Island Time

I started out early, snce I had to go to Duncan, through the Malahat, and that would take about an hour’s drive. The day was sunny and cool, but the brightness was enriching. The drive was unveventful, and I succeeded in finding Paul Reynold’s house. He led me into the kitchen nook, where we sat and talked for several hours. We were joined at times by his wife (?Shirley?), and we talked about older days, as well as what we had all been up to since we saw each other last, 50 years ago. Photo is of the Cowichan area from the Malahat lookout.

I had intended to stay for only about three houors, but ended up being there for four. So it was almost three by the time I got back into Victoria, to the 

Finnie’s house.Libby, as expected, was in her garden; Neil was out doing a literacy course. Libby and I went for a good walk around her local Golf Course, and got home in time for some talk before Neil arrvied, then talked some more. They were off to an All-Candidates’ Meeting that night for Saanich, So I was able to leave in good time and join Pat and two of his friends at The Drake (a lovely pub). I met Doug who does some film work; and Tim, who works at SportChek and for IronMan Canada. Talked about work, issues of sexual identity, beer lore, Victoria’s ills. It was a bit noisy, and I had trouble keeping up with the banter. I got tired early and headed back to the hotel for a great sleep. A busy day.

You can’t expect Victoria to be sunny two days in a row, at this time of year. So it was raining the next day. Pat had arranged to have the day off to be with me. We had designated it a shopping day. First, we had to re-stock his fridge, and buy some food for supper that night. (I knew I wouldn’t be let in my house if I didn’t do this!). Then some shopping for kitchen things for Pat and some other things for Darlene. We wandered about town, lots of walking. Stopped for lunch at the Board Game Café (where I met Arlo, another of Pat’s friends).

But a complication had arisen. Turns out that Victoria has a big marathon on Thanksgiving Sunday, the very day I was going to need to get around downtown. Some streets would be closed, others difficult to cross. I had planned to stay in Saanich on Saturday. night, but in the end, decided that I had better stay with Pat and sleep on the floor, so I would be inside the marathon zone, and able to get to my flight more easily.

We had a wonderful cooked chicken that couldn’t be beat, on the Friday. And there were left-overs for Saturday. Again, Friday, I stayed at the hotel. I was not going to be able to do that on Saturday. So life became a bit more comlicated.