June 21st is my favorite day of the year and Summer Solstice my biggest celebration day. This year, the solar system calendar and the human calendar didn’t quite line up and solstice was on the afternoon Pacific Standard Time of the 20th. No problem. Let’s have a 2-day celebration!

I had decided this year for a number of reasons to cancel what had become our annual Solstice in the Garden party. When I found out that there was a full moon at solstice this year the plan soon took shape and became clear. I had an image of myself somewhere beside the water watching the reflection of the sunset colors and the shining full moon illuminating land and sea. It was time to expand the perimeter.

I rented a cabin on an island by the water on Quadra Island, an hour and a half drive + 15 minute ferry ride north of here. The cabin was perfectly situated on the shores of Discovery Channel looking across to the west and Vancouver Island mountain views. We’d watch the sunset and also have clear view of the full moon rising.

On the way up we stopped to visit friends who were staying in their camper by the beach with killer views. I had brought appropriate supplies and 3:48 pm PST, the official time of solstice, found us on the beach with our Bic lighters trying to light sparklers (in the wind) and blowing into noisemakers that made no noise (cheap dollar store), my friends with great good nature going along with this nutcase. It was a beautiful day.

Later after exploring Quadra Island and neighboring Cortes we settled into our seaside cabin late afternoon to get ready for the sunset and moonrise show. Visions of sparkling moonshine on the water danced in my head (so to speak) as I looked at the sky above me. As time went by my glances became, shall we say, a little more anxious as I witnessed what was really going on. The forecast had been for clear skies and 24 degrees C. The reality? Well, this was my view…

No sunset, no full moon, nothing. The evening became about fog, rain and passing cruise ships on their way back from Alaska. This was the first Strawberry Moon as they call this full moon summer solstice alignment in 68 years. The next will not appear until 2062 and I’m not sure I’ll be able to wait for it.

Quadra Island was great though and I’ve already booked a longer return visit later this summer, this time when new moon is expected. Wish me luck viewing that one.

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On our recent daring raid on Victoria we stayed at a vacation rental condo right downtown, with a railing bar and high stools on its second floor balcony giving us a front row seat to the street life below. People watching is a major activity on these city excursions and this new spot was ideal. Once upon a time Victoria was known as an old folks’ retiree city, with a rudely cheeky descriptive expression that included the phrase “nearly dead”. This is old news, if it ever really was true. With 2 universities, a college, and a service industry taking care of millions of tourists there is a lot of life left in the old girl, although afternoon tea in the Empress Hotel is still a thing I’m told. (I wouldn’t know, I’m too busy out buying books). I think all the old folks have moved to Qualicum Beach.

Alaska cruise ship tourism is huge for the city, with over half a million passengers a year descending upon the city on their day visits which of course lends a certain flavour to the downtown scene during the cruise months. It’s very obvious when the ships are in and equally obvious when they pack up and leave. This year the largest ship ever to make the stop arrived in Victoria, the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas, based in Seattle, the first of 21 stops it will make this season. This ship is too large to even visit Vancouver as it won’t fit under the Lion’s Gate Bridge.

Hmmm. I wouldn’t mind a boat trip up the inside passage to Alaska one day but somehow the 15 bars, 10 pools, FlowRider surf simulator, seaview rock wall, 3-D movie theatre, basketball courts, ice-skating rink, miniature golf course and a spa are not part of my vision. And hanging out with 4000 fellow passengers plus staff is my personal idea of floating hell.

Speaking of hell.

I still love the city of Victoria, as I have since my very first visit with its architecture, gardens, stunning ocean and mountain views. But all is not well in this charming city and this is nothing new. The downtown is not that big and the numbers of homeless and street people seem disproportionately large – a jarring sight alongside beautiful restored old buildings and huge hanging flower baskets at every lamp post and millions of dollars changing (some) hands with every blast of a ship’s horn.

This year over 100 homeless people have taken up residence in the gardens of the provincial court house. This is only a few blocks from the harbour, although tourists walking the shop-filled downtown streets may never venture the few block away where the tent city is located and may never be aware of its existence. But the residents of the surrounding streets sure are.

So what is this? Plain and simple this is a squatters’ ghetto and pictures of it (I did not go in to photograph it myself) echo my Manila memories although don’t mirror it. A big difference is there are no children in this one. Now the authorities can’t continue to ignore the homeless problem with sights like this and as reports of open drug use, noise, garbage, human feces, a stabbing, a policeman’s injuries come to light, it’s now a situation where the lawyers are battling it out in court.

The reason the homeless ended up on the grounds of the provincial courthouse is that the Victoria municipal authorities wouldn’t let them camp in the city’s parks. Or at least when they did allow people to sleep there overnight, everyone then had to pack up and move along every morning. Someone found a loophole – there is no outright law against camping on provincial land (which is where the courthouse is) and a judge agreed, ruling that since these people had nowhere else to go, they could stay there until September, to give the city time to come up with another housing solution.

No one can wait till then (except the homeless who have little choice). The city went back to court this week to try once again to get an injunction claiming that the situation in the camp has “deteriorated” and citing fire hazard as the big concern (along with drug use, “gangs” moving in, violence). The upset neighbors have hired their own lawyers. This time, the city is scrambling to find other housing solutions so they can tell the judge that there other options for these people. No longer able to avert their eyes, the tent city is forcing everyone to look at the problem in one way or another. Except the tourists with deep pockets who come and go – as long as they don’t stray too far off the beaten path.

Now, how about Victoria’s other very dirty, not so secret secret. The city’s sewage pouring, untreated, into the surrounding ocean. Oh yes.