With summer making a half-hearted appearance this year the opening night of the Celebration of Light fireworks was looking like it might be a little damp, with a few errant drops of rain falling shortly before the show was to begin at 10 p.m. Fortunately the deluge never arrived and we were able to watch China’s entry without getting soggy.
We assembled just south of the Innukshuk while it was still light, setting up on one section of the recently restored seawall. Apart from a smoker who occasionally lit up with one of his Designed-To-Find-And-Taunt-Non-Smokers cigarettes the crowd was well-behaved, even enthusiastic. As the intermittent rain fell I opted to leave Nic and his friends briefly to meet up with Jeff who was en-route, as he was bringing my kangaroo jacket (no, it’s not a hoodie, dammit). I walked along English Bay beach and the foot traffic grew more congested until it became something akin to that molasses in January thing. At the same time a stunt pilot was conducting silly and daring tricks over the bay and I, having the kind of mind I do, thought about how one of his tricks would tragically backfire and he’d come straight into the crowd I was trapped in the middle of.
That did not happen.
Instead, we watched a spectacular and dazzling Chinese show. Knock them for that whole communism/lead-in-everything stuff but darned if they don’t know how to put on an impressive fireworks display. The crowd left thoroughly sated.
Perhaps even more impressively, Jeff and I walked to the Waterfront SkyTrain station and still managed to get home before midnight, earlier than I had managed last year — and I was traveling within Vancouver that time, not out to the ‘burbs. Our SkyTrain trip was made further delightful by a foursome of Surrey youth who fit the stereotype to the letter. I mean, we are talking straight out of Casting 101 here. I say no more.
All in all, a pleasant evening.
