There is some overdue renewal going on in Punjabi Market, Vancouver. For many years now, a substantial number of store fronts have been empty. I take it because low density neighbourhoods with single-family homes can't sustain too much commerce. So it's good that they replaced the stores with a complex of apartments and stores.
They dug up a cool looking boulder, and lying on top of it, what seems to be a tree trunk. I wonder what age would come up if they were to date it by its tree rings. I've heard that there used to be a river flowing through this area, so maybe that's how the tree got down deep in the ground. Peculiar that it is only one.
Just across the street from here (across 49th ave) there is a lot that has been empty for a decade or more. It used to be a gas station, but contaminated soil caused it to be unsuited for development.
It just occurred to me what a fantastic lawn ornament that boulder would be. Maybe I should offer to take it, surely it's cheapest for the developer to move that boulder just a 100 meters or so, as opposed to some off-site dump. But I shudder at the thought of dealing with the city if the bureaucrats ever deem the boulder to be illegal. What happened to my land, my rules? Oh wait, it's not my land, Queen Elizabeth owns it.
