Smashing!

Vancouver, Day 4

The forecast rain never really materialised today but we went ahead with plans for mostly indoors-y activities anyway.

But before any of that happened there was drama on the home front... On his way home from a visit to a coffee shop this morning, Eric took a tumble from his bike and arrived back in a rather bloody state. A visit to the local hospital revealed that, apart from some nasty cuts, he'd also broken his arm...! It's such a shame and we wish him a speedy recovery.

In other news. Spokes and I walked to the nearby Vancouver Art Gallery and, after stopping off for lunch at one of the many street food trucks close by, we saw a couple of fascinating exhibitions - 'Picasso: the Artist and his Muses' was really interesting but, naturally, my favourite was the photography exhibition, 'Harry Callahan: The Street'. Rooms and rooms of stunning and inspirational street photography taken between approximately 1940 and 1990 www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_callahan.html I could've stayed there all day!

Here's a shot of the gallery's rotunda/staircase which is covered in a new artwork by Barbara Kruger, 'Untitled (SmashUp), 2016'. I absolutely loved it.

This evening was spent at the lovely home of Virginia and Eric's good friends, Nan and Bill. The food was excellent, the company convivial and the conversation captivating! We spoke of the changing nature of Vancouver and Liverpool over the last 30 or 40 years, housing, diversity, the referendum, politics in general, cycling, Shakespeare, books and music. What's not to love? Thanks to Bill and Nan for welcoming us into their home and for being such wonderful hosts!


In answer to Goatee's question yesterday, I'm not planning to link exclusively to music by Canadian artists whilst I'm here (although I'm sure that will be a very strong theme!) - but today's song could only be by The Damned... www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6LF7v7FwtI