James Shearer

I think I might have found the best thing to eat in Vancouver.

I love to eat, cook, eat-out, and the whole social gathering around the table to feast and have fun. But in Vancouver, despite all the great places to eat and the vast selection of cuisines, prices, locations, etc I am yet to find a restaurant which has exceptional food. I’d say most places to eat in Vancouver are good, great or very good but there isn’t one in particular that if it shut down I’d be too bothered.

But today I came across a new place on Denman Street in Vancouver’s West End, just a couple blocks from my house which serves Bulgarian food. If someone said to me “name one dish from Bulgaria” I’d not have a clue. However, there are quite a few and this place I came across serves up some Bulgarian classics along side some traditional dishes which have an international and West-Coast flavour.

I opted for a fillo which is a pasty very similar to a strudel but usually savoury and not a dessert. Bulgarian fillos are usually large, flat pastries that are spun to create the shape and layered with spinach, and other ingredients. The fillo I had was Spanish inspired with ham, goats cheese, spinach and a declicious (and interesting) side salad. Fantastic.

This place is run by a husband and wife team, Ziggy and Vera and is called Acacia. It has been going for just a few months and I hope that it lasts because it is a great alternative to the many cafes in the West End. I’d recommend Acacia for some quick, healthy and filling food which is great at any time of the day.

Acacia Fillo Bar is located at 1103 Denman Street just a block and a half north of Davie Street on the Stanley Park side of the street. Check it out and feel free to post comments here to review.

After some computer problems I have neglected to put any photos on my photo blog for the past 2 weeks. All my photos are on discs so I haven’t had a chance to copy any onto my computer to upload onto my photo blog nor have I had the time to go shoot some new material.

This afternoon I had to make a quick stop in Gastown and given that it was still light out for about another hour I took my camera with me just in case! And just as well! I saw Stephen Harper the leader of Canada’s Conservative party hastily heading for a car. I was able to get a few photos but nothing great.

My photography skills are quite lacking when it comes to spontanious flash photography. If it is inside, staged then no problem. Outside and ‘argh, quick something’s happening’ snap snap - ain’t gunna be a pretty sight afterwards.

Anyway, I did manage to get a few shots of Stevey boy and I will be updating my photo blog more regularly from now on… well, I’ll try!

– added
In the process of adding a link for this post I went to the Conservative Party webpage and Stephen Harper’s image is right at the top with the Canadian flag in the background. That is not a good photo! If that is what he looks like when he smiles, he shouldn’t smile. Not a good look Steve!

I don’t like to write bad reviews or publically bad-mouth a company or its products, certainly not on the record, which I suppose a blog is, but there is only so much I can take.

I have a bunch of websites hosted with a firm in Vancouver called WebServe Canada. I have had little problem with the service although there was a fair amount of getting used to the odd control panel processes they have in place. Recently this has become more and more problematic to the point where I have to ask a tech support person to do some really basic tasks such as adding a new site or modifying an email address. This defeats the point of having an online control panel in my opinion.

On Friday night a few of my websites went offline. This happens. The internet isn’t perfect and neither is the technology behind it so it didn’t bother me. By Saturday morning I was a bit concerned and that evening when it still wasn’t up and running I contacted WebServe technical support. I was advised it was a temporary fault which will be resolved “very soon”.

Sunday morning - no websites.
Technical support - “… will be resolved shortly” - how shortly? “a few hours”. hmmm…

Monday morning - no websites.
Technical support - “… will be resolved shortly” - how shortly? “a few hours”. grrrrrr…

Tuesday morning - no websites.
Technical support - “… will be resolved shortly” - how shortly? “a few hours”. Argghhh…

It is now late afternoon and the latest word from WebServe (if I read between the lines is) we are crap. That is my opinion of their service and their support.

According to the Better Business Bureau I am right.

Vancouver is known for its high standard of living, lack of pollution and great air quality. However since moving to Vancouver from the Highlands of Scotland I have noticed there is a difference in the quality of the air but chances are it is probably more to do with climate than pollution or other human factors. I don’t know as I’m no expert and I couldn’t find anything online which I could use as a comparison.

Anyway, the air quality outside is great and there is no issues there but step into our apartment and all of a sudden the airborne particles and dust is out of control. Initially I just assumed we lived in a dusty apartment so we had to sweep regularly and when I got fed up with sweeping I got a robot to do it for me! Our apartment is in a high rise building over 10 floors up and although the building was built in the 1960s it still rivals many of the brand new Yaletown towers for modern amenities and apartment standards.

