Victoria

Timezone: UTC-8.

I flew a seaplane to Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. The sky cleared up as we were up in the air, and that offered us some really picturesque views of the archipelago. Soon after getting off the plane – the splash down of which I found to be rather impressingly “on the edge” – I walked up to the rather impressive Legislative Assembly, which turned out to be hosting a public tour – usually just one in a day – to which entry would close a minute after my arrival. I have been slowly learning to see these as blessings more than coincidences.

I got a new green cap to replace the one I had lost to the Atlantic Ocean – a very similar one, in fact – and get it I did in a shop with Irish products. Then I went to an Irish pub to have an Irish stew with a Guinness. Does anyone see a pattern? And I've never even been to Ireland.

To get back to Vancouver I decided to hop on a ferry, and to get to the terminal in Vancouver Island I had to take a taxi. The driver, an Indian gentleman, offered me some rather important, however unsolicited, marriage coaching. In the West people marry for love, he said, and that's why there end up being so many “dievorces”. “One dievorce, two dievorce, three dievorce”. Arranged marriages are the solution. I asked him if in India they do arranged “dievorces”, and we shared a good laugh. On the subject of American tariffs that are to come, he made it clear that “they [we] won't be affected”. When asked how come – surely, the Canadians – he made it clear he was talking about the Indians. They don't buy American products, according to him. He's been in Canada for nine years and ”we” to him means the Indians.

A lot of walking on the deck of the ferry, which I needed so much after the sedentary train ride across Canada. I reminisced of the promenade deck on Queen Anne, and that one paticular meeting thereon. I hope God will let me step on it again just a few days from now.