October 25, 2025

I had marked a vintage sip and shop event for the evening. I eat a quick dinner at home and then I’m off. I bike down the dewy roads and the wetness of the air is refreshing.

On my way to the event I notice how gorgeous downtown is. I’ve likened this city to smaller ones: Montreal, Vancouver, a bit of my suburban town Thornhill..but tonight I see New York peaking through. Just when I thought I had seen all sides of Victoria, I am pleasantly surprised to see a new side of her showing herself to me. As if I had been comfortable with her sweatpants and no makeup..she presents herself with a night-out look. And I legitimately feel like I’m on a Saturday night date with her. I take some beautiful shots of the night scene around me.

Come to think of it, I never spent a proper night in downtown Victoria during my stay here. Tonight’s date was unplanned, but I realize it’s my last Saturday here, which makes it all the more special. I feel like it’s my last formal date with Victoria, where I part with her and we have one last drink together. It feels extremely romantic and bittersweet at the same time.

I arrive 20 minutes early to the event, and through the windows I see the staff still organizing. Wondering how I should kill some time, I look around and see an underground Mexican bar right underneath the shop. I descend down the stairs and at first I am a bit skeptical. But as I walk in, I am in awe. The interior is beautiful and I immediately think of my best friend. It feels like her home, her kind of bar, she would love it. Then I’m washed over with yearning, as I wish she were here so we could have some cocktails together. I go to the washroom, and record a quick video of how I stumbled upon a bar that is so her, and send it to her.

I sit at the bar and I am greeted by lovely waitresses and a bartender who looks like he hates his life or the predicament he is currently in. He is very busy working the bar alone. He puts on his customer service voice. I try to make talk as I speak of being a visitor of Vancouver Island. He returns a very unpersonalized answer about how it is quite nice here. ChatGPT could do a better job. But I’m not mad, I just hope he’s okay. I had abstained from drinking alcohol since last August. I hadn’t sipped a single drop of alcohol. But tonight is the night I do for the first time in three months. I wish my best friend were here as I glaze over the drinks menu. She would always make or order me the best spicy mezcal cocktails in Toronto. I put the menu down and simply ask the bartender to make me a spicy mezcal. I ask him to “make it very Mexican please!” He gives me a gorgeous yellow cocktail and it tastes exactly like what I had been looking for. It is also very strong which I appreciate. I give him his flowers!

Another bartender soon enters the scene with him and they banter. No one else is around the bar except for a man at the far end but he is waiting for his date. Usually I would befriend whoever is sitting around but as it is Saturday, everyone seems to have a plan to meet someone somewhere..understandably. I take quicker sips of my drink so I can leave. For the first time ever I wish I were with a friend. I pay my bill and leave. Despite the loneliness that washed over me, it was a really nice bar and I would highly recommend it.

I’m buzzed from the one drink! But I feel social and chatty tonight. I ascend up the stairs and open the vintage shop doors. I take out my wallet to pay the entrance fee but as soon as I do, I’m told by one of the staff girlies that they aren’t doing entrance fees anymore but I could pay for a cocktail if I’d like. I’ll take it! I go to their small makeshift bar and order a seltzer. As I hold my seltzer I am walking around but I can’t see shit, because this is a Halloween event so the lights are off. It’s a little comical.. I come across a pair of sunglasses. I try them on and off multiple times but I can’t see how they look on me because the dark shades are already masked by the non-lighting. I was a little tipsy at this point so I hadn’t realized until writing this out now how hilarious this scene actually is. Every time I put them back on, I thought I’d get to see how they looked on me but failed every time. That’s actually hilariousss.

I hold onto the sunnies but I’m not completely sold on them. They turn on the lights and I think thank God! Under the bar I see a few bags hung. There’s this black Danier Leather shoulder tote that catches my eye. It’s beautiful..simple and understated. But it’s an inch tad long when I wear it. I don’t know if I like or hate it. I’m a bit buzzed and it’s hard to make friends here because everyone’s just in their circles chatting. Still, I approach a blonde girl with a very cute head scarf on. She looks like a university student and is with her two other guy friends. I ask her if she likes this on me. She tells me yes and her friends nod in unison. She says that if I don’t buy it she will. I internally laugh at that remark because of how I could tell she was just saying that. But she is very sweet and I thank her for her perspective.

