I wandered the downtown Vancouver streets, slightly dazed as it was early, the coffee in my hand only half-finished and thus not fully waking my mind to operating temperature. Commuter traffic and day-job types jostled me like a potted plant to get around in their rush past me to get to jobs, friends, lovers, shops, or the somewhere important place in their lives they needed to be at the moment.

It was, after all, the beginning of December and things like holiday gift shopping for our families and friends was starting to dawn more brightly every morning into the waking brains of the urban populace (who surround my small oasis of a home in the city) as the month creeps forward inexorably to it’s zenith on the 25th and the all the expectations which surround that date.… Read the full article