Footnotes to a Conversation, July 7, 2025
“Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.” – Charles Lindbergh
Affordable Housing
Slavica and her partner earn middle-class incomes, but, like more than half of Vienna’s residents, they chose to live in a heavily subsidized rental unit. After applying online, Slavica was assigned a 3-bedroom apartment in a brand-new building. She says, “I love it. It's in the middle of Vienna … A lot of young families moved in at the same time … There's a big campus here, with a kindergarten and primary school. There's dancing classes, and a boulder bar, and a huge park." Rents are capped at 25% of income and the “diverse mix of tenants means there is little stigma attached to subsidized housing; it also keeps neighbourhoods diverse and ensures urban housing is available for vital workers like nurses, sanitation workers and bus drivers.” [CBC]
Books Galore
If you love to read, you may enjoy Ana Sampson’s newsletter. I just read my first issue and it was full of reviews for books I now want to read. [Ana Sampson] I’m a huge fan of her poetry anthologies – I’m currently reading The Book of Tree Poems. [Ana Sampson Books]
Mystery Tour
A survey showed that 52% of travellers would be interested in booking a trip where the destination was unknown until they arrived. Travel agencies are responding with mystery trips and cruises. Seats on SAS’s Destination Unknown weekend trip sold out within minutes, while a cruise beginning and ending in Athens announced ports of call and excursions two nights before each port. [Thrillist]
Do You Speak Canadian?
Linguists working on A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles and the Canadian Oxford Dictionary point to words such as demoviction/renoviction that originated in Vancouver, kerfluffle (Scottish in origin but rarely used in the US while common in Canada), kokum, unceded, and dinged along with many, many more that are Canadian due to origin, preservation, frequency, cultural significance/memorial, or change in meaning. [The Tyee]
Platform Pilsner
Vancouver is selling beer to help finance its transit system. Platform Pilsner is a limited-edition beer produced in partnership with Patina Brewing Company. “The beer is brewed in Port Coquitlam using only Canadian ingredients, and features a can design inspired by the West Coast Express livery, developed by TransLink’s in-house creative team.” [Cities Today]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.