City Highlights

saki

dumplings

Clover Point park

love the bowls

I've been into the city a few times in the past week with some interesting experiences with some amazing people. Last weekend there were 19 of us sharing a very long table of Japanese food for a friend's birthday. I knew about half of the people, so that's always good. The food was pretty good, though I don't eat seafood, so did not have sushi. Thankfully Japanese cook other proteins too, so I had some sesame chicken wings, and some Japanese pork dumplings. The wings were a bit dry, but otherwise tasty. The dumplings were quite good, and I managed to eat them all with chop-sticks. I had me a Japanese lager which was pretty good, and nicely chilled. I finished it off with a big piece of cheesecake I shared with my table buddies. Many of my table buddies were eating box meals and drinking saki.

After supper most of the 19 began the pilgrimage down the street to a local pub. Now getting most of those 19 together to leave at once was impossible, and everyone had a different path to the pub, so we agreed to meet up there and see who's route was faster. On the way there as we had just split apart and were on two sides of the streets, along with the rest of the Saturday night downtown crowd when we heard screeching tires and then WHAM BANG CRASH...one car was trying to make a left hand turn when the light ran out on him and he decided not to rush it but apparently the guy behind him didn't realize that until it was too late and slammed into the car, bounced back about 10 feet or so, and then gassed up and hit the car again, though I suspect that was a reflex of some sort, as it wasn't a slam bang, just jolted forward. We looked at one another and reminded each other this was why we were walking after a few drinks...and decided to keep heading to the pub. If the police wanted witnesses, there were about 40-50 people around that intersection at the time...I was thirsty so off we went. The pub was usual style, with a Beatles cover band. They were dressed like the mop-tops from the 60's and were actually pretty good. They were very young, and that added to the charm and they pulled it off. It became very apparent to me however, that the pub was a stop on the cougar crawl, and a bit of a meat market. That was no real surprise as it is what keeps me from going to the nightclubs, but usually the pubs are not as bad...I had a good time in spite of this, but was getting tired of being leered at and groped as I wove through the crowd. I was spending the night with my friends in my camper parked in their back yard, so when they decided to head for home, I left with them along with another gal from the same 'hood. Sleeping in the van for the first time in awhile was interesting and a little cold. I just had a comforter with me, and didn't bring a thick sweater or hoodie to wear. It does cool down at night, and the van had no residual heat since I'd parked it hours ago. A lot different than last summer when I had all the windows open to keep it from being too hot when I went to bed.

Yesterday I went to town for some errands related to my work visa and due to a cockup with paperwork by the secretary, I had to stay over so I could drop the right forms off in the morning. I hung out with my friends in another outdoor porch gathering. There was a similar gathering next door on their porch and while I was inside the porch crowd at my friend's had found an Australian at the next door porch party. And he had been to Alice Springs. So I abandoned my friends to go and pick this fella's brain for a bit. Met a few of his friends, and we had a grand old chat about Australia and I found myself invited to a house party on Saturday night in Sooke...on my road! So I may head down there tomorrow night for a bit...

Today my friend and I took our hungover bodies and her 2 year old out for more errands - drop off the paperwork, Tim Horton's for a treat, stroll about the mall, stop at Zellers, then off to the beach for a stroll with the little guy. I picked up a nice piece of seaweed to dry, and Jack found lots of sand. He had fun, and we didn't mind the spitting rain. We then headed to Dairy Queen to pick up a birthday cake for my friend's birthday on Sunday.

After dropping off the gang, I headed back to Sooke and was immediately accosted by Stormy who had apparently worn out his meower in my absence....and gave me shit about it in his croaking voice. Awwww....poor kitty. So I had to submit for inspection and mauling for awhile. I think it will be an early night tonight...