hello lovers,
last summer, while working on the "crawling, weeping, betting," project in vancouver, my friend david let me crash at his apartment downtown vancouver. it was awesome. shenanigans ensued for sure. but i also took my kids down for a week, we left kamloops on canada day, the temperature was hitting 41 celcius and i thought it was the perfect time to get the hell out of town.
so we went to vancouver, where it was a balmy 26 celcius, and it was so trying, so fun, and so exhausting. i would need a nanny to help me do that again. i learned my limitations as a parent on that trip. haha. we also discovered it was cheaper to catch a cab from english bay to helmecken. $7.50, the bus, $11.00. plus hot, packed like sardines, sweaty, gross and some real sketchy people. what do you think we did? especially after a long day wandering around exploring the city with kids?
but we had a great time and they got to see some cool things, soak up the vibe of the big city, the homeless, the crowded bus #23 or was it #21? as well as a boat ride, playing on the beach at english bay, playing in a rooftop garden, and generally running around downtown vancouver just being kids and having fun. it cost a small fortune to feed them, but it was worth it. i hope some good memories were created for them on that trip.
this seems like a travel blog right now, but that's what happens when you travel a lot. we'll get back to art soon enough. plus, this is good for me to revisit all these good and crazy times. it was weird to be in vancouver at such dizzying highs last year, compared to such crushing lows when i was a kid, wandering the streets aimlessly, lost, hungry and almost another lost street kid. another statistic. what saved me and pulled me off the streets was my cousin jackie. she brought me to her apartment on davie street. gave me a guitar and a sense of purpose. it hasn't stopped since i was 16 and life has taken me around the world and across canada and the united states way too many times to count and sometimes remember. sometimes when you follow your path, the one you know you need to follow, against all odds and bullshit, you might just make it.
and if you don't at least you tried. there's plenty of time to join the drones and dig yourself a happy or miserable little rut like the rest, but for now, keep givn'r.
looking back on all these photos makes me smile. i wouldn't be where i am without the help of a lot of people. you know who you are, and thank you! and thanks david for letting us crash at your place! it was kick ass!
cheers,
chris bose.
my daughter on the little boat in false creek
my son in english bay
my youngest monkey playing
in the elevator.
they handled the change
really well. the city didn't really phase them.
haha.
"what do you think all these people are doing daddy?"
i don't know honey. i don't know.
