From Sublime to Ridiculous

After the pleasures of the Fet’s opening, I walked across to Britannia Secondary School where an all-candidates’ meeting for the provincial riding of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant was taking place.  I am not sure how many people the school Auditorium holds, but the dozen or so of us there in the audience were lost among the sea of empty seats.

Four of the six candidates showed up:  Jenny Kwan, incumbent MLA for the NDP, Barinder Hans of the Greens, Peter Marcus for the Communist Party, and independent Jeremy Gustafson.  They did their best, answering a series of questions posed by the few us in the hall covering education, health care, natural resources, pipelines, jobs.  But there was certainly no sparkle or excitement.

Jenny Kwan kept her composure but you could tell she would rather be anywhere else than wasting an evening doing this in front of so few.  Barinder Hans and Peter Marcus were happy to spout their party lines, and Gustafson was the comic relief even though most of his quips fell flat and he came across as faintly ridiculous.

My question was about whether the candidates would support re-introducing a ward system to Vancouver (the city being a child of the Province via the City Charter and thus a provincial matter).  They all said yes, although both Hans and Gustafson admitted they had no idea what I was talking about.

I wonder if the apathy shown by the lack of a crowd is a general malaise or simply a reflection of the certainty that the NDP will take this riding and, no doubt, the Province as a whole.  It was surprising that the Liberal candidate didn’t even bother to show up.  I’m hearing that next Saturday’s all-candidate meeting for the Vancouver-Hasting riding (for east of the Drive) has already been cancelled because only Shane Simpson, the NDP MLA, had agreed to take part.

I remember when BC Provincial politics used to be full of passion and quirkiness and fun.  Not in 2013.  That, I am certain, is because a majority don’t really want the NDP to win, but really want the Liberals to lose; and that kind of double negativity deflates the whole business.

The Opening of Fets 3.0

The new Fets — Fets Whisky Kitchen — opened on time around 5pm last night with a red carpet entrance, champagne and appies for the guests, and a whole new look and feel.

The outside getting final touches; the bright new interior; Allura & Eric welcoming their guests

The interior is now noticeably brighter and more airy.  Virtually all of the rock music murals have gone (apart from the Beatle’s Abbey Road wall near the back) to be replaced with white paint and some well-taken photographs of whisky landscapes.  The whole place now integrates with Eric’s display of whisky bottles that went up behind the bar some time ago.

The menu has changed a little, adding a few more whisky-inspired dishes, but basically it is the same very high quality food that brings me back time and again.  I particularly noticed last night the attention they are paying to a far more elegant plating than may have been the case a few years back.  We had the fried chicken and Grandma’s meatloaf.  They both looked gorgeous on the plate and tasted great.

It was good to see the place packed by the time we left.  And it was really good to see Eric and Allura and their three sons so obviously proud of the new space they have created.  Bravo for their fine efforts!

 

It’s May!

“It’s May! It’s May!
The lusty month of May!
Those dreary vows that ev’ryone makes,
Ev’ryone breaks.
Ev’ryone makes divine mistakes!
The lusty month of May!”
–  Lerner and Lowe