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This warf at Fort Monroe is at the southern tip of the peninsula and is know as Old Point Comfort.
Built by the corps of engineers about 1818. Jefferson Davis was landed here as a prisoner on May 22, 1865
It was a rainy day and they still fished. Shortly after this pic I was caught in a torrential downpour.
Isle of Wight Railway in 1995 with Army 198 Royal Engineer departing Ashey. More Industrial engines at davebowles.smugmug.com/Railways/Industrial-and-WD-engines
File: 2021002-0518
Dean Forest Railway, Parkend Station, at Parkend, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom, on Wednesday 22nd September 2021.
About this photograph.
The train led by the engine called Swiftsure had arrived at Parkend Station, and the staff operating the train were making preparations for the return journey to Norchard.
Here, one of the engineers is seen refilling the loco’s tank with water. The photograph was converted in Adobe Lightroom into black and white for a classic feel to the engineer doing the work.
Swiftsure is a Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST class of steam locomotive designed by Hunslet Engine Company. This engine was built in 1943, and bears the number 75008 painted on the side.
It was a visiting steam loco, having visited before in 2017 and 2018, she was back at Dean Forest Railway from June 2021 onwards. At the current time of writing, she is reported to be still operational.
My best friend and I were at Dean Forest for a weekdays holiday, and she wanted to have more day outs rather than being stuck at the cabin, so I came up with two different day out ideas. The visit to the Dean Forest Railway was one of the ideas, and my best friend enjoyed the rides.
I took the opportunity to try to find some interesting shots, rather than taking memorable photos of the holiday.
About the overall subject.
The Dean Forest Railway is a 4 to 5 miles long heritage railway, still running vintage steam, and classic diesel trains, as a tourist attraction in the Forest of Dean.
It started in 1799 as an idea for a horse-drawn tramway, linking the Forest of Dean to the rivers Severn and Wye, for the transportation of coal and iron materials.
Between 1800 to around the 1870s, it went through so many processes. Like building lines and branching out, changing company names, financial problems, rival companies, converting from horse-drawn tramway into steam powered railway, merging companies, change of railway gauge sizes, and so many other factors.
It became known as the Severn and Wye Railway during those years.
From around the 1870s onwards, in order to cope with financial difficulties, and to help with funding, they started fee-paying passenger services in addition to the goods carrying services. But ongoing financial problems, lack of traffic, and many other factors, continued up until around the 1940s.
After the Second World War (1939-1945), the railways in this area started to go downhill, mainly due ot declining coal industry in the area, lack of passengers, improvements in transportation elsewhere, and the nationalised of British railways.
Many stations and lines started closing down, or completely shut down, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Starting from the early 1970s onwards, a railway preservation society was formed to try to buy and save as much of the old railway, and run it as a heritage railway for tourism, and was then named as Dean Forest Railway.
At the current moment, the Dean Forest Railway is approximately between 4 to 5 miles long between Lydney and Parkend, with Norchard station as its home base, but they are hoping to extend the line to 7 miles in near future.
They run a range of mostly steam trains to 1960s diesel trains, with various carriages, and at least 5 stations.
For more details, simply Google “Dean Forest Railway” for history or for visiting.
You are free and welcome to comment on my photo, about the photograph itself, about the subject in the photo, or about your similar experience. But do NOT comment with Canned Comments that advertise the Groups because those only talk about the Groups, and does not say much about the photographs, therefore considered as junk comments and will be deleted.
This is Kristal's latest model, a sculpture of a human head the opens up to reveal what's inside the mind of a LEGO engineer.
Video showing it in action and explaining how it works: youtu.be/RtGZ_0Gb86w
More pics and info: jkbrickworks.com/the-engineer
01 April 2018
Its into the 9th year since I shot this and the situation in the DTES has only deteriorated. Governments have worsened the situation by piling more social housing in the area adding to the “customers with no cash” syndrome. The area is named “Canada’s poorest postal code” by activists and the poverty pimps love the situation making the area one of “Canada’s richest postal codes”, the only differenence being the pimp money goes home at night. Helpful groups support too many by offering them food daily with zero obligation. Its become an impossible sitiuation to address given the current state of political governance.
I wish this was just a sick April Fools Day joke but unfortuantely not.
