Black Mark

On the 27th of December, there was an apartment fire in my part of town. Fortunately no one was hurt, and most of the damage was contained to one suite due to the building's concrete construction. It was an exciting evening in the neighbourhood! As I was out for a walk the next day, I grabbed this quick shot with my phone. Two weeks later, despite several restoration company vehicles parked in front every day, it looks almost exactly the same - there's now plywood in the window. I can't imagine what the inside must look like, and how hard it must be for the folks who live there to be suddenly homeless for a while.

Post title from this song by Samuel F. Scott & the B.O.P.

Cheap Art on the Walls

Found these posters for an art show on a recycling bin on Comox Street near Denman, long after the one-day show was over - although I knew about it at the time, I just wasn't able to make it to
The Cheaper Show 9. I hope to be able to attend 10.


Post title from this song by Taxpayer.

The Newspaper

A sampling of the proliferation of newspaper boxes on the street corners of my neighbourhood. From left to right: The National Post, which purports to be a national newspaper but is very Toronto-centric; The Vancouver Sun, which is the local business newspaper; The Province, owned by the same media company as the Sun but much more tabloid in nature, and then the two free commuter dailies, 24 hours and Metro, which in my very biased opinion are excellent for wrapping fish.

Post title from this Citizen Cope song.

Scene at the Open Air Market

Vancouver has a thriving network of farmers' markets. There is fecund agricultural land surrounding Metro Vancouver and throughout parts of southern British Columbia. As spring is upon us and summer beckons, over the past few weeks the regular weekly markets have been opening one by one, the last one opening today in my neighbourhood, downtown's West End. The market gets better as the season progresses, but this morning I was able to pick up locally and organically grown new potatoes, bell peppers, heritage tomatoes, a basil plant, dried apple chips, some phenomenal smoked canned tuna, and delicious baked goods.

The highrise in the background is the Wall Centre, once Vancouver's tallest building until it was surpassed by the Shangri La.

 Post title from this Thievery Corporation song.