Book sale

Coles Bookstore was having a book sales at the mall. Not sure of the frequency. More frequent than annual. May be quarterly even.

This is two of the 8 to 10 tables they used.

Rhododendron

Spring time means flowers. This is an early blooming rhododendron.

Spring snow

We had a flurry of the white stuff yesterday morning. Snow in Vancouver is a rarity during winter let alone in spring. It was for a short duration and wasn't much. Whatever landed melt quickly leaving the ground wet as if it rained.


This groundkeeper gave new meaning to the term snowblower. No doubt this will add to the misconceptions of our friends in Eastern Canada have of snow in the West coast.

Morning walks

A couple of photos taken during a morning walk. With the lengthening of the days soon it wouldn't be in semi-darkness.

Tim Horton's

Tim Horton's is one of the few 24/7 establishments in Canada, especially Vancouver. For the early travelers its light is like a beacon. This particular location is close to a Skytrain station which means the stream of customers starts before 5 AM when the public transit commence operation.

Sign of Spring

In the USA a sure sign of Spring is the arrival of March Madness. We, in Canada, have no such luck. The Stanley Cup hockey playoff doesn't come till in the second week of April. Fortunately we do have Tim Horton's and its Roll up the Rim annual campaign.

In recent years it has been criticized for generating more garbage because in-store customers using mugs would ask for a paper cup in order to check their luck.

Fence

Construction sites, as a rule, are surrounded by high fences. it is no different at the construction site across the street from GM Place. There is one difference however, this has sharp razor wire on top. This may due to a couple of reasons. The site's proximate Vancouer's infamous Downtown Eastside and the rising price of metal.

Classic garden

A scene from the public portion of the Sun Yat-sen Garden. The fresh new looking bridge attest to the fact that it has undergone extensive maintenance. The workers are China as there aren't any in the Vancouver area with the knowledge and skill to work on a classic Chinese garden.

Ukrainian Easter eggs

This weekend the mall holds an egg painting demonstration and workshop for the kids. Aren't they beautuful? Ever wondered the significants of the colours? If you had then check out the chart.

Map

An outdoor map of the Lower Mainland on the wall of the Block Building. This map is over 30 years old. Omitted are today's fast growing municipalities, such as Maple Ridge and Langley, which at the time were primarily farm land.

Yes, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam are lumped into Coquitlam. The District of North Vancouver is not separated from the City of North Vancouver either.

Water fountain

I guess this is the water that feeds the pond at the BC Hydro Building. Hmmm, there is a rather large water fountain by the front entrance which most likely is part of this system.

BC Hydro

Reflection of the BC Hydro Building in the pond by the Dunsmuir Street entrance.




The building's main entrance. Don't think Hydro is occupying the building any longer. I believe the federal government is the main tenant.

Coming soon

Le Chateau will be moving into this unit on the corner of Granville and 11th. From the opened door I can see they are just starting to get the place ready. In the meantime this window covering will attract the attention of all passers-by and good advertising.

Belts

Today's shopping malls in addition to the regular shops are littered with mobile stalls that specialize in single products ranging from socks to crocs, from t-shirts to skin care, from $10 watches to handicrafts. This belts cart is just one of these diversified choices consumers have.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today everybody is Irish! Remember to wear something green and you'll find a four leaf clover. May be find and catch a leprechaun even.

Was going to wish everybody the Luck of the Irish but a quick search reveals that it is more a tongue in cheek saying due to all the unfortunate events in Irish history.

Nonetheless have a Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Turning right

We see this happened all the time. A car with its right turn signal on waiting on a street corner. With no oncoming traffic yet the driver still waited and waited and wait. By the time the driver finally decided to make the turn, traffic that was a few blocks away had arrived. Of course, everybody had to hit their brakes in order not to rear end this car.

The other extreme is drivers who come up to a stop sign, pause, look and proceed with the right turn regardless of traffic flow or speed of the oncoming traffic. The driver of this vehicle is one of them.

