Just a Gwai Lo - fun within prescribed limits

The tour of Royal Oak Station last weekend (part of SkyTrain Explorer's walking tours), wasn't remarkable except for the huge Burnaby South Secondary School and a cul-de-sac in the shape of a barbel (at the appropriately-named Barbel Place). Then again, Burnaby, the suburb of Vancouver I live in, is not terribly remarkable either, despite the coolness neighbourhoods like Burnaby Heights (picnics every weekend at the park, the crazy old Italian guys playing and arguing over bocce, the restaurants and other cool shops on Hastings etc.). The size of Burnaby South Secondary is an indication of how residential the Royal Oak neighbourhood is. Not a lot of people got on or off at this station, but the basis for comparison is the high traffic Metrotown Station, which must have a crush of students on their way to SFU on weekdays. It was rainy and a little cold, but a little water from the sky isn't enough to discourage this Vancouverite from getting some fresh air and discovering my surroundings.

Five chapters in and five tours taken on the list of stations in SkyTrain Explorer (Main Street-Science World Station, Nanaimo Station, 29th Avenue Station, Edmonds Station and Royal Oak) it's probably time I invited people to come along with me. The best candidate looks to be Broadway Station, sometime late October or early November. I'll probably check out a copy of the book so that I'm not the only one who can read from it, and ideally I'd like to do it on a weekend day early in the afternoon. I might even post it at Upcoming.org as a self-promotional event. Even though he conducts walking tours himself, I'm sure John Atkin thought that people would (and should!) organize self-guided group tours using his book, and that encouraging people to explore neighbourhoods was what he had in mind when he wrote them.

On Saturday, not feeling very well but wanting to get outside, I walked around Edmonds Station as part of my effort to follow the tours in SkyTrain Explorer by John Atkin. I've created a book page for the Edmonds Station chapter, which links to the photos I took with my Nokia N70. One of the shorter chapters, there wasn't much direction other than to walk around Byrne Creek Park, which was a nice little forest oasis in the urban jungle. I wish I was in a better mood to walk around the nearby train yard and control centre, which always looks interesting when the trains go by it.

John Atkin mentions a local group that helps preserve the park and educate school kids about the area: “The Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society is a group of volunteers dedicated to the stewardship of the creek, keeping it clean, monitoring the fish and other life of the ravine. They are one of eleven such groups in Burnaby. Formed in 1999, the Streamkeepers have worked to promote and educate citizens about the value of the creek and its unique habitat. Among other activities they help organize salmon fly release programs with school students and community groups to restock the creek. The park is home to coho and chum salmon, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and an abundant bird population.” The park did seem very well maintained and clean, so they must be doing something right.