The bus system let me down very badly coming and going this afternoon. Vancouver has such a great rail system and such a weak, weak bus system, even for people living in the urbanized core. There are things I have decided to pass on, just because I have to make a bus-to-bus transfer and these are generally quite dreadful here. Toronto bus service is fairly poor out in the burbs, but the streetcar service certainly appears to be far ahead of Vancouver bus service. Not that I won't have complaints in Toronto (I always do).
But it really is the crappy arts scene that drives me crazy here. The quality generally is poor, though the chamber music can be ok and the symphony is on the rise (and quite possibly the Toronto symphony is on the decline). But everything is just so amateurish. And it's usually crammed into these hard to get to places. I can't stand going to the Cultch or Granville Island, and I'm not even that crazy about Bard on the Beach. Nothing is centralized and easy to get to. With the exception of Queen Elizabeth Hall (which has some of the worst seating arrangements I've seen in a long time) and the Vancouver Playhouse (all but abandoned after its resident theatre company shut down), nothing is walking distance from a rail line.
Nobody advertises properly. I just found out that there was a performance of Goodnight Desdemona out in New West, which I would have gone to see, but there was no notice. I doubt very much that this Gruesome Playground Injuries is going to get sufficient press (the last I looked you don't see if from the main Pacific Theatre page, only if you go through back channels, i.e. you already know what you are looking for, which totally defeats the purpose).
But mostly I am really pissed that I was going to see this concert today which was listed as $10. Well, it turns out it was $10 if you booked ahead but was $20 at the door. A bit of a discount may make some sense (though actually they take a bigger cut at the door than for on-line sales), but 100% mark-up seems ridiculous, and the guy kind of gave me some attitude when it was obvious that I thought their pricing policies sucked. So I left and went home early, quite upset. It is clear I will never see an event in St. Andrew-Wesley Church.* I've tried and tried, and you just kept letting me down. Frankly, good riddance crappy Vancouver arts scene.
As an update on the move, I am probably 1/3 done with the shelves, including one book case dedicated to art books (and quite heavy ones at that).
The remaining books do look forlorn.
Here is the growing pyramid of boxes in the garage. I'm a little scared of how big the pile will be in six weeks.
* Other things I will never do:
Go to Whistler
Go to Squamish
Ski in Vancouver & environs
Snowshoe up on Grouse
Visit Burnaby Village Museum
See the Vancouver Aquarium
Things I don't plan on doing again:
Go back to SFU
Go again to Science World
Going back to the Museum of Vancouver
Go back to the Cultch
Go see any of the films at VIFF
Listen to the Pacific Rim String Quartet (as they appear to have disbanded)
Skate at the ice rink at Robson Square
Things I might do one last time:
Go to UBC
Go see the VSO play at the Orpheum
Go to the Vancouver Art Gallery
Go around the SkyTrain loop (I really ought to video this on a nice day)
Go to Granville Island (for the Jazz Fest)
Do the Grouse Grind (a bit unlikely, however)
Go to the Sun Yat-Sen Gardens (ditto).
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