Sleeping on a sidewalk in the Downtown East Side (DTES) of Vancouver BC takes on a different sense of survival than is observed in many west side sleepers. A combination of mental issues, drug sale and use, area resident poverty and the resulting community of "Customers With No Cash" combine for a perfect locale to take advantage of people on the edge where living is not comparable to what most of us bring to mind in our own comfortable world. Prostitution and drugs are a large part of this community. One can not help feel sorry and remorseful this exists in self important Vancouver.
The irony of this photo is it was shot about 10 feet from the entrance of BC Housing's recently opened Orange Hall office (open 10 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday) 297 Hastings Street at Gore Ave. This situation has steadily gone downhill since the Federal Governemt cut back funding for social housing.
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH:
From BC Housing website:
October 3rd, 2014
VICTORIA – The B.C. government is strengthening the non-profit housing sector by transferring provincially-owned properties to non-profit housing providers.
The Province owns approximately 350 parcels of land throughout British Columbia that are currently leased long-term to non-profit housing providers who own and operate social housing buildings on these properties.
The non-profit housing sector has been asking for this step for many years. Having ownership of the land will improve a non-profit’s ability to support better long-term planning and selfsufficiency. Owning the lands they operate on will also help non-profits secure the financing they need to be sustainable.
In order to transfer title, the Province will end these leases, and then transfer ownership of the land to the societies. The properties will be transferred at fair market value. The Province will assist the societies to secure mortgages on the properties. The current operating agreement that BC Housing has with each non-profit society will remain in place. Approximately 115 properties will be transferred by March 31, 2015, and the rest will be transferred over the next three years.
In addition, the Province is looking to transfer ownership of two properties currently managed by BC Housing to non-profit societies. The Province will begin the process by posting Expressions of Interest for Nicholson Tower and Stamps Place in Vancouver shortly.
Tenants will not be impacted by these transfers, and the amount of affordable housing stock will remain stable. Non-profit societies have been providing social housing in B.C. for more than 60 years. Today more than 90% of social housing is managed by non-profit societies.
THE GLOBE & MAIL:
FRANCES BULA
VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Oct. 13 2014
Vancouver won’t solve street homelessness until both the city and province focus on targeting the limited supply of expensive social housing to those who need it most, say experts.
That means help can’t go to anyone who passes through a shelter or an outdoor camp or even to someone who sleeps outside temporarily. In the vast majority of cases, people who become homeless experience it briefly and are able to avoid losing housing again.
But people working on eliminating homelessness do not always understand that the thousands of people who experience homelessness in a year don’t all need expensive subsidized housing. That should be reserved for the chronically homeless, who are not sufficiently helped by temporary assistance with rent or other social supports.
“For nearly 90 per cent of people counted as homeless, they’ll get themselves out of homelessness on their own,” says Tim Richter, who led Calgary’s 10-year plan to end homelessness and is now the president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. “It’s critical to set priorities. It shouldn’t be first-come, first-served.”
One of the region’s most experienced homelessness researchers, former Vancouver city-hall staffer Judy Graves, said the city is reaping the results of city and provincial staff not always setting the right priorities for the past six years. This past winter, Vancouver still had a count of 533 people sleeping outside (less than in 2008, but more than in 2011), even though the province and city have opened up thousands of new social-housing units rented at welfare-level rates.
It’s an issue that is returning to haunt Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who promised in 2008 to end street homelessness by 2015, during this fall’s civic-election campaign.
His administration, which has pushed the issue non-stop since he was first elected, has recently exceeded previous efforts by jumping last month into paying for all the costs of converting a downtown Quality Inn to transitional housing, as well as all the costs of a new shelter nearby. Usually the province covers the majority of costs for both of those kinds of housing.
But Ms. Graves said even that unusual effort, accompanied by several hundred other new provincial units about to open, isn’t going to solve the problem by January, 2015.
That’s because the province is only committed to using half of the incoming housing units for the chronically homeless. And city staff also don’t always correctly identify who is the most in need.
“Both the city and province have bought into housing by wait lists,” said Ms. Graves. “It just can’t work. You have to work as though you’re in a disaster zone.”
She said she had doubts that the majority of people who camped in Oppenheimer Park over the summer were homeless, but they got priority for the scarce number of rooms available.
As well, in the early stages of the province’s big social-housing construction push, which will see 14 towers completed with around 1,400 units by the end, non-profit operators were simply moving people from residential hotel rooms into the new buildings.
That meant the housing didn’t go to the chronically homeless and the most in need, but worse, it then allowed landlords in the residential hotels to do renovations, raise rents, or refuse new low-income tenants once the former tenants were relocated to social housing.
