Fine Felt Stetson

I’ve never taken the #14 bus further than downtown, when in fact, for $2, you can take it across the freakin’ province. By the time I got to the birthday party in View West—er Vic Royal—or is it Esquimalt?—I was ready to chuck my dinner down the stairs of the double-decker, so motion sick was I. But some jazzy hi-fi, copious merlot, friendly company and a steaming Mongolian hot-pot greeted me at the b-day house and quickly calmed the nerves.
Keeping a little basket of vegetables steady for five minutes in a boiling broth literally helped balance my evening. As did the lecture and diorama on urinal etiquette. And the fresh focaccia, prepared on site by the newly-minted 23-year-old himself. And more wine, more people. And chianti cheese, marbled to a slightly-crumbling white and ros