Some zigzags and another library

I was out the other day looking for zigzags. 

There's one way across the water, but my poor wee camera phone couldn't zoom quite enough. 

Coming around Stanley Park, we see the zigzags of the boat houses at the yacht club. 

That's about as close as I am likely to get to the yacht club. There is a rowing club nearby which apparently has a nice bar and a dock to sit on in the summertime and watch the boats go by, so we are thinking of joining that. As my friend says, I am good at sitting and watching, perhaps with a drink in hand. 

More boats, more zigzags. These clearly installed to keep the riffraff out of a dock, without wrecking the view too, too much. 

 

Does the line of trees over there count as a fine-toothed zigzag? Or perhaps it's just an excuse to show a wild sunset picture!

As well as zigzags, I have been thinking of libraries. This one was once again tacked on to another errand. I had some scarves and things to donate to the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre and the Carnegie Centre is right there, so I looked in. 

The area is terribly rundown; there are tents all along Hastings Street and of course it is quite stinky. The women's centre was bustling and full of people. They offered me lunch, even though I like to think I don't look destitute... But when I showed them my bag, I was sent in the right direction and I gave it to someone who thanked me. It made me think I should knit plain, warm caps and mitts for next winter, though I bet someone will be happy with my extra shawls and scarves. 

A block up the street is the Carnegie Centre, the old main library of the city. If you click that link up above, you will get the history of the place. It was closed for a while and then reopened as a community centre, with a small branch of the library. There were security guards on the main doors, and on the main floor and in the library were a few tables with people who were likely homeless reading the paper or a magazine. I didn't linger or take pictures of the library, but one can see that the building was once rather magnificent. 

Up this curved staircase is a window with Milton, Shakespeare and Spenser in stained glass. 

Shakespeare!

John Milton!

I am sure the library staff would have helped me if I'd had a question about the special collections, but I felt like a fish out of water in that company and wanted to flee back to the land of people who have access to running water on a regular basis. The problems of homelessness and poverty and addiction and public policy and all that are just overwhelming, and I'm afraid a bunch of knitted hats might not solve them all. 

As I waited for a bus a block from the library, there were no tents on that street. We were no longer in the Downtown Eastside, but in Chinatown. Restaurants and shops were open, though you could see they could lock up behind gates at night. I don't think this new city government will be great on this issue, but they are going to try to revitalize Chinatown (again). 

Back to my privileged life of looking at trees in the park.