I still need another eye. I already know that if I need second, third opinions, this bag is not the one. It’s clearly not a hell yes for me! But I’m tipsy and I guess I am truly honing into the spirit of this sip ‘n' shop event..getting drunk and slamming the red button to add to cart and checking out and regretting it the next day. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? We say fuck it and we ball at this point.

I approach these two dudes at the cashier. One is working the cash and the other is on the other side of it, leaning in with a drink in hand. They’re chatting and I intercede and ask them what they think of this bag? Is it too long on me? I’m a little unsure of its length, it’s a bit awkward. I call the cashier guy out before he can say anything—”you’re clearly going to sell me on this!” We all laugh. He’s very young, like a university student. Looks sort of like a young innocent MGK. Very sweet and tame demeanour. The other has a beanie on and is decked out in drip from Balenciaga to Maison Margiela. They half-assedly try to sell me on the bag, not really to make a profit but to say something nice for the sake of saying something nice..”Uhh..it’s a good bag if you want to fit in a lot of stuff!” the little MGK says after thinking hard of something to say. I can’t help but laugh at him but all in friendly jest. But eventually the bag takes a backseat on my shoulder, and we start bantering about ourselves. I realize the bag had just become a ticket for me to slide into their conversation and become part of the group.. I mention to them how I was slightly intimidated because I hear Victoria can be cliquey and it can be hard to make friends around here (so I’ve heard from locals). But we agree that if you just chat them up, they can warm up really quickly, like what is happening at the moment. And it is what I see happening most of the time. They were really kind folks. It was really fun talking with them. Robbie, the one with the beanie, is a DJ so he has to slip out for a gig that starts soon. With that second drink in me, I feel I need one more drink to seal the night. I ask them to suggest me a nice bar for that. Julia, the initial staff member who greeted me, happened to join in the conversation midway. She suggested Tourist Wine Bar, which was right around the corner. I thank her.

I pay for the bag. They chuckle, “you’ve decided to get it, eh?” Honestly, I buy it for the fact that it got me to have a great time with these folks. Yes, I do stupid things for the plot, but it’s fun that way. The bag has a special memory associated to it, but I’m also drunk and it feels fun to buy it for the memz~

I leave with the bag on my shoulder, and I enter the Tourist Wine Bar. As I write this out I realize how fitting the shop name is for me.

The bar is quite beautiful and I internally give Julia my regards for recommending a fantastic place. It’s dimly lit, and it reminds me of New York. A great setting to end my night. I order a red wine. It’s lovely.

I want to chat someone up but everyone is with their date. There’s a woman one seat beside me. I ask her if she’s alone tonight. No, her husband is coming soon and he’s likely to sit at the seat between us. I gesture apologetically and sweep up my jacket and bag that I had let rest on it. But we continue talking. She’s sweet and I tell her she’s lucky to live here. “I’m actually not from here! I’m from Calgary.” Love Alberta. She shares that she would love to work here, but it would be very impossible to live here with the low salaries and high cost of living. I agree with my whole soul on the cost of living here. “It’s insane”, we both say in unison.

And so I’m reminded that as much as Victoria has been a dream, there are stark realities that shine through without a doubt. It does have a sort of darkness that comes with it, with the cliquey-ness I had witnessed, with the overpriced everything, the low wages (I came during the great BCGEU strike that made the news). The gloomy bartender earlier was a bit of a symbolic depiction of how exhausted and cynical the place can make people feel. I do feel nickel and dimed here at times, because everyone is trying to survive and make a living at this incredibly overpriced place. We think of islands as a tropical fanatastical place of respite, with a nice misty rainbow gliding over the sandy shores. But there is a reality that settles in if enough people live here. I am currently finishing Aldous Huxley’s Island which sort of speaks on this. It’s a very interesting collision of what I am reading and experiencing first hand.

The woman’s husband arrives and I leave them to their date. I tell them to enjoy their night. I finish up my wine and I leave.

As I am a bit drunk, I am really loving this new experience of drunk biking on a Saturday night home. I love that the city is small enough for me to not have to call an Uber after my night out downtown. I love that I can just bike home (about 15 minutes away). I love the feeling of riding down the wet roads tipsy.

I get home, wash up, and hop into my bed in the most giddy mood. The whole night was cinematic and in a way, passed by so quickly like a fever dream.