Cherry Bomb and Parkour

Bronwyn has been bugging me to take her to a store called "Cherry Bomb" in downtown Vancouver. We passed it on our way to the Christmas Party in December; a custom T-shirt store (and more). A particular T-shirt (a stormtrooper wearing a Santa hat) caught her eye. Every weekend, well, every day, since then she has asked; "Can we go to Cherry Bomb?" "You said you'd take me to Cherry Bomb." "We're going to Cherry Bomb, right?" "Remember you said we could go to Cherry Bomb?" Relentless.

"It's a lame t-shirt store", I responded negatively, "You will be disappointed." And I blabbed on about not wanting to waste my precious weekend time. But the requests weren't going to stop until we'd made the trip. So on Sunday, a warm and cloudy day, Mike and I decided that we should all do a bike trip downtown. Well, actually, we parked our bikes close to the Burrard Bridge, and walked over the bridge and into downtown.

It was a fun afternoon. Cherry Bomb did not disappoint Bronwyn. It was not the store that I remembered or thought it was and so I had to eat my words. You can choose a design from 100s of pics and get it printed on a t-shirt or sweatshirt. We only had time and money to look at the pre-made shirts. Many of them are not what you'd call 'child-friendly'; lots of drug motifs. As well, the store has a whole bunch of vintage Playboy magazines everywhere. I didn't understand the connection (custom t-shirts - Playboy...nope, still don't get it). The far back of the store appears to be a head shop...beware when you are taking curious children. With all the weed 'dispensaries' opening up in Vancouver (about 4 in our own neighbourhood), I am answering a lot of questions about Cannabis lately. Which is a subject for another post. We enjoyed looking around and, of course, came out with a shirt for Bronwyn, a phone case for Nicky, and a wallet for River.
 

 

As we approached downtown along Granville Sreet, the kids got quiet. I could see them looking around at the strange array of people we were passing. A group of teenagers, not much older than them, dishevelled and scruffy, covered with sleeping bags and crouched together with their dogs. "I feel really sorry for the dogs", Bronwyn said. I remembered a Seinfeld skit where he asks what is the point of having a dog if you're homeless, with the dog probably thinking, "Hey, I can do this by myself!" If you are a dog owned by a homeless person are you a stray dog? Anyway, the kids gradually warmed up to the surroundings and what started as apprehension soon turned into interest. It is quite a colourful part of downtown; grungy restaurants, seedy looking adult stores (although they are far fewer than there used to be), flop houses. We watched as a slow and stooped old guy struggled with his walker to to enter the adult store, which advertised 25c peep shows and other 'delights'. Alongside this scene is the up-and-coming side to Granville Street; hotels and newish trendy stores and restaurants as you get closer to the downtown core.

 

Nicky impressed us with his parkour skills; jumping and spinning and climbing over any structure he saw along the way. And downtown is great for that, walls and steps to jump and climb, gates and poles to negotiate. Bronwyn followed a little more apprehensively. River followed too. When Nicky jumped a fence or bicycle rack, River would follow and crawl under it. It was quite funny. River lacks the balance and coordination that Nicky revels in. He is way more cautious, but he got into the spirit of it. So did Bronwyn, who is growing into a young lady and perhaps thought it was a little undignified to be flinging herself over walls and railings.

Nicky had to leave as soon as we got back and that always makes us a bit glum. But we'll plan some stuff for the next weekend.