Walking down Robson street

Generally I’m very paranoid and have an irrational fear of being killed, kidnapped, raped, drugged, and mugged. I think it’s probably due to all the real crime books I read, crime shows I watch on TV, watching to many news shows (they love to scare their viewers) and all the crazy shit going around the world. One of the scariest places for me to go is downtown V-City. I cannot handle being there by myself…I literally walk around with a racing heart and looking over my shoulder every few feet. Downtown V-City is beautiful…but it also showcases both extremes of people and wealth within close proximity of each other. Example, on one block you might see Louis Vuitton, Prada, Hermes and if you walk down the street for just 5 minutes you’ll encounter beggars, the homeless, mentally ill people in all forms either begging for change, walking around talking to themselves or sleeping in the street. I always feel sorry for them and I feel guilty for ignoring them but I heard too many stories of people being robbed after giving money to panhandlers and I’m too weary and hardened. It’s very sad.

So, I took my 11 year old sister for company and security; I know that she wouldn’t be able to save me but she knows how to yell real loud and scratch very hard. We just walked down Robson street aimlessly and checked out what the buzz was all about. It’s claimed to be V-City’s most famous entertainment and shopping strip. It’s maybe 10-15 blocks in total and a walking distance of 30 minutes. It’s a great place to people watch or visit one of it’s many shops and restaurants. I didn’t enter many of the stores because I hate window shopping when I’m broke as I often am…it makes me depressed to see all those pretty clothes and bags and knowing that I couldn’t afford.

So after coming to the end of Robson street, on a whim, we turned into another smaller street and made our way down to English Bay beach. It’s our favourite beach. She loves sitting on the sand, her back to one of the logs strewn about the beach and just watch the waves come in. I on the other hand would rather take a stroll on the seawall that snakes around English Bay and Stanley Park. It was 5 pm and there weren’t many people there yet. A few joggers and bikers were starting to show up for their evening exercise but other than that it peaceful, quite and beautiful. We took our shoes off and walked along the shoreline. The wet sand squished through our toes and sunk under the weight of our feet. The waves came and filled up our footprints, wiping them away and erasing our mark on it’s territory.