Edmonton, Alberta

A day off yesterday in Vancouver. Glenn, Mark, Guy and I rented bikes and cycled through the gorgeous Stanley Park along the sea wall of Coal Harbour and the Burrard Inlet. A perfect day, warm but not too and the sun breaking through the clouds. After the 10K ride we ended up at White Spot which I'd been touting up, for their "Famous" with cheese, beer, wine and it was a winner all round. Back in the hotel I put Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music on and marvelled at the scope of what used to be recorded in the 1920's by the major record labels before the depression put an end to a lot of it. An astounding variety of all sorts of native and ethnic music from string bands to hellfire and brimstone preachers. Brilliant. Later in the evening we went to a wonderful Italian fusion restaurant named Cin-Cin. Excellent...great food, wine, atmosphere and company. After dinner Glenn and I drifted off to O' Doul's, a bar/restaurant down the street that had jazz. It was a quiet Sunday night, not many patrons and a young lady playing solo piano who was very good, great tunes, imagination and drive. It takes a lot of moxie to play solo like that to an empty house. We had a drink and called it a night.

The only problem with having a civilised early night is waking up at 4 a.m....wide awake and ready to begin the day, but not really. I puttered around taking care of the morning's computer work, did some reading, got dressed went up the street for coffee and a croissant and was back at the hotel by 7:30. Picked the book back up and read for a while then started to feel tired enough to go back to bed and seized the opportunity for a few hours. Woke up to begin the day again at 11:30. A little practising then time to pack the bags and bid adieu to the great city of Vancouver. We've had a wonderful few days stay here and look forward to returning.

It was an hour and a half flight to Edmonton plus we lost an hour so we didn't arrive at the Northern Albert Jubilee Theatre until 6. The theatre is located on the campus of the University of Edmonton and has recently been remodelled to commemorate it's 50th anniversary. Tonight's audience of 2,330 were there to listen and by the end of the show they were on their feet. I'm looking forward to having a wander round town tomorrow as I have never been in Edmonton before. I just don't want to do it at 4 in the morning.

So long,

Richard