Power Substation

Sorry I've been missing in action this week. Things are catching up with me. Have had many adventures commuting between
the two universities at opposite ends of the universe; and other adventures involving involving the fact that neither of the aforementioned institutions of higher learning feel much urgency when it comes to paying people they've employed. Today I got word that SFU will almost surely pay me this week, but as for UBC, "after the September rush is over" is all they're willing to commit to. Guess September came as something of a surprise to them. It's not as if it happens every year. Doesn't matter, the students are great, and the UBC paycheque is going to be pathetic anyway.

I did start meeting my student employees this week; one of them is going to teach me how to read Chinese characters for the numbers up to ten, to facilitate the Chinese newspaper scanning project, in which page numbers loom large. She also promised to teach me a few phrases so I can say please and thank you in the Chinatown stores. The Chinese newspapers are especially fascinating because I live in Chinatown. The ads usually give the store name and address in English, and it's amazing how many of them are still around: Ming Wo, Dollar Meats, and Hon's, but when it was still on Main Street.

And when it was on Main Street, which is where it was thirty years ago when my mom used to take me there on nights she couldn't face cooking, it was about a block away and across the street from the Main Street Power Substation, above. Shabby, but still impressive. Picture by Winnifred, of course.