walking the drive

the Drive [Commercial Drive] is my neighbourhood shopping street...

I have walked up and down both sides of it now for many, many years!

that bowling pin sign has hovered above the corner of East 7th forever,

and incredibly, people still go bowling!

at the entrance to the stairs that lead up to Johnny 5's Billiard Club & Cappuccino Bar, which I have never dared to venture up, partly because I don't think a nosy asian woman would be very welcome in this what I imagine must be a time-warp macho-male dominated domain!

on the side of Norman's greengrocer, a produce institution on the Drive, giant red birds on a wire look down greedily in anticipation of discarded fruits and vegetables, mimicking the real crows and pigeons waiting on the live wires above... 

chinatown upspotting

with the new chinese year of the tiger pouncing upon a city distracted by shiny-money and nuvo-power, old chinatown buildings are being stripped of their quaint chineseness and cultural significance to be appropriated for elitist galleries of western art pretensions, hip design stores of asian chic, cool-million condos and modernized fusion restaurants that no older chinatown resident would ever step foot into...
but then again, all those old chinese people will soon be pushed out of their venerable comfort zone...