Homeless in Vancouver: Things went downhill Monday—but in a good way

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      Monday evening (November 19) I took a quick ride from Fairview, down to the Kitsilano neighbourhood and I do mean down. It’s at least 11.5 metres closer to sea level where I was going on West 1st Avenue than where I started from in the 1400 block of West Broadway.

      So, while the 1.8 kilometre trip there was no effort at all, the trip back involved some huffing and puffing on my part, thanks as much to my loaded bike trailer as my deplorable fitness level. (And actually, the hard slog was really only between West 1st and West 5th.)

      The reason I made the trip was in order to pick up some honest-to-goodness home-cooked food that a nice person on Twitter offered me and it was well worth a bit of hill-climbing. As the homeless friend I shared it with agreed, the food (spaghetti in tomato sauce with beef shanks) was delicious!

      And because I haven’t been binning (or anything else) in that part of Kits for a few years, I kept my eyes open for things to photograph along the way.

      However, of the five photos I took, the two most interesting were taken in Fairview—both only blocks from my starting point.

      A neighbourhood at home with democracy

      One of many lawn signs promoting “pro rep” seen along West 5th Avenue in Kits at 6:54 p.m.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      The first photo I took was on the way out of Fairview, in an alley on the south side of the 1600 block of West Broadway. This documents what may be a rare example of building management humour: a discarded toilet left out by a Dumpster, directly underneath a “Do Not Dump” sign. I can only hope that the joke won’t be on the building.

      The second photo was taken west of Burrard Street (so, in Kitsilano) on a block of Craftsman-style, single family homes along West 5th Avenue.

      Almost every home in the block displayed a lawn sign urging passersby to vote for proportional representation in the mail-in referendum on electoral reform, underway in British Columbia until the end November.

      Such lawn signs are as rare a sight in the multi-unit-rich neighbourhood of Fairview, as are single family homes.

      The third interesting photo was taken once I was back among the apartments and condos of Fairview—in the 1500 block of West 10th Avenue.

      A four-wheeled school chalk board coincidentally parked in front of the Vancouver School Board offices on West 10th Avenue at 7:56 p.m.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      This was of a vehicle painted matte black and covered with white, handwritten words and slogans, all of a positive and uplifting nature, including “peace”, “happiness”, “be kind”, and “live and laugh and love.”

      The most notable thing of all was the fact that all the writing was done in erasable white chalk—the matte finish being dark enough and rough enough to double as a school black board.

      How coincidental then, that the vehicle was parked in front of the Vancouver school board?

      And just so you know, I did try to take some photos on my way down the slope in Kitsilano—at West 3rd Avenue and again at West 1st Avenue—but my point-and-shoot camera simply would not focus. I can only guess that it is not designed to work so close to sea level.

      The view (if you can call it that) from Arbutus and West 3rd Avenue just before 7 p.m.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

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