friendly introductions

It was very good to have a real pick-me-up, carefree, even raucous evening to end my most recent trip up to BC. Oh, no worries - I kept things in moderation. Having to be at the airport by 6:30 on a Saturday morning can do that to a guy. The others? Well, a few sore heads and late mornings for them today.

A friend from Chicago, Giuseppe, moved to Vancouver last month. In a nice turn of events, he lives within sight of our place there - he can see into our condo from where he lives, apparently. I shan't comment more on that save to suggest that my sister close the blinds from time to time.

Anyway, not only is Giuseppe there, but his boyfriend, Brian (who swims in my lane) was in town for a conference and a visit. Brian will be in Vancouver himself someday, we hope, but neither he nor Giuseppe know very many people yet. A great opportunity, Friday night.

Marie stuck around, which was nice, and she and I had out a bit of BC red wine, some BC cheese, olives, Raincoast Crisps, walnuts, and dried Okanagan peaches. Two of our favourite Vancouverites, Chris and Sherri, arrived within minutes of each other shortly after 7:30.

it was all we could do not to eat all the cheese right away.

Giuseppe got there about 3/4 of an hour later, bringing along one of the guys from whom he's renting a room, Carl. For my part, I was really delighted to meet someone else from the neighbourhood, and Carl - who was pure fun right off the bat - utterly endeared himself to me when I learned he was born in Prince Rupert.

Carl's partner, Les, came long a little while after that, and he, too, was a super guy. Brian was the last to join us, and by that time, I think we were on to the 4th bottle of red wine (mostly BC).

We finished that one, and by 10 or so, we were at Campagnolo, just down the block.








I hope that they let us come back.

;-)

We were loud. We were having an enormously good time. Food? Incidental (but good - ling cod for me). People had more wine or switched to beer, and I wisely stuck to water and light eating. It was after midnight when I got home.

All in all, quite a night, and so much more and better than I could have guessed. I was just really tickled to have Giuseppe and Brian make some connections in Vancouver.

When next I have to go up, I think we'll head to the west end for fish and chips - Brian won't be with us, but there will be future dates. Did I say fish and chips? We're really going for the deep-fried Mars Bars...