That then reduced the overall number of private, low-cost housing units in the city. Ms. Graves said the whole region is experiencing an acute shortage of those kinds of private units now. It has become a game of musical chairs for housing-outreach workers to get a low-cost unit for someone trying to get out of shelters or off the street, she said.
All cities are grappling with constant pressures that create more homelessness at the front end: low working-class incomes that can’t keep up with gentrification and rising rents key among them, said Ms. Graves. That has left cities trying to solve the problem at the back end, trying to house all the people made homeless as a result of many larger forces.
24 HRS VANCOUVER - 16 OCT 14
16 Oct 2014 24 Hours VancouverJANE DEACON Comment at vancouver.24hrs.c
Laura Dilley, PACE Society Action Week, PACE plans to draft housing recommendations for city council before the coming election.
“Oftentimes we will create housing models not including the voices of those we would be housing,” said Dilley.
Rising rent prices that force people out of SROs is a significant factor, as well as landlords who refuse to rent to sex workers out of legal concerns, said Dilley. Low- income housing conditions that require tenants stay in at night or guests to sign in are also significant barriers. She estimates between 10 to 15% of sex workers fall under the category of “survival” or street- based prostitution. For that vulnerable population, simply switching professions is often not an option, said Dilley.
“They’re really forced and entrenched to continuously do that work because they have no options out of it, because we have such stigma in our society that they can’t seek help, they can’t find affordable housing, so they’re really stuck in that situation,” she said.
17 April 2019:
B.C. drug users demand clean supply, but fear they won’t live to see it happen
By David P. BallStar Vancouver
Tues., April 16, 2019
VANCOUVER—Several hundred Vancouverites marked three years since the province declared a public health emergency over the thousands of people killed by overdoses.
But as they marched Tuesday from the safe-injection clinic Insite through downtown Vancouver, advocates say “contaminated” drugs have taken a toll on their own leaders.
For B.C. Association of People on Methadone member Garth Mullins, the losses are mounting, and it’s been destabilizing and “disorganizing” for the drug-reform movement.
“We’ve lost rank and file members and leaders in such high numbers over the last five years,” he said, wearing a distinctive black case of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone on his belt. “It’s hard to organize or think strategically when you’re always doing triage, planning a memorial.”
Just last month the president of his organization, Chereece Keewatin, died from a fentanyl overdose. Mullins knew Keewatin for at least six years, and invited her to join the editorial board of the podcast Crackdown, of which he is executive producer.
“Chereece was really little, but she had this tremendous capacity to lift people’s spirits,” he said in an interview. “You’d have meetings where we talk about really, really bleak subjects, but she had these funny asides to cut through the bleakness.
“She made people laugh. In that way, she took responsibility for the whole collective emotional state of the group.”
It’s not just the B.C. Association of People on Methadone that’s seen the direct “casualties” of what Mullins called “a war.” The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the national Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs have also lost high-ranking board members in recent years.
Since 2016, nearly 11,000 people have died across Canada from opioid overdoses, according to the most recent federal and provincial data. The majority of those deaths were from opioids such as fentanyl or its more deadly variants, but B.C. remains the epicentre for roughly a third of those deaths, 1,500 of them last year alone.
On average, four British Columbians died every day from overdoses last year, much higher than the national average and largely unchanged since the province’s April 2016 declaration of a public health emergency.
11 May 2020
.
A wall mural in the DTES poses a valid question, "how do we end the drug crisis"? A more basic question, how did we get here?
Vancouver, B.C. is consistently ranked at the top of the list for the world’s most liveable cities - but not for many in the DTES.
The city has a dirty little secret that it has been trying to suppress for decades. The historic four-block area near East Hastings and Main Street — the DTES — known as one of the “poorest postal codes” in Canada, has a combination of drug use, HIV, homelessness, prostitution, mental illness, and crime all making up this poor off neighbourhood.
To be successful as a drug lord you need a steady, reliable, cheap supply of product, a location where you can operate relatively free from prosecution and away you go. The prime location ingredients Vancouver offers is the DTES.
Over the decades continuing city administrations have built a community of “customers with no cash” by loading the DTES with blocks of not for profit social housing. Along with the myriad of Single Room Occupancy hotels (SRO's) the area is prime territory for the drug trade.
Social housing should be spread throughout the city to provide a society of different financial means for common support - IMO.