But if you don’t like sweeping, this isn’t the place to live. For some reason the dust build up is crazy. If you leave a large surface area, such as a dining table or desk for a day or two and you can see the dust.

Whilst appearance and cleanliness is an issue my biggest concern is health. Surely this can’t be good. I’ve heard about people who become sick because of the amount of airborne particles etc.

My suspicions for the cause are because of the extractor fans in the bathrooms which is where most of the dust probably comes from. They are like a particle highway linking all the apartments.

If anyone has a solution or recommended course of action then I’m interested to hear. Moving - not an option as we are more than happy living her but the dust factor is a right pain!

From my window I can see a man lying in the street. I passed by him about 20 minutes ago and I didn’t even go to see if he was ok. He is lying in the middle of the road with the rain coming down. A handful of people are standing beside him. Bystanders, commuters, people from the neighbourhood who, like me, were walking by and saw him lying there, unconscious. They stopped. I didn’t. They stopped, but not to help, but to watch.

A few more minutes have gone by. There is still no sign of an ambulance. I assume someone called an ambulance by now. Only a couple of people remain, the others gave up watching. I guess nothing interesting had happened.

I’ve seen this man before. I’m sure a few of the other people who had walked by without stopping also recognised him. The man is probably about 30. His endurance of life has added years. He is often seen around this area of town. He begs on the street in front of the supermarket. He just sits there, with his cap turned up. It is usually empty. He seeks pity from passers by, hoping they will spare some change. I doubt many do. In a city full of homeless people it is a common sight.

In my travels and in this bustling city, I have witnessed people being hit by cars, shot, stabbed, punched. I’d always go to help. I don’t cross over to the other side and ignore them in their moment of need. There is a man out there, less than 100 meters away, I can see him quite clearly, still lying there in the rain. He is in need but like many others, I just walked by.

I probably couldn’t have done very much. I’m not a trained medic but that’s not the point. The point is making the effort to help someone, to be humane, to endorse humanity by reaching out. I just walked past.

I know why he is lying out there in the road. He wasn’t hit by a car. He wasn’t assaulted. It’s probably not his fault. His lifestyle caught up on him. He spends his money earned begging in the local liquor store. He is a homeless, aboriginal and like many he has serious alcohol abuse problems. People look down on these individuals, blaming them for the choice they made. If it was as simple as that then the solution would be somewhat simple too. However it isn’t. Actions by people many years ago created a narrow path for this man. His fate was sealed as soon as he was born. Foetal Alcohol Syndrome is prevalent in many natives in North America. One of them is lying in the wet road.

The last time I saw this man collapsed the ambulance crew were already there. I could see the look on their faces. One that said it all. This is a regular occurrence and one which they, as emergency medics can do little to prevent a repeat of. I’m sure the paramedics didn’t think they’d be embarking on a career where this was a regular part of their job.

It is a shame that people walk by. There is little most people can do to help. He needs medical assistance and he will get it. But he will probably be back, in the same spot in front of the supermarket in a day or two. Begging for more booze money. He is an addict. An addict with no one to help him. He cant help himself and society walks by without even giving it another thought.

The ambulance just turned up. The lights and sirens weren’t even on. It is 11am in the morning. I suspect the dispatcher has heard the story many times, as did the ambulance crew - “Aboriginal Canadian male, West End, unconscious, no obvious signs of trauma, smells of alcohol”. No rush. They are probably fed up dealing with the same problem over and over, powerless to prevent a repeat.

The man is propped up against a tree. They give him his cap and the soaked newspaper he was carrying. In a month or so I’ll probably be walking down the street and see him, or another person just like him, lying there, unconscious on the pavement. His details are put down on paper. Next year he will be part of this years statistics. That will probably be his contribution to society. That and the cost of regular ambulance call outs and the occasional hospitalisation.

He is a drain on the system. People look at him and think that. The attitude is wrong. People need to be helped and people walk by because they know they can’t help. The people who can help him don’t. The ambulance paramedics help him the best they can but they can’t help him either. The people who run the shelter where he will sleep tonight can’t help him, even with generous donations of money, clothing and time people give. It is the year 2005 and a man with a problem he is powerless to control can’t be helped. There is no one to help him.

