2009-04-16 - 10:06 a.m.

...skytrain over cherry blossoms...

The best thing about Funcouver is the skytrain. Even three years on, I still feel like I'm getting on an amusement park ride every morning when I go to work. It sways and curves and rides above the city with a gentle swooshing sound, doors sliding open and closed, people shuffling on and off. I just find it so very cool that I can sit and read a book while gliding over city streets and traffic jams.

Springtime is the best time of year to be on the skytrain. It gets light earlier and earlier each day. The air is crisp. One can still see snow blanketed over the North Shore Mountains. And best of all, the cherry blossoms! The cherry blossoms are covering the hills on either side of the train. They are lovely little pink clouds, and when I focus on them, I can almost blot out the industrial eyesores along the roads below them. They feel like a promise that GREEN - that great, bright, fresh green of new trees - is on the way!

When I got on the skytrain this morning, I was feeling humdrum. I've been feeling vulnerable for the past week - feeling that I've been put in situations that result in my making direct and unpopular statements and decisions, in a culture of politeness that generally avoids dealing directly with problems. This situation always makes me feel like I'm viewed as someone who is "just being bitchy." An offhanded comment from someone - who probably didn't even mean to invoke this response - touched a nerve and has caused me to think about these issues in naval-gazing detail.

It was nice to spend about fifteen minutes on the skytrain this morning, looking out the window at the cherry blossoms, and thinking about nothing apart from the fact that riding the skytrain in Funcouver in Springtime is the cat's meow.