It started off with me packing my tweed suitcase with some clothes, my
Porkpie hat, Chelsea boots, Winklepickers and my camera. I headed down
to the ferry at 4:10 and met a Westender named Chuck. We loaded our
Scoots on last and went up to the terrace to get some pictures of the
ferry leaving Port Angeles on the 5:15, it was just like Jimmy in
Quadrophenia except for the fact that it was a ferry and not a boat
and I wasn't tripping out on blues but I'm a Mod so that's got to be
worth some points. eh?
6:30 comes up on us and we pull into the inner harbour. I get stopped
as usual whenever I go to Canada. I go through the same thing every
time, Why are you here, How long are you staying, How much money do
you have, ARE YOU SMUGGLING DRUGS INTO CANADA!?!?!?!. I even got chuck
pulled to the side which sucked but at least I had someone to talk to.
After about twenty minutes of sitting there before they realize I'm
not a terrorist or some kind international Drug lord I'm on my way to
check into my room. I was lucky enough to get upgraded to a suite for
the weekend at no extra cost so that was pretty cool, I was able look
in Ah as I discovered they had a Tea Kettle and stove, it was awesome.
After getting into my room having a quick cup of tea, I headed to
Soprano's sports bar for some good Canadian beer and some bad Karaoke.
Cut to the next morning I decided to go light on the beer because I
really didn't want to have to end up getting pulled over or worse
arrested or killed Just because I drank more than I would need to.
Because of that I was able to get up at 7:00 the next morning and
watch some fine Canadian programming like radio CBC, the french
version. they had some cartoon about a Kung-Fu couple going after a
Jaguar man and one of the good guys was a loup-garou, I swear I'm not
making it up. I had a good breakfast that consisted of a Oatmeal and a
cinnamon bun.
Once I finished Breakfast I took the liner out of my fishtail and
headed out for a morning pre-ride ride. I had a mix of people giving
me the thumbs up and people who couldn't stand the smell coming from
the blue 2-stroke smoke coming out of the exhaust. I didn't really
care though because I was having a fun time and that's what it's all
about. I stopped at Roberta's hats and took a peek inside at all of
the awesome hats they carry. I wanted to get a top hat but I also
didn't want waste my money because it's not something a person wears
very often these days, but then again thats why it would be perfect
for me.
After forcing myself away from Top Hats and Bowlers, I headed down to
the main causeway to meet up with everyone who was going on the
morning ride. Geoff was there, he was one CCSC members I met the night
before, a pretty cool guy and as a plus he had a picture of my scooter
as his computers desktop image. Geoff lead the ride out at about 10:30
and at 10:45 the riding party got separated into two parts, myself in
the back party. Since we had no idea where they had gotten to, we
decided to make a trek through the back roads of Victoria and up to
the top of Mount Douglass Provincial Park.
After taking in the sights and heading back to the causeway I picked
up my rally pack, met with some more people and talked scooters for
what must have been a couple of hours. most of the group decided to go
for a second ride but skipped out and instead went back to the suite
for a nap in the true Geezer spirit. I woke up and went to eat at
Earls, Earls was a place I loved to go to when I used to go to
Vancouver, BC. The food is great, the drinks are too and all of the
servers are incredibly beautiful. I had a pasta dish, the Chicken
penne alfredo. Later that night was a SKA show but I wasn't really in
the mood to jump around in 27ยบ inside a stuffy building to SKA Music,
even though I know it would have been really cool. Instead I watched
some movie on CTV about a Gay kid that wanted to go to the prom in a
catholic school. That doesn't make me gay does it? If it does, oh well.
The next morning started Pagliacci's with a Harpo omlette and a nice
side of black tea. I was able to talk to some members of both the
Vespa club of Seattle and the Westenders, mostly about JP Patches and
if the Mods and Rockers event is going to take place this year. They told
me I was a shoe-in for Best dressed Mod. After finishing breakfast and
shooting the breeze, we to the causeway yet again. Sitting around on the
causeway lasted until about 1:15 for me because I needed to catch the
ferry back home. I met Robert and his wife on there Pink Scooters on
the way home and had a fun ferry ride home. now if you want to see
some of the pictures I took go to
http://scoot.net/gallery/2008/05/gardencity/ (can't make the link work)
look under Mod Kevin to see my pictures.
