Saturday was set up to be our family day. A day when my two princesses and my partner could spend together doing joyful family stuff. The initial plan was to travel to Kitsilano and walk along the promenade using the stroller we have recently acquired.
Of course seeing as it was forecast to be a bit of a rainy day, Friday night we called every retailer in the city who sells Mountain Buggy strollers to see who had a rain cover for the new buggy. The only one to reply in the affirmative was a little shop on the trendy 4th Ave, Crocodile Baby. They assured my partner that they had a rain cover for the side-by-side Mountain Buggy we have.
Pleased as punch, we loaded the twins in the car and then tried to put the stroller in the trunk of the car. A word to the wise, load the stroller first, especially of it is your first time trying to stuff your junk in the trunk. Initially it did not fit and so we had to further take it apart to fit in. Eventually I did manage to stuff it in the trunk, after much frustration and curses were uttered.
Drive across the city, wind our way up Fourth Ave to discover that there are no parking spots on the northside of the street, go around the block, a police incident of some sort is blocking Arbutus, down the lane, nose to nose with an F150 (I backed down the alley) move around, and then voila! there is a spot down the street from Crocodile Baby. Magical. All I have to do is go in, buy the cover and then head to the beach for a stroll with the new stroller.
Walk in, ask the young lady at the cash how I can get a rain cover for my double Mountain Buggy only to be told, “Oh, we don’t have any of those.”
I protest that my partner had phoned the previous evening and been assured that in fact they do have one, or more. I am then told in a shockingly cold voice that, “You could have phoned ten minutes ago and if we had one then we couldn’t promise to have one when you arrived in the store. That’s just the way it is.”
It was not so much the message that was conveyed but the incredibly snotty attitude that was projected. I replied, “I do not want to go back out there to the car and have to tell my partner you do not have what twelve hours ago, you told her you do have.”
The response? “Well do you want to leave your name and phone number and we can call you when they do come in?”
I was not a happy customer and my “NO” in reply was more than brief as I turned my back and walked out of the store vowing to never return to the store ever again.
So we head west on Fourth and see TJ’s Kids store across from the Naam Restaurant. I pop in there and another customer overhears me asking about Mountain Buggy strollers and she laughs and says that Mountain Buggy has undergone some kind of corporate turmoil and is now owned by Phil and Ted’s Strollers. She added that nobody in town has any Mountain Buggy stuff and to not waste my time driving around looking. Argh…not the news I had wanted but it did simplify our plans.
The funny thing was that the clouds were all rapidly moving east and the skies were clearing to a brilliant blue. The need for the rain cover was disappearing as the sun was shining down on us. We parked the car, re-assembled the stroller, loaded all of our gear onto it and BECAME ONE OF THEM!! We took our stroller the size of a Buick to Granville Island! Ack! The horror!
To our credit we did not even attempt to enter the market, we walked along the seawall, passed Go Fish, stayed strong and avoided the divine taste of fish and chips and headed around to the outside area alongside the temporary marina and the Arts Club Lounge. I deeked inside, got a large container of Red Snapper Soup and we sat outside, enjoying the sunshine and sharing a happy six month birthday lunch with our twin princesses.
The funniest part of the day was when two cute Japanese tourists stopped us to ask if they could take a photo of the twins in the stroller. I can just imagine how a photo of our little girls will be circulating around Japan for years to come. Interesting.