Homeless in Vancouver: Last night's ray of sunshine

Last night’s sunset as seen from the 1400 block of West Broadway avenue was amazing, if only for the fact that any vestige of it could be seen at all.

After the day’s rain the wall of clouds only parted enough to reveal a ceiling of blue sky, not enough to allow any street-level view of the sunset. But just before it sank completely out of sight the sun managed to put out one last high beam.

Right there in the centre of my view of the northern sky was a little tiny polyp of cloud painted a delicate shade of pink; one last ray of sunshine that had manged to thread its way through the obstacles of cloud and building in order to illuminate the very top of the cloud bank opposite my window seat in McDonald’s.