Vancouver events and a chance Tesla encounter

'Twas a fitful night due to jet lag. V, W and myself ended up playing chess at 3am. This was the view from our apartment

View from Sunset Apartments Vancouver

There was a fair bit of noisy activity all night. It seems that the eateries under our balcony stay open very late, and the employees and patrons like to chat "out the back" We were all so exhausted I don't think the noise woke us much.. it was the body clock.

As I write, my eyelids feel heavy and my eyes feel like someone has taken to the moist surface with a hairdryer: they feel in need of moisture and rest. But my brain is fully on.. and it will prevail as usual.

Today has been great. I love Vancouver. The people are friendly, and the city has a really progressive feeling to it. Lots of the taxis are Priuses, there are many social and environmental movements around and people seem really friendly. I approached many today and have not yet struck a local in a bad mood. 

One noticeable aspect though is the homelessness. "Mike", an ex New Yorker who I met at a Starbucks informed me that this is because many of the mentally ill were "kicked out" of their institutions in the 1970s. His opinion was that those remaining on the streets in 2012 have "chosen that as their lifestyle". I didn't quite follow this logic. We passed many homeless people, some still in sleeping bags, of all ages, and many begging for "a dollar?" with cap held out. So Vancouver isn't idyllic.. it still has some of the problems inherent in large Western cities.

Vancouver certainly has a high population density.

 Today was really a day just to get to know Vancouver. We were still jet lagged and not yet revved up to do anything major. I was keen to visit the Car Free Vancouver Day festival, so we wandered vaguely in the right direction. We were heading for Main St, it being one of three separated street fairs, but a policeman from whom we sought directions sent us to Commercial Drive "Closer and far more interesting". Here's the website.

We stumbled upon a huge gathering of rowers competing in a Dragon Boat racing event. Lots of "war chants" and rhythmic shouting as they raced.."One, Two, Three, Four......." You get the idea (hint.. it's a sequence!) All this taking place within walking distance of downtown.

A dragon boat race- we stumbled on the dragon boat festival.

 Well, nearly walking distance.. we took quite an indirect route to Commercial Drive, but it was well worth it. I was impressed by the number of environmental battles happening here. There were lots of stalls and lots of signatures being taken. Free Bradley Manning, Stop the coal pipeline, Something about Water Consciousness (not the real name of the campaign.. I was mystified about this one- there's heaps of water here!) and so on.

Freshly barbecued fish on Commercial Drive

 A highlight for me was seeing a beautiful dog that looked like a shaggy Golden Retriever- I was told by the owner he was a Great Pyrenees. The poor owners couldn't move.. they were not an official feature of the fair, but they were so popular!

To get back to town you have to traverse a fairly unattractive industrial and commercial zone

Mary and W on the walk back home after the fair

 But soon we found our way through shady and leafy residential areas. Unusual older buildings and many cyclists passing. Quite a few electric bicycles passed us, and the ubiquitous Prius taxis.

Lucky we found this.. we could have missed it! We spent a few lazy hours here wandering around the Shrine... not!

Back in downtown Vancouver

 I was also impressed with the well tended Davie St Community Garden right in the middle of town.  There are quite a few of these gardens around Vancouver

A community Garden in downtown Vancouver

I spent a few hours trying to get mobile phone access for our RV trip, and chanced upon this!

Warning.. for those not into Electric Cars, the next shots will really bore you.

For those of you who don't know, this is the new Tesla. I chatted with the exhibitors and got to spend some time in the car (not moving though!). This is the future of electric cars... 196km range for the base version; 480km for the top model. Tesla (and Nissan) have really done electric vehicles right!

This car will retail in Canada for $56,000

Just to really bore you... the following is the original Tesla roadster, a photo taken at Goolwa airstrip in South Australia where I had the privilege of being taken for a ride. This is an incredible car and can do 0- 100 kph in 3.7 seconds. From inside, it feels like you are about to take off in a jet!

Tesla Roadster, Australia 2008