StarHortonBlenz

It wasn't my intention to bring this up right now, but once the subject broke into the last post, let's do it.

Raised in Belo Horizonte, the world capital of pubs, barrooms and related, I'm used, since a young breed, to see one of those noble enterprises at each street corner. It doesn't seems akward to me to find bakeries and pharmacies side-by-side in every Brazilian city's blocks.

But here, they love their Coffee. StarHortonBlenz (SHB) is a Frankenstein created by the fusion of Starbucks, Tim Hortons e Blenz. Walk arround Downtown Vancouver without stumble in one of those is pratically impossible. If you stop anywhere in Downtown and, as a gazell would do it perform a Pirouette Arabesque, at some point of the spin you'll find yourself facing a SHB.

|| Pause.
For those, who just like me, have no idea of what is a Pirouette Arabesque, the definition:
A pirouette is a especial spin, usually related with ballet. A arabesque is when you lift your leg 90˚behind you. A pirouette arabesque is a mix of both. It is, by itself, a surreal scene that I had the misfortune of seen in my second day in Vancouver. Now imagine a bearded 200lbs dude, wearing a Hell's Angels leather jacket, ballerina skirt, ballerina socks and soldier's boots doing it at the corner of Burrard and Alberni.
> Play.

Where was I? Oh... yes. The SHB and its Coffees. Yeah, they're everywhere.

Oh, but we Brazilians love coffee too, don't we? They don't. When I referred to the product sold here as Coffee, italic, i wasn't trying to make it look cool. I was trying to separate what they sell here from real coffee. Not this tea.

The easiest way out is to order the Expresso. Grazie Italia! But even then, don't expect more than some strong black tea. Francesco, a italian-Canadian PLI teacher, told me that I'll be able to find some really good coffee at some places on Commercial Drive. I have to check it.

Until then, does anyone know where can I find a StarHortonBlenz nearby?

Raincouver, BC, Canada

Vancouver, Raincouver. Come on... Don't make me explain what is already obvious. Anyway, just in case we have some reader with a hair as golden as a wheat field, and 'cause it's not a big deal for me to write a few more lines on Van's weather, here we go. Another reason is that, according to Ken, my WPP teacher, there is no better way to start a conversation with a stranger in the streets on Vancouver.

Arrived at the YVR and want to star a conversation with a Van-person at the StarHortonBlenz¹ line? Just start to talk about the weather. They love it. They're usually complaining, but i don't blame them: it's just too much water. Apparently the statistic rules here have been changed to fit the Van City forecast style: if they say that the P.O.P (Probability of Precipitation) is 20%, they mean that it's 120%. The 0% is actually 100%. Of course that i doesn't rain every 365(6) days of the year, but if they say that there is a slight chance of rain, you better wear your boots, close up the raincoat and take an umbrella with you, just in case. No, don't expect a tropical rain, because we're not in the tropics. The rain here comes in homeopathic doses.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to put my hands in some data on the audience share in Vancouver, but judging by the pre-disposition of the local population in "weather conversations", The Weather Channel is probably the #1 broadcaster in Vancouver. While in Brazil there is no football² match before the end of the 9pm soap opera, here there's nothing before the 9pm meteorologic forecast.
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¹ This topic deserve a post of its own. Coming soon.
² It is football, people, not soccer. Ask the Queen.