14 September 2026 – Late in the walk, both of them, one each for a two-part day.

Part One has me heading through Chinatown and back into the East Van neighbourhood of Strathcona. Since I’ll be attending an artist’s talk at the Paneficio Gallery on Keefer at Hawks, I walk my way in, all along Keefer from Main Street.

This taco truck stops me in my tracks just before Heatley Avenue. The big, bold colours and graphics, yes — but check the brand-name endorsements!

If the Blessed Virgin doesn’t convince you, maybe these guys will.

Next up, and almost immediately because it’s catty-corner from that truck: MacLean Park, and its giant notice board here at the north-west end. I read notices, impressed by the variety and fascinated by some of the names, the descriptions. This home repairs business, for e.g….

and this night club…

and… and… and I don’t know what this is.

I read it very carefully, right to the end, including the QR code instructions…

and it is then with some relief that I return to the physical, actual world.

I watch these musicians setting up for their free-concert gig in the park…

and, reassured by the normalcy of it all, cross back to the north side of Keefer and walk on.

Almost at the corner of Hawks, diagonally beyond that bicycle, there’s Paneficio, its bright façade dominating the street corner. The building is a complex of artists’ studios, living space and a small exhibition gallery. This is the last day of Yuri Arajs‘ show, Dust to Dust, and an impressive number of red dots mark the works that he discusses in his remarks.

Afterwards, I check the current offerings of what is surely the city’s sleekest little-free-library…

where a quick riffle through one of the books, Make My Curry! (New Indian Cuisine), by Uganda-born Vancouverite Sami Lalji, convinces me to scoop it up.

My south-west loop toward home takes me first through leaf litter on Hawks, bright with the golden tones of fall…

and then west on the alley between East Georgia & Union streets. Crisp shadows at my feet, seasonal reds and golds overhead into the distance.

No alley murals, just some tagging and (I say this with petulance) some scrawls. Sulk. I’m almost at Jackson, about to drop down to Union, when a garage door gives me reason to stop sulking and be happy again.

I know, I know, this is not terrific art. But they are cats, and they do have attitude. (And third eyes.)

So I make my way out to Main and back south with good humour restored.

The bus drops me just north of Broadway — and launches me on Part Two of my day.

Because this is Car-Free Day on Main Street (10th Av to King Edward)! The view south from the Main Street bus stop here at Broadway, aka 9th, draws me in. It is blissfully empty of vehicles and, a bit farther along, full of tents and people.

Tents on both sides of the street, a great jumble of foodstuffs, handcrafts, vintage and up-cycled clothing, pottery, jewellery, plants and veggies, and every kind of organization compatible with the neighbourhood and a “car-free” ethos.

The farther south I walk, the busier it gets, more and more adults, kids and leashed dogs, more and more ways for everyone to interact with each other and with all the offerings.

I watch two clever boys play chess…

I watch a cardboard pope smile gently while his human colleagues watch for opportunities to talk Roman Catholicism and St. Patrick’s Church with passersby.

I am definitely in Advocates Alley now.

Do you see the red and white COPE sign, just past the pope’s shoulder? COPE is one of the municipal political parties, gearing up for the 17 October civic elections here in Vancouver.

Next up, this duo: the sign on the right more obvious than the affiliation of the white-trousered, yellow-buttoned gentleman in the middle, who is trying to persuade the uncommitted listener on the left.

Sign on the right? You got it: the USA mid-term elections are coming up in November and Democrats, as always prior to an American election, want to pull in as many “abroad” votes as they can. Yellow-Button Man is with a very new party on the Vancouver civic scene called Vote Vancouver, and he is talking about our elections thank you, not theirs.

I accept a leaflet as i walk by… and then carry out my own act of advocacy.

I choose a bowl of traditional Himalayan steamed dumplings. This is only mid-September! I still have a whole month, to prep for my civic duty.