Convention Centre

The Vancouver Convention Centre with its distinctive sail roofing. It, however, will soon to be known as the old Vancouver Convention Centre once the they completed the new one next door in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

During the Olympics the new convention centre will serve as the media centre. But its construction cost will not be included as part of the overall Olympics budget. It is a good thing because the projected cost now stands at $883.2 million or $388 million over the original budget despite Premier Campbell's assurance of "There are contingencies built into the project and it's going to be run professionally. This will be built on time and on budget . . . Count on it."

This over-run, mind you, was reported in November 2007. Has it gone up since? Guess it really doesn't matter because it seems nobody, not opposition party nor the general public, is holding the BC government or those in charge responsible anyway.

March morning

A row of trees at the edge of the playing field in a misty March morning. This is part of the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex. It is prone to heavy fog from the nearby lake.

Sign of Spring

Living in a metro centre and with more people started to feed the birds many no longer fly south for winter. We can no longer rely upon their chirping to remind us of Spring's arrival. The basic law of nature says a new reminder will rise to replace it. In this case, it is Wal-Mart's outdoor garden centre.

Wal-Mart always sets up a big tent in the parking lot. A few days after this was set up there was a downpour and I happened to walked across the parking lot and saw this car parked there.

Slow shutter

This lady walked into the picture as I was in the process of snapping it. The blurriness of her image gives a good indication of the camera's slow shutter.

Straight and narrow path

To be honest it isn't all that narrow, wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. It diagonally bisects this patch of grass in the middle of the city.

Royal Centre

These posters are in a wall-display case inside the Royal Centre's food court. Not sure whether the stalls there offer any of these items or not.

Shelter

Statistics Canada tells us that the BC economy is booming, the provincial government tables a surplus budget, and employers complain of labour shortage but we are seeing more homeless people wondering our streets. Vancouver's winter is mild when compared to the rest of the country but there is the persistent rain.

Why can't we provide shelters for those who need it? Is it because as a rule they don't vote so the politicians don;t need to take their interests seriously? Is it because they don't run for office therefore have nobody to represent them and to fight for their rights?

In two years time when the Winter Olympics come to town will the government, provincial and municipal, get them off the street by busing them off to another part of the province, out of sight out of mind?

DTES

This is on the fringe of an area known as Vancouver's DownTown EastSide, most commonly referred to as the nation's poorest postal code. The gate at this house is locked with a chain and lock. The only sight that it may be occupied is the white mailbox on the gate.

Group-ercise

Drop by Richmond's Lansdowne Mall yesterday morning. Traffic was much lighter than expected so I arrived much earlier also. At the mall's central court was this sight of about 40 middle-agers exercising to music, not the up-tempo aerobics beats but something more soothing for the low impact routine these people were going through.

Open air

Some drivers aren't going to let the season, winter, or temperature, 1C, get in their way of driving year round with their tops down. Afterall this is Vancouver where many insist on wearing shorts year round also. During the next heavy snowfall I'll try to snap a photo of somebody shoveling snow in shorts.

Purple rain

No, this has nothing to do the song. But the display may have been inspired by it. Who knows but the designer.

A foggy frosty morning

This was taken in a February morning. For a stretch of time morning temperature hovered near the freezing mark. As a rule this means clear sky. But the cold air trapped the moisture from the melting of the recent snowfall, unusual, and created a foggy frosty morning.

Salmontrain

At first glance my thought was Translink had jump on the green bandwagon to promote its business. It was only after snapping this photo and seating comfortably in front of my computer and read the small prints before realizing this is a sponsored ad.

ATM

An ATM is not what one would expect to see in a public transit station where people as a rule are rushing to catch a connecting bus or train. Could it be that Translink realize fares are high enough that the occasional cash withdrawal for ticket purchase has become a reality?

No receipts

A No Receipts sign on this ticket dispenser at the Lougheed Station. Just curious how a rider using this particular dispenser will be able to convince the Translink police that he/she had actually paid the fare? Will ask this the next time I see a Translink employee.

Notice the dents at the bottom of these dispensers? Guess more than one rider was frustrated when interacting with the computerized system. Or do you think somebody might had tried to get at the cash inside?

ps: Saw another dispenser with the same message at another station.