We were able to sneak onto a flight six days early, and the Air Canada operator amazingly waived the £100pp charge because it is a family crisis. Unheard of. I therefore planned a brisk walking tour of Vancouver to take no more than three hours. We found a Wifi coffee shop with mains sockets outside even, and checked in online and e-mailed Alan Blanchard @ Beartrails, confirming the unpicking. Then we strolled through a pretty laid-back area (Denman) where ‘bubble-smoking’ and hash accessories are common in cafés and shops. The next district towards downtown is a heritage area of attractive late 19th century/early 20th century middle class homes, one of which is open to the public. Owned by a German bookbinder Gustav Roedde, it contains an alarming number of familiar features. The young guide was impressed by our knowledgeability re: artefacts, restoration techniques, quirky questions and coverage of Vancouver in such a short time. So was the ‘Downtown Ambassador’ we met later, when we had also added several other sights and a bit of light retail therapy to our checklist. Final tourist destination had to be the Harbour Tower where there is a panoramic deck giving a fine view on a lovely day of the city, the setting between a first-rate natural harbour and stunning mountains, as well as the manmade features such as Lionshead Bridge, Canada Place, (built for Expo ’86 and stimulating the glitzy high-rise tradition that has led to Vancouver being the location for any number of sci-fi movies), the Yacht Club, the steam clock, a goodly collection of early steel-framed buildings created from scrap ships, the Skytrain, the cable cars, False Creek, dozens of tankers out in the bay, and some attractive municipal and commercial buildings with Art Deco influences. Here the traffic stops for pedestrians: bar staff are charming; panhandlers are (quite) clean; and everyone is helpful. The catchphrase is “Perfect” (or in one case – “Snooze or lose”) but we are leaving prematurely. I am deferring emotional engagement. EP (emotional poise) is all, and with the news from Taunton unpromising, we are going to need a good deal of resilience.