Bereft of human company, the Bear and I took Sundae's recommendation and visited The Elbow Room for breakfast. "Abuse" is allegedly their game, but sadly it appears that the Canadian people just don't have an abusive bone in their bodies (unless it comes to talking about their neighbours to the south, and then goodness me - all that repressed rudeness comes to the fore.)
The waitress (pictured above with Bear) ought to spend some time in the Wong Kei in London to learn how to be truly rude to customers. Excellent food though (which is more than can be said for the Wong Kei)
That said, she was unintentionally potentially explosively unpleasant to my Scottish dining companion by suggesting he was English. Fortunately he came from nearer Edinburgh than Glasgow, otherwise she might have found herself on the receiving end of a 'Glasgee Handshake'
I'd struck up conversation with my dining companion and learned that he had just come from Whistler. "Good time?" I enquired. He held up his arm, which had a neat covering of plaster and gauze. "Oh" I said. He then regaled me with tales of even worse injuries sustained by friends ("His bones were sticking out and everything"). "Oh" I said again, in a small voice. "Och, but dinna mind me. Ye'll be fine" he said cheerfully, and then attempted to slice into his bacon with only one hand.
With full stomach, comedy ceramic bear and map of the city I decided to do some Culture. Vancouver has a public gallery, so that became my target. They also had an Emily Carr exhibition, whose pictures I'd seen in books but never in the flesh, so to speak.
The first two floors appeared to be full of the contents of a landfill (design throughout the 20th century) and thought provoking words on the wall. In big, clear print for the hard of thinking. No, I wasn't impressed.
The third floor was more contemporary art. Some good. Some not so good. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I spent a good five minutes looking at an device on the wall, thinking it was some sort of installation until I realise it was measuring the humidity in the room. The sad thing is that it was more interesting than some of the other bits and pieces. Chutzpah award must go to the artist who'd got a room in which sound effects from a movie were played while script sections (some with witty annotations) appeared on a wall opposite. Funny, yes. But dahlings, is it art?
Of course it is.
The fourth floor was worth the entrance fee of $15 alone. I'd enjoyed the third floor, but the Carr exhibition was just great. If you're in the area, I recommend it.
And then it was time to get the bus to Whistler...
...I'm going to find me a beer and I'll be back.
