Character #8 & Overall Update

Well, overall things were going quite well with this story. Separating the entries by a day does help to make the character "voices" a little more distinct. Should make polishing that aspect a little easier. However, I have had some serious computer issues that has put me quite behind in the number of characters. I could give sketches of them easily enough but I am very behind with the actual entries. I am hoping that this will improve as I go on, but I am a full week behind and we're at the halfway mark. From the looks of it I will complete the idea, but will be into December. If true, it will be a partial victory. No full points if I don't make it by the end of this month. Only half points for finishing beyond the deadline. Keep your fingers crossed!

That said, here is Character #8: Pam Murphy. She's a schoolteacher, but she is in the town visiting relatives.

A Yarn For You

Wow. It’s been ages since I actually wrote something on this blog. Forgive me ☹ The only thing I can really say in my defense is that I have been out of town. Yes! Me! I am staying with my sister and her “family”. Don’t get me wrong. I love my sis and her kids. It’s the other I can’t stand. He is not my favorite person. But I will not be negative here. I will just enjoy the ones I like and avoid the other like the plague.

Anne has done pretty well for herself. She has a nice place. From everything she had said to warn me I was expecting a dump. Yes, it is a little dark but what do you expect from a basement suite? It isn’t damp, it is quite warm, and it is in a decent area of town. A little close to the downtown rush for me, but she says it suits her. It is certainly close enough to everything. I think I counted four coffee shops and three grocery stores on my way over from the airport. That means a ready supply of chocolate and caffeine. What more do you need?

The kids surprised me. I’ve had pictures of them of course, but they have grown so much since the last time I saw them. Chip was up to my ribs and Fanny is at my waist! Last time I saw them was when Fanny was born. They are whole different people. They are actually little people now. Opinions and tastes and imagination and wow. Just wow. Floored me. It was like seeing Paris the first time. You watch the movies and look at the pictures, but when you actually get there it is something else entirely. It has taken me a few days to really get used to them, but they are awesome little ones. I am so happy I came. And yesterday, I got them all to myself.

Anne wanted some “her” time, so I gladly volunteered to take the kids and head off into the grey wonder of a drizzly day. We figured the best thing would be a trip across town and a visit to the public market. I’ve heard about it from the kids but have never been. So why not? I did not realize that the day was going to be such an adventure. I should have. With children, nothing ever goes smoothly and plans are frequently derailed. But as long as you are prepared for every possibility that you can, this does not mean that things are going to be a bad. In fact, some of the best fun I had as a kid was unscripted. Or at least I assume it was judging from the looks on my parents faces, LOL

I packed a backpack full of snacks, some water bottles, and a compact umbrella. I had my travel mug of coffee (after a brief stop at Starbucks) and made sure that the three of us had a good breakfast. I don’t know about the kids (or yourselves my bloggerphiles) but Auntie is less likely to purchase a bunch of crap while out if I have a happy belly under my belt. I am just as cravey when I see things, but am able to resist better. I used to diet a lot. Heck, if you’ve been watching this blog for any length of time you already know that! But nothing ever worked. Not the fad diets, not the calorie counting, not the exercise, and not the “stay the course” mentality that so many people have while they deprive themselves. But I finally did start to lose some pounds. You know what did it? Eating.

Yup. Not crazy. It works. I actually ate all my meals. I did watch my servings. I mean, pasta dripping with awesome sauces and sides of garlic bread and Caesar salad are great but not any good if you polish off seven servings. I’ve done that one! But really it was just common sense. Is it wise to make hashbrowns with a pound of butter? Is it wise to eat half a cake at a time? To go through three tubs of ice cream a month when I am the only one eating it? Heck, no! Of course not. I found that if I was making common sense choices, adding in a little more of the healthy things (more veggies, more fiber, etc), and watching how I prepared things I was able to resist the glutton inside me. I could enjoy a piece of pie and not need several more. Oh, I still wanted more – doesn’t dessert just taste so good? Mmmmmm yummy!! But I didn’t “need” more. And the pounds started to go. Not fast, lol. That took exercise as well. But it really changed how I did things. I have no idea what Anne teaches the kids but neither herself or the kids are fat, so whatever it is it must work.

