escape and solo and revitalise

Today was a day. just the day I needed - total solitude in the big city. After a week of teaching (and what a wonderful bunch of students I enjoyed), I needed an unwind, a day of disorganised wandering, a day of answering to no one, no questions or decisions ... and I got it!

My adventure started with a walk, a short bus ride, a longer skytrain trip and Vancouver!
Hopped off at Main Street station, then picked up a MobiBike from the Olympic Village station, and pedaled to Opus on Granville Island for some art supplies. Instead of battling the parking, all I had to do was battle the crowds. There's a bikeshare station at Granville Island, so I didn't need to find a spot for the bike.

After lunch, I picked up another Mobibike and cycled the seawall to Oppenheimer Park for an Urban Sketcher meetup at the Japanese Festival. I managed to find a spot and a view then got down to sketching, filling in the colour with my new Winsor and Newton watercolour markers. OK, so it's a first attempt with the pens and I need lots more time to get used to them ... but what fun!

Cycled my Mobibike back to Olympic Village, walked to Beta 5 chocolates for a sundae then finished it off with an iced tea back on False Creek.
I spoke to only a few people all day, including a sweet little girl who wanted to watch me sketch and a slightly dodgy older guy who I think might have been trying to get lucky(????).
Did I feel lonely? No.
Do I feel rejuvenated? Yes, most certainly - art, solitude, no decision-making for a multitude, no responsibilities apart from to myself for a change. The summer and its lead-in have been busy, trying to fill weekends with activities for the boy, making sure we did indeed have a holiday planned and that the summer didn't just slip away, getting through the work with this last week being the most intense, dealing with summer camp organisation, making the most of local summer living as much as possible ... it's been exhausting.
But now I'm now looking forward to August with a reduced workload, a couple of holiday weeks with the boys, and the house to myself for a few days if mr ebb gets organised.
Roll on summer!