arts and smarts

The boys and I went to the fabulous Kitsilano branch of the Royal Bank -- these people understand the meaning of customer service -- so I could replace my bank card. I lost my card somewhere between the Duke Point ferry cafeteria and the Newcastle Island ferry dock. We spent the rest of the morning on 4th Avenue peeking in stores and snacking. I got a new wallety thing for my new card.

The brothers were very nice to me and to each other. Big brother bought little brother a grab bag of candy. When I offered to buy them things, both brothers expressed concern about me spending too much money. They also expressed concern that we were only doing things that they liked and not any thing that I liked. They suggested that I might enjoy the bead store. We went to the bead store and made each other necklaces.

It was a kind of rainy day so we went to a movie in the afternoon. We chose Get Smart which is based on an old tv show written by Mel Brooks. The 2008 version sort of reminded me of the movie at the end of Pee Wee's Big Adventure where James Brolin plays Pee Wee and Morgan Fairchild plays Dottie. We laughed a lot. We all liked Alan Arkin and the line about the swordfish.














Memory Lane: My first friend in Ottawa was a girl called Pia. One day she and her sister Kim and brother Kai came over to our place and they played a game of Get Smart where everyone was a character from the show. I had never seen the show and was quite confused. I did not even know what Agent 99 meant. I wondered if I would ever catch up to my new friends in Canada who seemed to know about so many things I had never heard of. (Of which I had never heard?!? - see, people who say that you cannot end an English sentence with a preposition are just plain loopy - ed.) Later, when I did see the show -- probably with another friend, Karen -- much of the confusion lifted and I started to feel like I was getting a handle on the cultural touchstones of my new community. I have always had a pretty warm memory of Get Smart and the role it played in acculturating me.