James Bay ambles

One of the delights of this neighborhood is how walkable it is and what a plethora of interesting things there are to see here. Making that even more attractive during this beautiful hot and dry summer we've been having, is the fact that being a peninsula in the Pacific, it's almost always cool and breezy here, so it's possible to walk even in the middle of the day in much greater comfort than downtown, though that is only about 10 minutes walk away.

We haven't quite made the post-dinner walk an institution yet, but every time we take one we swear we will do it every night. This time of year, the height of tourist season, James Bay is full of horse carriages and pedicabs. Sometimes sitting in my back garden I can hear the clip-clop of horses hooves on the small side streets near our building. In the evenings, they continue to ply their trade, using lights to signal their presence to the drivers and walkers. Their pace is gentle because the costumed drivers are telling stories as they go. I'm eager to experience one of these drives myself; I think there is much to learn about this neighborhood, which was once the working-class quarter when the city was young.

Walking the little streets, we always encounter friendly people. I've never lived anywhere that people were so friendly as they are here. Not just a nod and a smile, usually a hello and something about the weather or the beautiful evening is exchanged when passing someone in the street.

Victoria is a city where people recycle everything. If you have a household item you no longer need, you place it on the curb and within a short time someone else will come along, determine it's useful to them, and carry it away. In our apartment building, there is a little shelf in the front lobby that serves the same purpose. Every day there are new items there and yesterday's items have disappeared. I've picked up paperbacks, CDs, DVDs, canning jars, a set of screw drivers, and I've left books I've finished reading, telephones I no longer wanted, a cable modem.

People also share. The other night, near dark, we were walking up towards Dallas Road along one of the east-west streets, and I noticed a basket with a sign on it hanging outside the gate of a home across the street. I crossed to see what it was: a basket with fresh-picked bay leaves and a sign reading, help yourself, take only what you need. The tree from which they were picked sat just behind the picket fence. I'd have been delighted to take some, but I still have a fairly large store of bay leaves picked from a tree near where we used to live in North Vancouver.

Often we amble up to Ogden Point. This time of year there is almost always something going on there. One night last week we sat sipping beer at the Breakwater and watched as three cruise ships docked and disgorged their passengers into waiting buses, probably to head for downtown watering holes, horse-drawn carriages, or pedicabs. Just last night after getting out of a 6:00 movie, we impulsively decided to go to the Breakwater for a light supper. Only one cruise shipped docked last night, but there was still a lovely sunset to be enjoyed as the waves lapped below us.