Canada Day 2009

Canada Day 2009 arrived in a blaze of wind swept sunshine – perfect weather for getting outdoors and enjoying the stuff we all crave for during the dark, wet months of Winter.

I kicked the day off this morning by joining Chris and Ryan for a little breakfast action while keeping an ear and eye on what was going on in the NHL free agent frenzy.

To be honest, the whole shebang was a little on the boring side after Vancouver stitched up the services of the Sedin twins for another 5 years. But a few cups of coffee and some particularly well crafted scrambled eggs in the belly later, we decided to switch things up and head to the horse track at Hastings for a little flutter on the GG’s.

Joining us for the jaunt to the track was Dre, a mate of ours who spends most of the year sailing yachts to exotic locations spread far and wide around the planet. He tried telling us that he was new at this game, but his almost perfect start in the first race had us thinking otherwise.

You see, he threw 4 horses down in a $2 superfector and only missed out on a multi-thousand dollar purse by a photo-finish between 3rd and 4th. Damnit! And don’t let the two sheilas at the Kokanee stand tell you that it was due to their advice that he even got that far. I mean, they showed up to work and didn’t even realise it was a horse track until the beasts thundered around the final bend in the first race!

A couple more hours of fun at the track and we were ready to move on to our weekly round of Urban Rec beach volleyball games. In true “Balls ‘R’ Us” fashion, we managed to win all three games in semi-convincing fashion, and having a tonne of fun along the way.

With volleyball, my last social engagement for the day, out of the way I jumped on my bike and peddled like the clappers around to the 9 o’clock gun on in Stanley Park, on the shores of Burrard Inlet, for the Canada Day fireworks display. After witnessing quite the explosive spectacle from the same spot last year, I was expecting great things photographically. But, to be honest, I was kind of disappointed in the end. I’m not sure if it was because the barge seemed to be anchored too far away from the perfect backdrop, or because the display appeared to be done “on the cheap” this year (can’t say I blame them if that was indeed the case). Either way, it didn’t really live up to my hopes and expectations… but I still managed to snap off a few decent frames.

I can’t wait for the annual “Celebration of Light” in English Bay coming up in a few weeks time.