Downtown Vancouver

We had a strange encounter today on a bus in the city. We were heading down town to have a look around and were really struck by how many people we saw in the streets who seemed destitute and drug effected. Of course this is not exactly unique to any city including Melbourne but the number of people in filthy clothing, walking in circles, lying semi-conscious on the footpath or shouting to themselves was striking, even if the bus route was a local hangout the numbers were shocking. As tourists I think we notice it more as we're not in a hurry, on our way anywhere or knowingly avoiding areas.  Ruby has got into the habit of fleecing my pockets for change to give to beggars. As we got to down town Ruby said "Hey there's a man wearing a union t-shirt" and sure enough out the window was a homeless man with his shopping trolley, looking pretty dishevelled wearing a black IEU proud to be union t-shirt. We couldn't believe it. I think the most plausible explanation is that some of my colleagues came to Canada a few years ago to visit the teachers union here and may have given t- shirts as gifts. Something tells me those t-shirts weren't universally loved and may have been regifted. Anyway, it was a really strange sight.

We have been doing some t- shirt collecting of our own.

We had dinner at a pub called Morrisseys and were pleased to see that Australin wine at least made the 'decent' list.