Vancouver vignette no. 1

On 28 September 2007 at shortly after noon, Vancouver was enjoying a break from the flung cotton garment of cloud that she had donned that morning. The Pacific wind had stopped for lunch. It was too soon to be changing to go out for cocktails and dancing, but Vancouver nipped into the staff bathroom to feel naked and natural for just a few minutes before getting back to work.

On the north side of W Georgia Street between Howe and Hornby, two people (out of hundreds who, like the wind off the ocean, had taken a break for lunch) stood out. One was a gentleman in a very neatly tailored three-piece suit with very shiny, dark brown shoes. Although he allowed Motorola to make a direct contribution to fighting AIDS in Africa when he bought his red Motorola KRZR, he was still swearing quite angrily at whomever was on the other end of the conversation. The second was a young woman wearing a charcoal pencil skirt and a slim-fitting lavender sleeveless top. She couldn't hold a red Motorola KRZR because she had no arms, but she was laughing with her friend as they walked along.