BC: Lasqueti Island

Lasqueti Island welcomes you.

There is a joint for a tip in the cafe's tip jar. It's just sitting there, a few coins for company. This shouldn't come as a surprise. Lasqueti Island is full of green solutions.

Offshore of Vancouver Island, it's cut off from all facilities, utilities and services afforded regular British Columbians. No one seems to mind, they have their own solar and wind power. There are even a couple of bay side properties that could probably have a tilt at a small show tidal power system, if they really wanted. The people here all seem to be escaping something, there are writers, hippies, dancers and vagrants, they form a seemingly inclusive community with a very alternative sub-culture.

Sustainability is central, there are outhouses made of mudbrick and recycled bottles, people's possessions are recycled at the Freestore, a shop where everything is free, although it's opening hours are 1-5pm on a Thursday afternoon. Usefully, I was there on a Thursday, but refrained from taking their hundreds of records (classical and rock 'n' roll were well represented) only because I didn't like the idea of carrying them around for another couple of months...

... and I don't have a record player.

The cars wouldn't pass any roadworthy test in the world, indeed, I'm not convinced that many car owners in West Africa would trade down for most of what passes for vehicles here. Not that it mattered a great deal, walking around the island - large as it is - is perfectly fine, it's not like you could be rushing to go anywhere.

Except the cookie store. That's a place worth rushing to. It's just a cabinet off the pier. Once every other day or so it gets stocked with baked goods. Inside is an absolute treasure trove of sweets and savouries, all priced to move and sold on an honour box system. It seems a masterstroke of a business plan, set up a permanent snack stall between the two places on the island that spend their afternoons and evenings in a shroud of marijuana smoke.

My whole reason for being there was the see Luba. A friend of Gabby's, the three of us and Adrian (an old housemate) had a particularly large NYE a few years back in Sydney and since then I've kept in loose contact with her, mostly following her travels here (her blog is very well written and well worth losing a day or more reading). Luba was on Lasqueti for a dance thing and while there had teed up some work exchange and an invitation to a large community wedding. She had taken to the island like a fish to water, quite literally throwing herself at the community.

I on the otherhand appreciated the place more like a recluse may; using my few days there to read, write and just enjoy my own company after having had a particularly frenetic fortnight with Greta.

To each their own.

Five and a half years and a lot soberer later, I get to see Luba again!