Going Outside

My wife is in San Francisco at a conference until Sunday, and I have been extremely busy all week. As such, I have barely left my apartment or spoken to another human face-to-face for four days (aside from Eddie, who runs, predictably, Eddie’s, the corner store downstairs).

This afternoon, despite impending deadlines and the need for a nap, I was desperate for human contact. So, I went for a walk. It’s a particularly bright day outside, with the sun filtered through some light cloud. I walked along the Sea Wall in downtown Vancouver.

The tide was out, exposing the rocks at the base of the wall. The smell of salt and seaweed were in the air, and this urban shoreline teamed with activity. I paused to watch grebes and cormorants dive for fish in the clear, shallow water. Gulls and crows rummaged along the shore, looking for lunch. I saw a great blue heron land among the yachts at the base of Davie Street, scattering the flock of wood ducks that normally hangs out there. On the way back, I stopped at the dog park to watch a terrier chase a labrador, and then watched them both chase a poodle.

The smell of the seaweed, the laziness of the afternoon and the filtered light reminded me of another walk along another sea wall that I took on June 6, 2002. That day I walked the entire length of Juno Beach in Normandy, where the Canadians landed in 1942. It was the sixtieth anniversary, and at my walk’s end, I was fortunate to happen upon a ceremony for those soliders, living and dead. Proud octegenarians doffed caps and shook hands in the fading afternoon light. French soldiers a quarter of their age saluted them.

Being a son of the city, I know that I espouse Vancouver too often. Nonetheless, on a day like today, it’s hard to imagine living anywhere else for very long.

The photo comes from my friend Todd (hmm…I’m probably breaking copyright laws here…oh well), who took it with a ridiculously small camera that he, if memory serves, received from Larry. If Todd’s whole requirements analysis schtick doesn’t work out, he can always go into covert surveillance with that thing.