But there is. His problem landed him on the street. But the problem isn’t a street-level one. It is a problem which the government is responsible for. There is not sufficient resources allocated to helping prevent repeats and give this man a life. He has no life. It was taken away from him. He only has one life and this is it. Lying in the road, people walking by, rain coming down, nothing to look forward to. He has been abandoned.

It isn’t a simple solution. People walk by and see the problems. Over the dinner table possible solutions are discussed. Politicians discuss these kinds of problems all day long. But what ever is being done isn’t working. A better plan needs to be put forward. The concentration is on giving people a better life but there are still many people who don’t have the life we lead and never will. They can’t catch up. The government is always making it better for us, easier so we can take our lives for granted more and more each day. They make our lives more comfortable. It’s not very comfortable leaning up against that tree, soaked to the bone, penniless, hungry, walking a path to an early grave.

Society has abandoned him, not on purpose, but because he is on the outer rim of society. The focus is on the centre, the people who have a life to lead, who contribute to the world. He can’t contribute. He relies on contributions. He didn’t choose that path although many people say he did. He hasn’t ever had the opportunity to contribute. His life is ruined and whatever the government does it will probably be too little, too late.

The next time he is lying unconscious on the street, in need, I can only hope that someone walks by and is in a position to not just call an ambulance and see if his is ok, but to do something about it to stop there being a repeat, to give this man a life, to give him a chance to contribute and catch up with the rest of us. I hope that by reaching out impacts them in such a way that they realise more needs to be done than they are currently doing and it needs to be done before walking by and not helping becomes normal and we all loose our humanity.

With all that Canada has to offer and the constant flow of festivals and events it can be difficult to decide where and when to visit Canada.

Thanks to a handful of provincial tourist boards and the Canadian Tourist Commission, Trail Canada has launched a blog with articles by respected journalists and other sources.

This new blog is a perfect guide to inside information into very specific topics, be it dining in Prince Edward Island or visiting the Northwest Territories or exploring Victoria in Autumn, Trail Canada has a growing base of articles.

Visit the Trail Canada blog to read more and contribute your own articles.

From time to time I have run into instances in Canada where, as a Brit, Canadians haven’t been able to understand me because of my accent or because what I believed was a simple request, turns out to be something a little bit less simple or bizarre over here.

One of the more common occurrances is my use of English. It can differ, sometimes considerably, to the use of the English language in North America, Canada, and the West Coast. Regional dialects might not be as distinguishable as they are in the UK but they are present and the overall difference to British English can, in some cases, be extreme.

Wikipedia has some interesting articles about Canadian English but a good list of examples of the differences can be found on Dave VE7CNV’s website - whoever that is!

Even the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) admit they have some difficulty working out what words they should and shouldn’t use. The have a large archive of previous stories and reports on the Woe and Wonder of Words. A particularly interesting article is the one about the reliance on the CBC to promote English and standards.

Although many Canadian’s don’t realize what color is in the center or if they realise the center has no colour. At least the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms knows what it’s talking about!

One thing I do know is that Canadian’s say Pop, American’s say Soda, and in the UK we say tea , 2 milks and no sugar… please!

On Friday we said goodbye to the view and made the move to our new apartment.

Although we are in the same building, we are now living a little bit higher up and have quite a bit more space. We desperately needed the space and love living in the West End where people look and laugh if you ask for a spacious apartment. However, we found one. We managed to stay in the area we love, a building we enjoy living in and still maintaining a modern interior but surrendering the view.

I think it is worth it.

All we need to do now is get our stuff moved in and tell people where we live So if you are going to send something to either me or Vanessa, then you need our new address.

Despite all the interesting sights, unusual smells and fascinating goings on along Davie street there are regularly occurances which still surprise me.

Last night at the corner of Davie Street and Burrard as I walked past the Celebrities Nightclub I overheard a group of 25 year old men. One turned to the group as they were heading in the opposite direction and remarked,
“that Pantene Pro V makes my hair feel so good”.

The sound of mumbled agreement then followed.

hmmmm…

Life in Vancouver is great. But not for everybody.

The city’s lack of low-cost housing and housing for the homeless causes some serious concerns for all of the residents of Vancouver.

The downtown eastside of Vancouver, around the Main Street and East Hastings Street has sunk into such a slum it can best be described as a Canadian ghetto.

I’ve taken some photographs of this area of the city and will update them from time to time.

Photographs of Vancouver’s downtown eastside.