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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 01 January 2022

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So, a big part of the return here has been dealing with Stormy's affairs. Banking, arranging payment of the home, visiting - and  - after a fashion he seems to be settling in, he introduces me to some new friends he's made, a husband and wife, others, takes me on a tour of the facilities, shows me his "haunts". 

After catching up I promise to take him into Nelson Friday to run some errands and see some of his friends.

And when I arrive on Friday he's packed. Ready to go. He's running away, never coming back, he's packed his cherished possessions into a couple of cardboard boxes, he's going to have me drop him at the bank, he'll find a room or place to live...

I hate breaking the bad news, but if I'm signing him out I got to sign him back in.

He's not happy, but that's the deal. 

With that understanding we set out.

A long drive for not a lot of visiting, frequent stops for bathroom, cigarettes, lunch at McDonalds (and he's impressed, loves it, can't remember when last he was here), on to Nelson where we go to the bank, grab coffee, do some thrifting - he finds a pair of shoes he's chuffed with, and other trifling errands. We look for some of his friends, few of them are anywhere to be found over the holidays, then he's done. We head back to Trail.

He's a charming host, guest, after his fashion, although he substantially overrated his walking skills (about 20 yards before he's exhausted), and seems reluctant to let me go - rare for him, generally he visits for a bit and is finished. And seeing - that despite he protests he hates Trail, and I understand why, he's nonetheless making friends, I'm not leaving him in the best of hands but - there are worse hands for sure.

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 29 December 2021

Hits: 677

Tuesday, week last, a trip over to the Island to visit the boy.

Nanaimo Via Horseshoe Bay - Over the Lions Gate, into West Van, the houses, pleasant, no external clues as to their astronomical value, neighborhoods that I remember vaguely from childhood, the "rural & suburban" Vancouver, Horseshoe Bay, a stark contrast to the industrial Tsawwassen Ferry, a smaller, tiny terminal, mountains, peaks, inlets and islands, it is the very picture of an ad for "Travel BC".

The ferry ride - long, Nanaimo, well, there's nada in Nanaimo, we check the thrift shops for my bag, no luck, lunch - an overdone burger at a well reviewed pub - my own review would be substantially more damning - the boy, the island life, makes it a little, a lot tougher to "treat" him to a decent meal as I would the daughter, a short, few hour visit - but this change, to the island, the pace of life greatly slowed - it's worth it to escape the East Side, if only for a day...

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 25 December 2021

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I don't know why, file this under another of my mislaid memories. Monday, off thrifting, South Vancouver. I start on the Canada Line, ride down to Cambie and Marine Drive. 

Now this haunts me -  I can't figure it out, but that phrase - that intersection - has been with me since childhood. And since this is the start of my thrifting tour get out and check it out. 

Nada. No memory cues or clues whatsoever.

I don't know why, perhaps - as a child, decades ago, I obsessed over a magic store located nearby. That's the only reason I can think. And here, in Edmonton, I asked my father, he has no recollection either. So - that must be it - if ever I was here it didn't make much of an impression, unremarkable in every respect, but a good jumping off point to begin a fine day of thrifting, during which I found 2 pairs of cufflinks for the boy (one, theatre, silver masks of comedy/tragedy, appropriate, the other a "SWANK" pair of female buddha's - TARA - arm outstretched in a blessing, silver again, huge, vintage 60's or early 70's, maybe an inch across, masterpieces, need only to find him a fitted lotus dress shirt with French cuffs and he'll be set... other finds, books, shirts, countless others left behind - it was a great thrifting day. 

And still I wonder what once was at "Cambie & Marine Drive". 

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 24 December 2021

Hits: 786

So a couple of days away from work - I'll come back to that in another post - and I'm ready to head to Edmonton for Xmas. It's been a long time. And my flight - a WestJet ticket out of Abbottsford, I'm regretting the "deal" - (!!NOT) I got on the ticket when I realize I have to spend another $50.00 and 2 hours on the bus. 

Meh. The day is largely given over to travel, a few trifles before I leave, I'd planned to get some 'shrooms from one of the dispensaries around town, but they're too obviously packaged, there's no subtlety whatsoever. I compromise and get myself a gram of "African Goliath", fill in the required "Medical Disclosures" - essentially for medical reasons & not recreation - and far be it for me to enjoy myself - and I'm off to the Station to catch my discounted flight ($650? TO Edmonton? Are you PAYING ME BECAUSE IF YOU ARE $650 ISN"T FUCKING ENOUGH!!!!)

But nope...

Anyways, a rainy day, waiting to get on the bus and then waiting to get on my flight to Edmonton and then waiting to land in Edmonton...

Only, get to Abbotsford and I can't seem to find my flight. Where's my flight? Chill. Don't worry. Notice that I'm not commenting on the Abbottsford International Airport - or countless hectares of rainy parking lot, filled to the brim with cars. I mean...

Another time...

So, can't see my flight, wait for the "Departures" screen to clear and load the next screen. Grab a coke, Grab some twizzlers, wait. Go for a smoke. Wait.

And, weird, it's like - this Abbottsford International Airport - the "Departures"  screen doesn't update...

And checking my ticket - trying to find what's up, searching for it, for the flight, and -....

FUCK I'm departing VANCOUVER. YVR. "WHERE IS YVR??" I ask someone - but, maybe, not "asked" so much as pleaded or shouted and shook them in a panicked and insane realization...

Then a mad dash into the rainy evening again and hail a $200 cab into the Vancouver International Airport. 

$250 spent on the nighttime tour of Abbottsford. Burn it down I say.

And how - how exactly - did I come to understand I was leaving from Abbottsford? I have no clue, only that from the moment I booked my ticket I was 100% sure I was leaving through Abbottsford, and - take this as a lesson for life - 99% of our certainties are most certainly wrong. Hang on to only 1 % - let the rest go - because - well, you need an anchor someplace or you'll go insane - and when you've found new certainties let the old anchor go as well and drop a new one in better harbors. 

So, finally, 5 hours and $250 later and I'm at YBR, smoking, getting ready to get on my flight, take my "African Goliath" mushroom - 1 gram, a microdose, and head through security. 

Chatting with the daughter, who tells me not to grab a glass of wine inside - "It's OverPRICED" she tells me, and - this microdose - whew - wow- the colors are great and I'm feeling the release of waves of anxiety and I'm gonna grab a glass of wine, even if it is overpriced. And - it is. $24.00 for a glass of what I was pretty sure was Jackson Triggs. $24.00 and tip option on the machine that starts: "18 - 20 - 25%", and - fucking hell, I don't have to say it. She should have told me the price, not that it was "OverPriced", maybe phrased it more as "Would you prefer a Jeep or this Glass of Wine", at which case I would have made a better decision...

This takes my mushroom glow off in a hurry, but it comes back when I wander away from the bar and eat a chocolate bar. Also overpriced but not $24.00 overpriced. Fucking amazing. 

And - definitely not a tripping dose, but a hell of a lot more than a microdose. 

Finally, plane is late, board plane, cram-packed, full to the brim, a late departure - but a mere hour and 7 minutes to Edmonton. I mean the flight. The whole fucking journey, well, that was an Odyssey, an ordeal, but it seems I can't go anywhere lately without it turning into a shit-show of one sort or another, so - relative to all other adventures this ones a trifle, I'm glad I'm here, warm, and a few days away to pray the weather relents before I head down to Nelson.