10 October 2025 – Given this is a simple post about a simple walk on a route we have walked before, you and I, it does seem excessive to lead with a philosophic tussle about the nature of “change.” But tussle we shall. Precisely because , for me anyway, same-old and change are a package deal.

On the one hand, French critic/novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, who, in 1849, penned the epigram we quote to this day: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” (The more things change, the more they stay the same). On the other hand, Zen Buddhist monk Shunryu Suzuki, who, when asked after a California lecture in 1968 to express core Buddhist philosophy in a way ordinary people could understand, replied: “Everything changes.”

The “same,” in this post, is yet another walk along Lost Lagoon. You know the route! Bus ride to the edge of Stanley Park; Lost Lagoon trail out to Second Beach on English Bay; Seawall for a bit up toward Third Beach & down again; out through Morton Park; on down Denman Street; that same bus, reverse direction.

Ohhh… let’s just toss French philosophers & Zen Buddhist monks to one side. Let’s acknowledge what every walker of familiar pathways knows: the same is never the same.

Each time, you & your mood & the place & the weather & all the swirling molecules of the universe dance together in new patterns to create a new experience.

It is therefore my pleasure to offer you moments from this day’s totally different version of the same old Lost Lagoon walk.

This specific Canada Goose, pensive on his rock in Lost Lagoon…

specific people & pooches along the way, including Hamish the wag-tail dog and the Vivaldi fan listening (very quietly) to The Four Seasons while resting on a weathered Seawall bench…

and another bench, the bench itself and the plaque it bears both brand-new.

We carefully cross the bike path and move closer. Flowers, notes, CDs and plaque — a multi-dimensioned tribute by local fans to Hong Kong Mandopop artist Khalil Fong, who shot to fame with Soulboy in 2005 and died this year, just months after the release of The Dreamer.

Out in English Bay, this specific moment’s arrangement of the same-old tableau: rocks & tide & freighters & Seawall pedestrians & trees & sky & clouds.

Up close: tidal flats silvered in this afternoon’s watery light.

Also up close: a burst of green & ochre.

And then, medium-distance, a moment’s drama, out there in the bay.

We have just watched this couple strip to bathing suits and stride into those chilly waters. Chest-high, no hesitation.

It is all about to change. He (L) is about to duck-dive and fully embrace the moment. She (R) is about to un-embrace the moment, and head smartly for shore.

We, snug in our fall clothing, head smartly for Denman Street, Delaney’s Coffee House, and a flat white & latte respectively. And then, warm inside & out, on down Denman to the bus.

See? It’s the same-old.

And every bit of it wonderfully different.