Sunday, March 27, 2011  Country Mouse, City Mouse  By 'country,'
I actually mean those rural reaches of Kitsilano, but bear with
me for the sake of the reference.   Observations on one week of
life downtown:  There are still people in Vancouver who smoke
cigarettes.  My eternal question: "Who in God's name wears heels
like that on a regular basis" has been answered 50 times over.
I could not previously have imagined being the only person
pushing a stroller in a grocery store. I'm on the receiving end
of some kind of hard-to-define reverence, like "Lo, there is a
stay at home Mom among us. Let us give her full reign over the
cereal aisle, as is her due."  People are delighted by Sam in a
different way. Baby charm is more of a rare commodity downtown,
so his smiles mean a lot to parents who are looking forward to
the end of their work day, and singletons who don't have a lot
of contact with kids. He's like a mini ambassador, spreading his
chubby love around and leaving a path of melted hipsters in his
wake. Th