in the
last of
warmth
and
the
fading
of
brightness
on the
sliding
edge
of the
beating
sea
(unaccredited poem at the Vancouver harbor)
It’s easy to forget how overwhelming nature is around here until you walk into it, letting it grab you by your most emotional string. I’m making a promise to verge out of the cities more often on this trip.
But. Yesterday was also very much a violent day. What happened?
- Police came into our hostel (The Cambie) and grabbed some guys for reasons unknown.
- Someone was stabbed with a screw-driver in front of the bar next door.
- A very fancy bar we went to showed “the 5 best ice hockey fights” and female “ultimate fighting” on their inescapable TV sets.
- The bar of the hostel turned into Dante’s Inferno in no time. I counted 4 (4!) places where people had puked and the waitresses had a look on their face that I can only describe as nuclear.
- If you hang around in front of our hostel for more than 3 minutes, you have a 90% chance of seeing a drug deal happen.
There is something in the air here that has a violent flavor to it. It is also hard to believe just how many homeless people are wandering the streets. I’ve discussed this with some locals and there appear to be three main reasons for this:
- They closed down a large mental hospital a couple of years ago. Guess where the patients went?
- Vancouver is a large world ports. Hence: drugs, lots of hard, destructive drugs. (Lots of weed too!)
- This place has the most moderate climate in Canada. Or, the way my friend put it: “it’s really the only place where you can survive the winter outdoors”.
The show yesterday (”Kamp” by Hotel Modern) was not very joyful either, even if it was spectacular. Essentially, it was a gigantic set of miniatures representing Auschwitz. Using a small, portable security camera they re-enacted the holocaust. It was of a dark sort of beautiful.
But what scares me most is probably… the food portions. Jeez! Even a medium coffee is more like a bath-tub than a cup.