna is a princess and everything must be perfect for her (daddy will see to it). I'm to share a table with Jess, so I'll met her new man and laugh and dance the afternoon away. I am absolutely determined I'll look gorgeous, because Blake will be there and I haven't seen him in... four and a half years (that took a mental calculation -- my God, has it been that long since McGill?).
I'll walk all along Broadway to Dunbar and try on pretty beribboned dresses in the House Gallery and funky recycled sari wrap skirts at BC HempCo and have a bowl of Mongolie Grill goodness and spend hours listening to CDs by local groups at Zulu Records and probably buy something (not to mention some ultra cheap second-hand CDs, because oh, the cheap Vancouver CD happiness). And see if the Salvation Army thrift store has any treasures for two or three bucks. I'll go through all the astrology books, the feminist spirituality stuff and the pretty tarot card decks at Banyen Books and Sound. Maybe I'll look in on old Kitsilano High.
In short, I shall saturate myself in Vancouver so I'm good to go for another year away....