Long ago, while I still lived with my family, I had an idea, dare I say a plan.
I thought that when I lived on my own I would go out regularly to a coffee place, or a diner, order a hot chocolate and read a book. I imagined myself in a booth and bold women would approach me to ask me how my book was. It was a nice fantasy, but I never really tried to implement it. The closest I came was going to a Starbucks and doing some programming on a laptop.
My weekends here in Vancouver have been less thrilling than I am happy with. I generally do a run and then not much else, spending far too long wasting time on the internet with things that are not fulfilling. There may be a possibility of a nap.
So today, I decided to force myself to do something. Anything.
I had a book I wanted to read; one I had started over a year ago. (Progress has been slow.) So I grabbed it and went for a walk. No coffee place would be my destination! (Because there is one in my building so that is hardly a challenge.) I was going to go to a park and read. Last time I did that was with “Feet of Clay” by Terry Pratchett, and that was a long time ago.
I provisioned myself with a Blizzard and then headed out on Robson Street. When my family visited, we found Denman to be an interesting avenue, so I made my way there. Unfortunately, it was more interesting in my mind than in reality. But it deposited me on the English Bay beach. There I found a nice rock in a sunny place next to the water. I watched the waves, then read a few chapters of my book.
When I had had enough I walked home.
It is odd to walk along a route you frequently run. You can suddenly stop and “smell the flowers”. I could spend time checking out things I usually see in a blur. I could even take some pictures for my #AirWreckRuns postings. (Yes, I sometimes use pictures taken not on the exact run I post them, because sometimes I took a better picture on a day when something else more interesting happened.) I even explored a bit off the beaten path.
I would say I was high on life, but if I truly wanted that, I would have gotten some pot from one of the many vendors who had set up tables outside the provincial courthouse.