Last night we drove into the city. It was a beautiful evening. We took the Mustang and drove into Vancouver along the Lougheed; it is a slower, nicer route when travelling in a convertible with the top down.  At one point we were in a lane behind two other Mustang convertibles. It was clearly a great evening for a drive.

Getting back into the city, to “our” neighbourhood felt good. I loved seeing the landmarks that I used when we lived in the West End. The vibe felt amazing. I loved the busyness of it all,  Dale didn’t.  There was way too much traffic, too many pedestrians, too much noise; it was all too much for him. But not for me. I would live there in a heartbeat. We drove to our favourite downtown pub, The Winking Judge. We found a parkade, parked and walked to the pub. 

The outside area was full. It isn’t really a patio, just part of the sidewalk that they’ve taken over and set up chairs and tables on. However, there was a table right by the sliding door leading out to the sidewalk. It was in the shade and the breeze was delightful. We ordered drinks and some food and settled in to chat and people-watch. There was a gentleman on the other side of the sliding door, in the outside area, sitting alone on a couch that could seat four. He would often lean back and stretch out his arms over the back of the couch. We thought perhaps he was waiting for friends, but he wasn’t.  We thought it was a little unfair, that he was sitting there alone, but we didn’t let that bother us, we were happy just to be there. The server walked behind us, in and out of the sliding door to the outside area, a lot. And she was dealing mostly with this man. First, his half-empty beer had to be replaced because there was a fly in it. Then his salad arrived. He ate most of it and then his main arrived. Halfway through his dinner, with his burger literally half-eaten, he called the server over. He handed her his fanny pack, minus his pack of cigarettes and walked out of the pub. He went across the street to have a smoke, then he came back to finish his dinner, after ordering another beer at the bar. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone stop eating to smoke a cigarette. Well, addiction can be a terrible thing, I guess. We stopped paying attention to him when our dessert arrived. I don’t think there’s anything more delicious than a good, warm sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream melting over it. If you go to The Winking Judge, save room for it!

After dinner we headed to Stanley Park to see “Hairspray” at the Malkin Bowl. We had never been to that area of Stanley Park. There is a restaurant there and next time we’ll try it before the show. The performance area was very informal; plastic patio chairs set up in rows in front of a raised, covered stage. People wandered in with small coolers, ice creams and treats. Some people were sitting on blankets on the bank on the right side of the area. Just after 8:00, the show started. 

It was amazing! The acting, the singing, the dancing; everything was at a professional level. The band was incredible. There were a few small microphone issues but it was a wonderful, wonderful show. It made me want to be in a musical again.  The show started in fading daylight, but it was fully dark when we left, so we did have theatre under the stars. That’s the name of the theatre group – Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS).

I asked Dale to really drive through our old neighbourhood on the way home, so we turned off on Denman. It was 10:30 but the cafes and bistros were still busy and there were still a lot of people out and about. We turned up on Davie and as always, the lower part was quiet. But as we got right into the area, closer to Thurlow, it got busier. Again, I felt right at home.  We turned on Burrard and headed out of the city, back to our townhouse in the suburbs. It’s a great compromise; we live somewhere a little quieter for Dale and we take trips into the city for me.