A tax country

It's day 2 on 30 June. It's cloudy and felt like winter to me. I went to Jericho Beach and Kitslano Beach with my friend and his daughter.

The beaches look a lot different from ours.  It's less crowded and bigger and they put logs on the sands for people to sit and enjoy the views. There is a zone for people to play beach volleyballs. These beaches are more for people to relax, enjoy sunshine rather than swimming.

The tide was low when we were there. I saw something new - that's skim surfing. The two kids were probably 5 - 7 years old and enjoyed gliding across the water surface with their skimboards. They didn't do very good but they found it fun doing it for sure. It looked much easier than surfing but I don't think I have the talent to do so.

So I met my friend's daughter who is 12 years old. I didn't have any friends' whose kids are about the same age and it's definitely not my forte to speak to girls at this age but I tried to start a small talk anyway.

I realised that their harmonized tax will be more extensive starting from Canada Day on 1 July. What a celebration!

So I got a plan to redeem some of the taxes I paid in this country - get some free entertainment on Canada Day.

Commercial Drive was proved to be not "very Italian" as described by the travel guide. There are tons of coffee shops, bars, grocery shops and pizza places. What caught our attention at the end of this area was a "woman empowerment" shop in which they stock a range of "adult entertainment".  I was amazed that salesgirls were comfortable and felt so easy to approach customers and explained those products.
The other merit of this area was the juicy, meaty tomato that we picked up.

Dinner was simple for the night. I cooked some ready made risotto with fresh button mushrooms. It's a hearty meal that I haven't made for years.

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