Leaving Vancouver

I am already at the Vancouver airport and curious about whether I can both create and post a blog while I wait. My second ever blog. Here goes.

Clearly, I have made it through security with checked baggage that contains a few dozen ordnance survey maps, four pounds of assorted documents, two diaries, and one change of clothes. When it came to jettisoning non-essentials, the clothes lost out to the research materials. It was no contest.

How do I manage to not be too repulsive as I live through six weeks with only one change of clothes? Well, over the years, I have perfected the method of jumping up and down in the shower on top of my 2nd pair of corduroy slacks to first wash and then rinse them. It helps to be singing the right song while you do it. Something not too fast, since slipping in the shower is a possible risk and I am getting a little long in the tooth for that. What is required is a song with a good beat that just keeps on and sounds great when I sing out loud in the shower. Funeral by” JT and the Clouds” comes to mind. Jump on one foot for a few lines and then shift to the other.

Hey pretty baby let’s shake it like
Somebody died….

If you haven’t heard  JT and the Clouds, then check them out at: http://www.jtandtheclouds.com/  His songs have been in my head since I heard him last summer singing with Po Girl.

Okay, enough of that topic.YVR is worth a moments attention.Clearly, the Vancouver Airport made good use of the $15.00 a trip they shook out of our pockets for years by installing the most exceptional artwork I have ever encountered at an airport. 

The Spirit of Haida Gwaii

This is one of many artworks, but every time I spend time with it, I see something I missed the first dozen or so times. What Bill Reid, the sculptor of this piece,  said about it also fits with some aspects of what airport travellers face:

Here we are at last, a long way from Haida Gwaii, not too sure where we are or where we’re going, still squabbling and vying for position in the boat, but somehow managing to appear to be heading in some direction; at least the paddles are together, and the man in the middle seems to have some vision of what is to come. http://www.billreidfoundation.org/banknote/spirit.htm

Here's hoping that as I fly off across the great pond in a few minutes with KLM that I too will be heading successfully for my vision of what is to come.

Okay - enough for now. Time to put this all away. One last thing - note to Vanessa: I did 11,327 steps today. Ta dah!