Ever since they completed the Evergreen line a couple years ago, I told myself someday I’d go to the end, way the hell over in downtown Coquitlam.
But first: get myself some new shoes!
I’m really loving this photo’s composition, though I can’t quite put it into words. It’s just the right balance of blue sky and buildings, and everything is very sharply vertical, emphasising the tall and narrow alley (though it’s not really that narrow in real life). It’s all about the cropping: on the left you can just about see a corner, leading into a side alley. Including that bit would have ruined the effect.
I still don’t get the thing about shoes on power lines, though. Why do people do that? Is it a good luck thing? Is it a juvenile delinquent thing?
I don’t know, but here’s what I do know: the days are getting longer (please ignore the snow). Getting out of work I walked up Hastings Street, eyeing the highrises both old and new outlined in the fading light, from up high and down on the ground. I’m learning the importance of getting low, to either capture the street with its interesting details, or really amp up the perspective when looking up.
My real target was the Marine Building, but it was too tall and I just couldn’t get it all in one photo. So I wandered towards Canada Place, to The Drop. That was too tall to capture in its entirety, but I think I still made it look good.
Friday I just wasn’t inspired. In hindsight it’s not bad, though. Interesting composition, but I’m just not feeling it, you know? Still, they can’t all be winners.
Saturday was busy. I spent the afternoon in an excellent and challenging workshop on talking at WordPress meetups or WordCamps. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while but only got the nerve to do once, very briefly. This workshop energised me, gave me both confidence and good tips, and… I think it’s happening this time! I’m in the list for speaking at either the next meetup, or the one after. I’ve got my topic, too, that’s one of the things we worked on.
Afterwards I sped off to the suburbs. Specifically, the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam, at the very end of the Evergreen SkyTrain line, to see a weird and amazing bit of theatre. And hey, I’ve wanted to go on the Evergreen Line ever since it opened, so that was nice. Nothing I saw was especially new—I’ve taken the Canada Line many many times when working at Webtech, though only as far as Brentwood, and of course I used to live in that neck of the woods. For a while between Port Moody and Coquitlam Central, the Skytrain ran parallel to the (ground) train tracks, and I semi-fondly reminisced about taking the West Coast Express from the deep ‘burbs. I remembered one little pond, just west of Coquitlam Station, that was still there! That was a fun little detail I didn’t expect.
I had been to Lafarge Lake, the actual end of the line, but not for a long time. It’s a nice little place, seriously developed now and, thanks to the new SkyTrain line, not too far from downtown! It would have been nice to have better transit when I lived out there… though it still doesn’t reach as far as Port Coquitlam and probably won’t for a long time. Oh well.
And the lake itself? It’s quite nice. It’s got this fountain thingy, same as Lost Lagoon. Does it serve the same function? I remember reading somewhere that Lost Lagoon used to be an actual lagoon, i.e.: connected to the open water, until they built Highway 99 and the bridge. Now I guess the fountain is to keep the water circulating. Is that what they’re doing here? Lafarge is a long way from the Fraser or the Indian Arm, but it must be fed by creeks, right? Are those gone? Now I’m curious.
Curious about these flowers too. They were just sitting there on a bench, with no one around. What’s the story? A botched proposal? A memorial? Something?
The play was amazing, as I expected; they’re coming back to Vancouver with a sequel some time in May, and I am totally there!