There we were. Three explorers ready to head out into the unknown. And the first unknown was public transportation. I remember the buses in this city. Anne and I took them to school every day. You put in your coins, you got your transfers and off you went. I admit that I was unprepared for changes. I should have assumed that there would be some. There is a whole electronic move in the world today. Card and passes and chips and ugh. Mom says I am a throwback. Dad says that I am hopeless. Anne says that I have a block – maybe somewhere in my past a VCR hurt me and I can’t manage to process buttons anymore, lol. The kids just think I am old, hehe. And Chip was there to take charge. I listened to all of his lengthy explanations for what we should be doing and then I followed his lead.

It should probably be mentioned here that following the lead of a boy of eight is not one of the wisest things to do in life if you are looking for a smooth ride. If however you are not afraid of going interesting places, seeing things that you would normally not seek out, and spending a lot more time that you would have to if you did things “right” then I can recommend the travel advice of a child. I think (according to the map I saw on the bus) that there were only two transit zones between our destination and us. However, following his advice as to what buses to get on, where to get off, and what route to take sent us through about seven by my count. We went from outside the house to a mall. Then to a bus loop. Then to another mall. Then to a loop that had a lot of college age people milling around. Then we went to the first mall. And then we went to the Skytrain. That made things easier. I still think I ended up paying a lot more for it than I needed to, but once you were on the tracks you really could go only one of two directions. This helps you from getting too lost.

Except I need to stop here and make an observation. What is it about transit officials that they have a need to complicate things with the terminology they use? The Skytrain system has a number of “lines”. I would take this to mean interconnected tracks. If you wanted to go to “A” you get on one line. If you want to get to “J” you transfer over to a different line. But no. Not the way they do it. Apparently various trains equal various lines. And the lines are not determined by style or color of the trains, but by where they are going. So if you don’t read the signs and get on the right train heading to the right destination on the right track, you will find yourself on the wrong line and have to switch. Unless of course your train happens to continue in a loop and alter the “line” it is on past a certain point. Confused? I am. But, as a “throwback” maybe I just don’t understand the system. A lot of people seem to travel by the Skytrain every day and they seem to know where they are headed. I was just totally confused. It seemed unnecessarily complicated with conflicting terms and ideas in their descriptions of what was going where.

Contrary to my assumptions at this point Chip did not add the entire Skytrain run to our travel repertoire. Something about the system clicked with his brain and we got to where we wanted to go without any fuss. When it is understood, the Skytrain is a pretty nifty system. It is easy to people watch. And what a cast of characters. First off, there are a lot of pregnant gals around this time of year. There is about to be a population explosion. What is it about pregnancy that it tends to group in such numbers? Or is it that there are just so many people that the law of averages will produce giant batches of babies every four months or so? I’ve heard a lot of stuff lately about corn that was genetically modified to promote sterility. The theory is that the technology to do this has been sold to the major corn producers and the governments of the West are pushing for the corn supplies to come strictly from these companies. But if that is the case their product stinks! There are babies everywhere. But this is not a political or social rant. Stay tuned though. If I keep hearing about this I will have to weigh in on the issue sooner or later. My point is simply this: lot of babies!

And men too ;) Man but they grow them cute out here. Business men and construction men and all sorts of men. Tall and short and thick and thin and yummy, yummy, yummy. I prefer them fairly tall, dark, and that adventure type. Not real adventure. Movie adventure. Handsome adventure. There were quite a few around. I snuck as many peeks as I could in between the lectures on the Skytrain, the clouds, the city, the weather, and the color of fast cars. I also fielded many questions on whether a dress or a hairstyle was pretty, whether horses ever rode the Skytrain, and what I thought the dog was doing at that moment. Travelling with kids is never dull and never, ever silent. Get bored on long trips? Take a kid. You may want to kill them before the end of it, but you’ll never lack something to do.

I thought that getting off the Skytrain we would be at our destination, but I was wrong. Very little transit goes directly to the market. But I was pleased to find it was just a quick walk around the Bay to get there. Not even the entire Bay, but just a corner of it. Now this is the kind of scenery that I miss. Towering mountains. Cold, frothy water. Hearing the birds arguing at each other. The smell of water that came from open ocean. Ok, that last one can be pretty ripe depending on whether it is low tide or not. It is still enjoyable though. And so many trees. They have come a long way since I was here last. This is turning into a truly green city. It is nice to see.

