“Only in Vancouver” is a phrase I hear pretty often. Today, I walked down to visit the Steamclock and listen to the Westminster Chimes. (I’ve already given you a little bit of the tour of my building, so now I thought I’d show you some of the surrounding sites. One of the great things is Gastown — the historic centre of Vancouver.

Unfortunately, Gastown isn’t such a nice area of Vancouver all the time. It is in the heart of the Downtown Eastside which is “home” for a number of homeless, addicts, and other down-on-luck sorts. I suggest going during the day when all the tourist places are open and visitors stand around gawking at the Steamclock (my favourite part!)

I love standing with the sun on my face, waiting for the chimes to go. I even stopped to take a photo of the clock (everyone disperses right after the chimes go, and you can get a photo of just the clock) and then the construction worker nearby asked if I wanted my photo with the clock! What a friendly city. I said, “nono, I work just down the street, I like just coming to hear the chimes.” And he said, “Yea, it’s great. Only in Vancouver, yaknow?”

If I leave my window open, I can hear the Steamclock chime every 15 minutes:

OMG Conjoined cat twins!

Oh! *phewf* It’s only the mirror.

As you can see, Henry will find any where to lounge. He is a very social kitty — he likes to be in the same room as me, but doesn’t have to necessarily have my attention 24/7. Sometimes it feels like I’m the demanding cat when I pick him up to snuggle. But he’s a great snuggler so he doesn’t seem to mind! He always seems to like to lie up against something – wall, laundry hamper, mirror, etc – I wonder if this is a security thing… making sure nothing can sneak up on him.

Hope everyone is having a fun (and silly) Whiskers on Wednesday!