Two Steps Back....

The morning of the Empire Days Parade broke, grey and cold....after a week of sunny, warm weather, I am sure it might have been a disappointment for some. I found it fitting. Hoorah...clean up the South End for one day...and then let it rain on down. I had spent a fairly sleepless night watching out the window while the same six vehicles trolled for hookers up and down this very same road. The day before, there was a person passed out on drugs on the street while someone else(neighbour beware!) asking passers-by if they "needed anything."

During the parade line up, this white van cruised around picking up stray crackheads and hookers....One of our new regulars is seen here getting in. I assume the driver is offering a warm breakfast to keep them off our street for a couple of hours. So, hey, City, or Salvation Army, or Samaritan House, THANKS EVER SO for helping everyone buy into the fact that nothing bad ever happens on these streets.
And? Mayor and Council decided to line up closer to town this year...I wonder if they were a wee bit worried about coming up here and meeting with us this year. Last year they were just out front. This year, even after the hooker and crackhead cleanup, they decided they just didn't need to put in an appearance down here. Go figure.

So, despite the weather and the disappointment of not being able to speak to mayor and council(I really did want to thank them face to face for the Nuisance Property vote, I did), we set up on the front porch, wrapped in blankets to watch the line up and the start of the parade.

Balloon Man won a blue ribbon for something. It should have been for standing around in Birkenstocks during the weather(May long weekend? Hello? It's gonna get cold and miserable SOMETIME!) while waiting for the parade to start.

Line up to the right of us....and somehow, I lost the photo for the line up to the left of us and I won't load it now because it will be out of order.....sorry.

There were several Thunderbirds on parade.....our favourite was this pink one so that's the photo you get....

Our friend's son is a Cadet, and heading off to march in the parade here, on a grey and dismal afternoon in south Nanaimo.

The giant Blue Brothers Band sounding FANTASTIC playing "Jesus is Just Alright" by the Doobie Brothers....I LOVE the Doobie Brothers. I do.

And today, as I drove by one of those "Uninhabitable" properties owned by the same landlord as the one across the street, I saw a single cop car there...and about 15 crackheads. Seems they are inhabiting, despite the ruling. Later, as I drove by again, cop was gone, crackheads everywhere, front door open.

Two doors down from me, someone is dealing.

Two Steps Backward.

I am so tired.