It’s probably psychosomatic, but coming to Victoria always makes me tired. Like, asleep at 8pm tired. It never used to be this way – these are my old stomping grounds, and I distinctly remember stomping all through the night and into the wee hours of the morning. I’m not nearly old enough to be one of Victoria’s many elderly, so there is absolutely no excuse for dozing my way through yet another visit home. Last night as I was lamenting my lack of energy, I grew angry at the apathy of it all – so I dragged Ed outside for some fresh air in the Minibator.

We ended up on Dallas Rd (as was often the case while cruising in my mother’s purloined Hyundai Pony). There were two enormous cruise ships in dock, so we stopped at Ogden Point to gawk at these floating cities (and to familiarize ourselves with where humanity will inevitably end up living when we melt all the ice caps and the oceans rise up to reclaim the land). We stopped at the Breakwater to enjoy the smells of my misspent youth, parked at Clover Point and totally made out while a creepy man in a van watched, and looked for ghosts at the Victoria Golf Club. I wanted to stop at Ross Bay Cemetery, but Ed declined so I showed him my favourite stupid prank – driving through the stretch of road through the golf course with the car’s headlights turned off. That bit of road is completely unlit, so passing through the supposedly lady-haunted valley in complete darkness is spooky as hell (if a ridiculous thing to do).

Our ride took us through Uplands to gawk at the estates, where we saw a ghost bunny. I drove us up Mt. Tolmie to look out at the city, and then I had to pee so we went back to my mom’s place. I felt much better after our nighttime drive – sure, we didn’t find ourselves at a party making out with strangers or on Douglas St loitering in front of the many 7-11s, but that’s okay. I went Outside and wasn’t asleep at 9pm, so it was a victory for me.

I am up early (it’s almost impossible to sleep here, so when I finally doze off around 4am I tend to stay asleep for a while), so I am going to take advantage of the day and go downtown to see what’s changed. Tonight we’re going out for dinner with mom, and then I plan to Go Outside again: I want to wander the Inner Harbour and Government St like a tourist. Outside! It is pretty super!