The Market is a sprawling place. Not as big as some of the others in town, but still a good size. There is a school for some kind of arts program. Not welding, but some kind of physical art. The kids were of course not interested at all, so we skipped by that pretty quick. We went through the gates and made our way towards the main building. It seemed to be just what was advertised. There was freshness everywhere. Seasonal flowers framed the entrances. The scent of them mixed nicely with the sea breeze. It was flowery but clean all at the same time. But that might have something to do with the rain scent too. I didn’t need to see the dark clouds overhead to know it was going to rain. No matter where you live that one smell stays the same. Impending water. Luckily, the Market is covered so it wouldn’t matter if it squalled until we started heading home.

Inside was full of variety and richness. We came in near the vegetable area. Lots of color. I loved it. Piles of tomatoes and apples and carrots and potatoes. We went by fish counters and meat counters. A tea shop and a jewelry stall. I even found a gorgeous dress that I had to pick up. Now I just need somewhere to wear it! I was struck by the large number of youth being employed. Most of them seemed competent but there were a few here and there that were just lost. The meat market in particular comes to mind. I hope no one asks for anything complicated. Those kids don’t seem to know which way the knife is supposed to point. I wouldn’t mention it normally – I don’t like to point fingers, especially since I do so much myself that deserves finger pointing – but there wasn’t anyone there older than 20. Where was the boss? Where were the “adults”? It seems really irresponsible to me.

Since I am on a little bit of a downer, I have to mention one other place. Not to say it is in itself a bad place. The guy working there seemed on the ball, but I had to steer the kids away from it for another reason. This Market has posters up all over the place talking about “sustainability” and “local food” and “freshness”. This place (I think it was called Oodles) was very run of the mill. Not run of the mill for a “Fresh” and “Local” Market, but just everywhere tame. It sold some candy, some drinks, some touristy things, and some food (sausage rolls, meat pies, wraps, stuff like that). But nothing. And I mean NOTHING couldn’t be bought at a 7-11 or a grocery store chain. Not even a specialty grocery store. I mean, they want to promote a “Fresh” agenda, then they need to get everyone on board. I am not looking for the types of sandwiches that you get from the gas station or the local food truck at a construction site. Market food should be one step down from Fair food and only a step because it should be healthy. Delicious, but healthy. This guy has nothing. I don’t think the kids would have gone anywhere near there normally, but they were getting hungry and the candy sticks were colorful. Cheap and mass-produced, but colorful. How anyone eats enough of that crap to keep him in business is beyond me. Especially at a Market that has a made-on-the-spot candy store, a large selection of fresh foods, and a large food court!

I call it a food court for ease of understanding, but it was really more of a street. It sure felt that way. Stalls and booths lined the walls on both sides of the main thoroughfare and there were even more in the middle. Greek food, Indian food, Chinese food, Vegetarian food, fried food, English food, Mexican food, and even a juice bar. There was everything. It was easy to find things the kids wanted. The hard part was finding just one thing they wanted, lol. In the end we went with Greek, each got a different food, and picked off each other’s plates. That is the best thing about going out with kids. They aren’t afraid to share their food with you. Of course, you need to be willing to share with them because no matter what you have and what they have or even what they actually like to eat, they are going to ask for some. “Can I try that?” “Can I have some?” “That looks good.” These are all phrases that you’ll hear again and again. That is something that only the best of friends have in common with children. Usually when you go out to eat it is frowned upon to start picking food off of someone else’s plate. With your best friend you do it anyway, but most people... talk about frowns! I don’t recommend you try it.

After lunch we went to the main stop. You didn’t really think that the kids came here for the fresh food, did you? LOL Nope. I dragged them with me for the first part of the day, but promised them the after lunch time was theirs. And theirs it was, lol. In one of the support buildings there is a kid zone. Several toy shops, an art store, a playground outside (but attached), a very small mini-golf store (I think it was 6 holes and less than a dozen meters across), and the candy shop. With the way they charged around you’d have thought that I had wound them with sugar and let them go. It was great to see them have so much fun though. Thank god they behaved in the stores and didn’t break anything.

By the time we made our trek home – I was much better at retracing our steps and we only visited one mall – I was exhausted. Worn out, but a good worn out. A happy worn out. There is something about spending the day with cheerful, well-behaved kids that drains you and energizes you at the same time. Still not sure if I am ready to take the plunge and try for some of my own, but days like this make it seem like it won’t be all work. Sure there were disagreements and a couple of spats, but overall the kids got on well today. It was a good day! A family day! Fingers crossed for a few more before I have to go home.

Not sure when I will get on this again, but remember that I love you all and you are not forgotten! I’ll for sure get more regular with this once I am home. Until then kisses and kittens to you all!! Bye-Bye for now!