To soon, the month in Vancouver came to an end.
After the exertions of the Grouse Grind, I was glad that Ken had offered me a night off from the show. I took advantage of his offer and stayed home and made a big batch of cookies. I bagged up some and took them over to David's apartment shortly after nine. He and Karl skipped out on the second act and we all gathered on David's balcony to watch the first night of the HSBC Celebration of Light fireworks competition. Three countries (Canada, the US and China) each supplied a 20 minute fireworks show synchronized to music over English Bay over 3 nights with a winner picked by the assembled crowds announced before the fourth night's grand finale show. It's an annual event in Vancouver and drew big crowds to the shore. Wednesday's fireworks were presented by Canada and were given the theme of "Attack". The radio simulcast began with an emergency announcement that the city was under attack and continued with all kinds of instrumentals coordinated with the show in the sky. David's apartment was in the middle of downtown, so we could see the aerial display but only got hints of what was fired closer to the ground. The three of us really enjoyed our private show with some wine and no crowds!
Wayne, Roy and I visited the University of British Columbia's Botanical Gardens on Friday. The gardens are huge and varied. They were much less structured than any of the MSU Botanical Gardens I'm familiar with. A few of the gardens, such as the Alpine Garden and the medicinal garden, were formal feeling with individual plants set apart with signage; but much the garden felt like a walk in the woods. The mild climate in Vancouver allows the gardeners to grow a wide variety of plants from all over the world and integrate them with the native species. It was a very pleasant way to pass the afternoon - strolling on the garden paths and enjoying the natural beauty.
The weekend hurried by, as it always does, with two show days on Saturday and Sunday. I rushed to take advantage on my apartment's washer and drier so I could depart with a completely clean set of clothes. I also endeavoured to eat up a month's worth of left-overs in my fridge and cupboards. On Sunday, I packed by duffels and cleaned the apartment into the wee hours and still awoke extra early on Monday to finish up the cleaning before I had to check-out at 7:30 to be on the way to the airport for my early flight to Edmonton.
I adored my apartment in Vancouver. It was a great home away from home and grew quite comfortable there. It certainly helped that Sheila Marie spent the first week there with me, so I could easily picture the two of us there together. It was just the right size for me with a separate bedroom and a tiny office nook for my paperwork and computer. The balcony was big and I spent many nights outside on the phone with Sheila Marie and a glass of wine. You can get an idea of the place on the realtor's listing here.
As we packed up the show on Sunday, it was time to say goodbye to the Vancouver crew. We became attached to a few of the locals - they were one of the most welcoming bunches of people we've worked with in a while. Several of them turned up on Spamily outings and were, as often as not, welcome additions. The stage left local prop person, Kat, is definitely one of my favorites from the 17 months I've been on the road. She was super capable and friendly. I tried to convince Vera to hide her in hamper and bring her along... One of our local carps was also quite a character. Al has been a stage hand, seemingly, forever. (The houselight guy had this to say to Al in an overheard conversation: "Now, Al, I know you were the head carp at the crucifixion...") He was full of stories and was quick with a laugh, but it was his outfits that elevated him to the level of truly memorable:
Al wore socks pulled as high as they would go. These red socks were a special favorite: he claimed that they were special $500 alpaca socks. To see him running off-stage with a ladder (high stepping all the way) in his special speedy socks is something I won't soon forget.
Al with Terry on the loading dock. Terry covered several vacations while we were in Vancouver - it was great to see his smiling face again everyday.
We also had our own Canadian member of the Spamily along for Vancouver. John Beatty is covering the deck electrician and pyro tech track for the 6 weeks we're north of the border. Mike Berg is home in California resting his banged up knee and will, hopefully, rejoin us in Philly. John is a Vancouverite and our very own cultural ambassador. He gamely answered all of our questions about Canada; variously explaining the Canadian government (wacky, in my opinion - the Queen is still the head of state and could wield a significant amount of power, if she so chose), Canadian Football (an extra player, bigger field, more scoring options and only 3 downs) and Canadian slang (a ceasar is a bloody mary with clam juice, eh?). And he's a good guy to boot!
The end of the stay in Vancouver bummed me out a little. I really dug the whole month and didn't want to leave - but, as Sheila pointed out: "if you wanted to stay in one place, there's an easy way to do that." By Sunday, the momentum of the show and touring had me ready to move on. Still and all, it was a pretty great month!
JV
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