As I strolled mindlessly along Commercial Drive this afternoon, I could not fail to notice that every single Italian bar and cafe, along with every Vietnamese and Portuguese joint and bakery, was playing the European Championship final on their TVs. Juventus from Italy against Barcelona from Spain. And every single place was jammed and involved.
And every single place had a video feed that was streaming at a slightly different time than its neighbour, by a few seconds usually.
So I was watching the game through one window when there were loud cheers from an Italian bar up the street. Moments later, a bar across the street burst into happy celebration. Maybe ten seconds later, I watched as Juventus scored on the TV I was watching, and five seconds later the bar next door exploded with loud applause. It was if a single moment of perfect joy had echoed along the Drive for almost half a minute.
Later, without seeing, I heard a series of groans bounce along the street as Barcelona moved ahead again, for the win.
Jak's View of Vancouver v.3 