Homeless in Vancouver: Probably just as well I couldn’t see last night’s sunset

Standing on street level as I was, there was very little chance of actually seeing the sunset Thursday evening (May 12) from any vantage point near Granville Street and West Broadway.

It certainly couldn’t be seen where I was—just off Hemlock Street, a block east of Granville, in the alley of the 1300 block on the south side of West Broadway.

All that was visible was the glow—a deep infusion of saffron and lemon spreading out across the western sky—and against that, the solid silhouettes of buildings and one skeletal construction crane.

Craning my neck didn't help me see, or did it?

It occurred to me as I stood there that If I lived in a west-facing suite in one of the many high-rise towers built using such construction cranes—or if I ended up living in the building being built using the very construction crane that was helping block my view—then I would easily be able to see the sunset.

I would be able to see all the sunsets that I wanted to, in fact.

So many sunsets, I thought, that I might even get bored with them.

“Meh! I’ve seen better, where’s the remote?”

As things stood, however, there was me, in the alley, standing as tall as I could on my tip-toes on the concrete riser of a wooden fence, craning over as far to my right as I could and holding my camera high over my head, all in a breathless and futile attempt to catch a glimpse of what (give-or-take) worked out to be just one of the 19,995 sunsets that have occurred—like clockwork—since I was born.

Like seeing the sun set one more time would somehow illuminate my dark and miserable existence in a new and…

Wait a minute.

That means that Tuesday could very well be the 20,000th sunset of my life!

Okay, now I’ve totally forgotten where I was going with this.