Rob Ford is the troubled mayor of Canada’s largest city. I live in Vancouver and I have trouble eating enough vegetables. Mayor Ford and I don’t have a lot in common. Even as I read on Friday morning that Ford was in Vancouver to attend a funeral, I didn’t think we had anything in common. Then Friday night rolled around and things started to get interesting. Ford was ticketed for jaywalking on the border of Burnaby and Coquitlam, two large suburbs of Vancouver. What was he doing all the way out there?
From the information I have, I’m guessing he was staying at the Executive Plaza hotel in Coquitlam. By the way, that’s where my high school reunion was held last October. Weird. Ford was quoted as saying he was on his way to a Chinese restaurant near the hotel. Based on all the social media pictures that were taken of Ford, this restaurant was most likely Yan’s Garden, which I’ve been to many times. Coincidentally, I had dinner there tonight with my parents, and my sister and her husband. Since a lot of the photos were taken at the Shell station near the hotel, Ford was probably jaywalking across North Road, which is extremely busy at this intersection with Lougheed Highway. I’ve walked this area countless times during my “summer of me” as it was on my walking route. North Road is at a minimum four lanes in this area with traffic regularly exceeding the 50 km/h posted limit. Personally, I’d feel uncomfortable jaywalking across North Road at that time of night but then again, Rob Ford is probably capable of doing many other things I’d also feel weird doing.
I have to admit, Ford keeps surprising me in new ways. If you think that a big city mayor will never come to your distant suburban stomping grounds, never lose hope. Strangers things might just happen.