Pleasant mischief with Kai

My fingers burned from gripping the rough surface of this mysterious sealed doorway. I'd been trying to climb what was clearly once an entrance.

I jumped a little too early. Now, I couldn't pull up and didn't want to let go either. I just hung there, held by the tension between my curiosity and bad form. Didn't last long. “Ugh!” followed the thump of my foot on the ground. “Your turn”.

Kai seemed relatively more chill on approaching this portal, but was just as eager to know what was behind. He leapt with much better flair, and in a second his head was already peering over the former gate. No surprise there—after all, he'd organised the occasional parkour meetup at UBC last year.

“What do you see?” I asked excitedly, regretting not having gone to at least one of his sessions.

“Uhhh, nothing much, a…rubber chicken?”

“Nothing much” was more than enough. We were just getting started ;]

I met Kai at Atelier (remember Ep 07: Searching for a scene?). As one of the organisers there, he loved my quest to walk every street in the city and wanted to join sometime. After a year of misaligned schedules, we finally made it happen! Two nerds walking about Mt. Pleasant, and up to no good!

“So, where do we go?”

I let the wind decide. The chilly spring breeze blew leaves around the sidewalks, perfect weather for wandering. It led us on a winding path for a few blocks, chatting about whatever we saw.

What I found most interesting were the different things we noticed. During the walk, we'd go “Ouu, what's that?” tugging each other along to whatever caught our fancy.

I was very quickly drawn to the colour and texture of foliage that had just started thriving after a harsh Vancouver winter:

And he just as easily pointed out historical artefacts tucked around the area: things in plain sight but easy to miss you're rushing by. That dock cleat in particular reminded me of Ashanti stools back in Ghana.

I like how various walking partners bring different lenses. I remember getting a glimpse of public utility infrastructure through Em's eyes as a public servant, and learning about murals with history buff Celine. With Kai, it was my eye for natural texture meeting his eye for the unexpected.

Together we noticed a house that seemed very much out of place. It looked like one of those heritage buildings but connected to a large modern-glass complex. A walk closer revealed a hilarious poster. It turned out to be a restaurant with a history.

Our walk led us by Hinge Park (yes, we made the joke) and towards Habitat Island Park. We skipped the main cleared path and went directly through the valley left behind at low tide.

We descended across a carpet of large boulders, trudging through the muddy bed. I'd almost slipped on one of them, catching myself mid-fall.

Two children were playing tag—it seemed—on the park's crest. They quickly glanced at us and returned to whatever they were doing. I thought it was quaint: two pairs of kids playing that morning, just different ages. We left them to the easternmost bend and journeyed westwards.

An abandoned coffee mug caught our eye, nicely placed on a rock that featured an eerie-looking graffiti sketch of a mermaid. Yet another oddly-situated artefact to add to the collection:

The perfect note to end on, really. Ultimately, a lovely way to spend a Saturday in spring, frolicking about the eastern parts of Mt. Pleasant. But really what made it special was the friendship made along the way™

More seriously, I'm grateful for folks like Kai who take initiative in organising people together to do stuff, creating scenes. I for one am glad he helped run Atelier back in 2024. How else would I have met him?