the business trip

Okay, so my brand of business trip is more like a holiday than business: no endlessly boring presentations and meetings, no holing up in dark hotel rooms to hammer out some drivel on my laptop, no boozing the night away because I'm too exhausted to do anything else. In this case I have to get on the ferry on a Wednesday morning, hang paintings on a Wednesday afternoon, then spend the next 24 hours sans famille but avec camera, prowling the streets of Victoria looking for photo ops and meeting old friends for coffee. Then, before heading home Thursday night, I get to spend three or four hours drinking wine and chatting up art enthusiasts in a beautiful gallery. Selling an actual painting is just icing on the cake. I can hardly wait for my 'business trip' next week!

I went to university in Victoria and let's face it, if you have to go somewhere in Canada in January, pray that it's Victoria. A couple of days ago I emailed a friend I've kept in touch with, in spite of both our nomadic ways, from my very first days at UVic, begging for a place to stay. Another friend from that time tells me a story of when we first knew Brian. He was the guru of the photography club and one day, while hanging out at the darkrooms, an earnest young woman we didn't know started asking some very pointed questions about our charismatic friend. Shelley says that I just levelled this jaded look at her and interjected, deadpan, "He's married." (He was, too, but I think it was me who scared her off.)

Brian and his family have just moved so I asked him for directions to their new abode. Here are his instructions: