THE HOMELESS HOUSESITTER IN TRANSIT

POST # 18
This is starting to become a habit. Here it is again the day to write my blog and for some strange reason I wake up early (this morning it was before 5:30am)for no particular reason, and I can't get back to sleep. It's as though my mind is letting me know that it's time to get up and write, and so here I sit at the computer, trying to put together a few coherent words for this post. Maybe it's a good thing that I haven't decided to do a daily post because I'm not sure if I could cope with getting up this early every morning. At the same time it's nice to get a jump on the day every now and again.
So now I find myself in transit, back in Vancouver having arrived here last Saturday afternoon on my journey from Orcas Island. As it is now the following Tuesday, this is the longest time I have spent in Vancouver since last September and even though I called Vancouver home for 7 years, it now has become just a place to transit through on my way to my next housesit assignment.
I am very grateful indeed that my good friends Ted and Doreen have offered me a bed and their friendship for the few days that I am here and being at their place is very familiar territory and in that respect I sort of feel like I'm back "home" however, Vancouver isn't my home anymore and I can't really say that for all the years that I spent here that it ever did feel that way. It's hard to put my finger on just why I felt that way while living here, and maybe I will never figure it out. However, one thing I have come to realize as of late is that I am really not much of a fan of the city life any longer. The noise, the smog, the concrete and glass and all the cars, cars, cars don't have a very good effect upon me. If you live in a city every day, it becomes the norm and alot of the things I just mentioned just get blocked out as you go about your business I guess. I'm sure that's what I probably did during my years here. But in the past 5 months now, my life has become a more rural one and my horizons now are mostly filled with trees instead of skyscrapers. And I like it that way much better. I guess it is a bit strange considering that I grew up in a city, and over my life I have spent plenty of years in various cities, but that was then and this is now, and even though I will spend time in the future in this and other cities, I now feel most at home in the rural setting and in smaller communities.
Yesterday I had to do some running around town getting prepared for my next housesit, and so I was back on my bike and cruising around the streets of Vancouver, and what a shock it was to be riding amongst all the traffic. Vancouver is pretty good as far as bike lanes go so that helps, but one has to be extremely vigilant or otherwise you might just become another statistic. Having recently arrived back from Orcas Island where the traffic is very minimal in comparison, yesterday was a real test of my alertness and patience as well.
And speaking of Orcas I am reminded of my cat buddies there, Oscar and Felix. I received an email from my friend Cathy to say she had arrived home safely and the cats seemed to be happy and I was glad to hear that. I already miss those two, but with any luck I will get the opportunity somewhere in the future to spend time with them again. Back here in Vancouver at Ted and Doreen's place, I've had little Parker cat to keep me company. But there is certainly no rubbing of the belly with Parker, as I did on a regular basis with Oscar and Felix, unless you want a few scratch marks on your hand. I've become spoiled with the gentleness of the Orcas boys, and I now have to readjust my cat interactions accordingly.
So tomorrow I will be on the road again, this time on a bus ride to the town of Grand Forks in the interior of B.C. 2012 being a leap year makes tomorrow the 29th of February, and I was thinking about that fact the other day, and that brought to mind another February 29th in my past when I was travelling on a bus. The year was 1980 and the bus journey that time around was from India to Nepal passing through the Indian town Raxaul and crossing over the border into the town of Birganj in Nepal enroute to Kathmandu. Tomorrow's journey, even though it will be 10 hours long will seem luxurious in comparison to that ride from years gone by, so I don't think I will find myself complaining about anything while I journey through the British Columbia countryside. It will be another early start tomorrow, so I might just end up sleeping part of the trip away which will be fine by me.
Now, I've been to Grand Forks in the past and in actually wasn't that long in time after the above mentioned bus journey to Nepal for not long after that I was back in Canada after having spent almost three years circling the planet going in a westbound direction. My memories from back then are pleasant ones, as I was visiting friends there. I also remember how hot it was, and even though it's not going to be the same time of year now, as it was back then, I am hoping for at least some warmer weather than I have been experiencing in the past 4 or 5 months. Spring is just around the corner so things should be getting better soon enough.
But before the journey begins, I still have one more day to spend here in Vancouver, and the big item on today's agenda is a visit to Dr. Rosebush the dentist so that he can replace a filling that came out a few weeks ago. I am grateful for the fact that I could get an appointment with him and that I could have the time here in Vancouver in order to accomplish that. But not too many people I know like going to the dentist, and I am no different, so I will be glad when all the drilling is done and I can be on my way.
So only one more day amongst the cars and concrete and then I will be able to be back with nature and have an opportunity to meet some new folks and some new animals as well and I am very much looking forward to that. I will be spending 6 weeks in the Grand Forks area which should be ample time to have a good look around and get to know the community.
So let the journey begin I say.
Next stop, Grand Forks.

See you again in March.
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer