Police State

31 May - This afternoon while I was observing a little traffic jam caused by a truck whose rear wheel had fallen off, I remarked to Jason that I enjoyed it when interestingthings like this happened downtown. I then realised that this is not, in fact, an interesting thing - but, to me, at the time, it seemed like one. Lots of riding around but hardly any trips - far too many people out there on the road and all of them very keen to steal them from me. Had a few vague accusations from some of the other guys complaining that they'd had jobs taken off them and given to me - it can get a little bit cutthroat at times. A couple of mercury runs and a few new buildings today - note, at 222 Main one has to go through a metal detector. After work, I planned to wander over to the art gallery to have a beer with a few of the couriers - there's always some there no matter what night of the week it is - I bought a can of Pilsener Urquell from the CB&W (that's Cold Beer And Wine to the non-Canadian) at 11 block alberni and then rode against traffic through the Fairmont Hotel's drive through. When I got to the gallery there were three cops flankingthem, everyone was lookingvery sorry for themselves and Derrick was angrily emptying out all of the beer that they had onto the ground (each can was collected by a little old asian homeless woman - there's always a homeless person on the fringes when we're drinking in the gallery - when a fair collection of empties is amassed they swoop in and crab them) - apparently there's no drinking in public in Vancouver - which is very disappointing, it also explains why some of them get very paranoid when there is any police activity in the gallery vicinity ... But n again, maybe it's just the weed.