There's a man who lives in my apartment building who seems quite strange. I do not consider him strange because he busies himself in a myriad of bizzare of activities, but only one in particular. Now, it may seem innacurrate and unfair to put a label on somebody because of one passtime that he or she partakes in, but i believe the nature of this one tendancy is so outside the circle of what passes as normal in this country that it raises questions about what kind of mind this man has.
On many occassions, such as a few minutes ago, i have seen this man sitting in his grey, early 90s Mazda MPV van, with the door open, reading a newspaper. This activity, in and of itself, can't really be branded as abnormal. Surely people read newspapers in cars quite frequently, and for reasons that, for the most part, make sense. People waiting at Skytrain stations to pick up friends or significant others would be likely candidates for car readers, be it book, magazine or whathaveyou. But while the Canada Line Marine Drive station is in close proximitiy to our building, it would seem easier for the person getting picked up to be able to spot his or her ride home soon after descending the escalator, and not have to walk two blocks before entering the vehicle.
There could be another explanation. Undercover police officers surely must have to do a lot of waiting, and while they sit patiently in their unmarked vehicles, reading must be a valued passtime. But, if this man is an undercover agent, he's not conducting himself in a manner that is overly clandestine, especially since the reason i started writing this piece in the first place is because i saw him plain-as-day from my ninth-story balcony. Also, this man has been present in this concrete monstrosity since i moved in here in 2004, so if he indeed is on a stakeout, there's a good chance his intended target might not live here anymore.
Despite these plausable, although rejected, explanations for catching up on the comings and goings of our world while sitting in a parked van, there is one obvious fact that makes it harder to view this one activity with anything but increasing curiousity. This man has an apartment at his disposal, and it is within only a hundred or so steps from where he parks .
Furthermore, an apartment does offer several amenities that a van, while spacious, does not. When I am while sitting on my lazyboy, reading, one aspect of my suite that I find quite satisfying is how close I am to the washroom. Secondly, there's no telling when an enticing article about the location of current speed traps, or perhaps, what happened yesterday in Burnaby municiple court, is going to suddenly make a reader very thirsty. Being able to get up and grab another Coke Zero from the fridge and return to reading in mere seconds is not a luxury that I take for granted.
So, what is it that is so damn enticing about that van? When I was a kid, my Uncle Bob had a blue van that i thought looked very cool. I do believe it had a small, circular window near the back, a feature that let you know that this isn't one of your run-of-the-mill, cargo vans. During family gatherings, I would often try to get access to the van. Usually I could coax my cousins into opening it up so I could sit in the driver's seat and pretend to navigate through the streets while i looked ever so cool. Eventually, however, I grew tired of comandeering that gas guzzler, and probably went to go jump on the trampoline. Are we to suppose that this man in his mid-60s has yet to tire of the van experience? The surrounding area of our building does not offer a trampoline to jump on, so perhaps he is content with sitting in the captain's seat for now.
