You gotta laugh!

Vancouver, Day 2

After a 12 hour sleep, I felt almost human again this morning and ready to eat a hearty brunch. Luckily, Virginia and her husband, Eric, knew exactly the right spot.

We all headed along the beach and up to the Red Umbrella Café on Davie St. The all-day veggie breakfast (eggs, hash browns, avocado, grilled spinach, tomato and sourdough toast) was just what the doctor ordered and afterwards Virginia took Spokes and me to the West End Farmers' Market at Nelson Park where we bought lots of fresh berries before going round the corner to St Paul's hospital where Virginia has a community garden plot right up on the roof - what a great idea! Great views too. After watering her veggies we walked back home to V and E's beautiful apartment overlooking Stanley Park. The park is one of the jewels in Vancouver's crown and covers 400 hectares of waterside heaven! http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx

Later in the afternoon, Virginia took me and Spokes through the park to her favourite swimming spot at Bikini Beach on English Bay, where we had an exhilarating dip (it's been far too long since I had a saltwater swim!) and dried off in the sun before walking home via the local shops where we picked up a few groceries.

Whilst we were out, Eric had whipped up some delicious noodles and veggies for us, followed by some of the berries we'd got earlier in the day.

The conversation was of the EU referendum and baseball. An interesting combination.

Today's blip is of one of the fourteen 3 metre tall bronze laughing men who form Yue Minjun's A-maze-ing Laugher sculpture on the edge of English Bay. I'm very taken with it.