Administrations over the years have been loath to attempt social housing in the rich city enclaves due to onerous push back. It was and still is more expedient to keep adding more social housing in the DTES where there is minimal opposition.
***** Today there are at least 6 City of Vancouver development permit applications on file for more social housing in the DTES.
The process is welcomed by the myriad of DTES support service groups who like their clientele close at hand and the clientele are fine with it as services are nearby.
DTES government and service support groups along with poverty pimp lawyers who have a hissy fit if anyone tries to change the dial, while also making money off the situation, has resulted in the perfect condition for drug dealers to flourish.
Social housing residents, many older, Asian and often mentally challenged are living in a hell hole neighbourhood with little individual voice.
In recent years, the area is seeing an east creeping gentrification. This is causing the DTES street population to be squeezed into a smaller footprint resulting in more confrontation and the appearance of a worsening situation even though overall the numbers of street people remains fairly constant.
The amount of taxpayer dollars spent in the area is staggering with little to show for the investment.
Vancouver has always had a drug problem. The opioids of choice — and the increasingly staggering death toll — have changed over the years.
In 2017 Fentanyl killed so many Canadians it caused the average life expectancy in B.C. to drop for the first time in decades. But for crime kingpins, it became a source of such astonishing wealth it disrupted the Vancouver-area real estate market.
SOME BACKGROUND:
Excerpt from the Province Newspaper by reporter Randy Shore 18 March, 2017.
When members of the Royal Commission to Investigate Chinese and Japanese Immigration came to Vancouver in 1901, they got an eyeful.
“There were whole rooms of Chinese lying stretched out on beds with the opium apparatus laid out before them — all unmindful that their attitudes and surrounding conditions are being taken note of to assist in keeping the remainder of their countrymen entirely out of Canada,” reported the Vancouver World newspaper.
The fringes of Vancouver’s Chinatown have always been the centre of Canada’s opiate trade. Ever more potent and easily smuggled versions emerged through the decades, culminating in the scourge of synthetic opiates — fentanyl and carfentanil — thousands of times more powerful and many times more deadly than opium.
Opium was a source of revenue for governments of the day. A federal duty imposed on importers fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars between 1874 and 1899. In B.C. ports, and cities charged hundreds of dollars to purveyors in the form of business licences.
Between 1923 and 1932, more than 700 Chinese men were deported for drug-related violations.
Under constant pressure from the police, opium users began to inject their hit, as the technique created no smoke or aroma and used smaller equipment, which could be easily hidden. In the 1920s and 1930s, white users tended to be young criminals, “racetrack hands, and circus and show people” who smoked opium or sniffed heroin.
By the mid-1930s, heroin was one of the most common drugs in circulation and white users were increasingly taking the drug intravenously, especially as prices rose due to scarcity brought about by vigorous law enforcement.
The outbreak of the Second World War put opiate addicts into a state of crisis, as opiate drugs were required in great quantities for the war wounded. The street price of a hit — whether heroin, morphine or codeine — shot up and crime along with it.
In the post-war period, right through to the mid-’60s, Vancouver was ground zero for Canada’s intravenous drug scene, made up mainly of petty criminals, troubled youths fed by drug lords.
Before the ’40s were over, highly refined white heroin had appeared and it was coming from overseas to satisfy a hungry market in Vancouver, home to half of the country’s drug users.
Heroin use remained a constant undercurrent in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside during the ’70s and ’80s, even as alcohol was the neighbourhood’s real drug of choice.
But a flood of a new and even more potent “China White” heroin arriving into the city reignited public outrage in the early ’90s. A spate of 331 overdose deaths in 1993 spurred B.C. coroner Vince Cain to call for the decriminalization of heroin and addicts be prescribed the drug to legally maintain their habit.
It would be nearly 15 years before the Study to Assess Long-term Opioid Maintenance Effectiveness (SALOME) began in Vancouver, just about the time a new threat emerged.
Up to 80 times as powerful as heroin, fentanyl hit the streets and reduced the risk for traffickers as it was so concentrated, transportation was easier.
The carnage wrought by fentanyl has been without precedent.
Heroin seized in drug busts is routinely cut with fentanyl and in recent months the presence of carfentanil.
SUMMARY:
Where will this go next, who knows ?
The richest of societies should be especially judged by how they treat their least fortunate, and Vancouver has its challenge set out for the foreseeable future.
UPDATE 23 MAY 2020 - VANCOUVER SUN
John Mackie: The Downtown Eastside is a war zone disaster — stop ghettoizing it.
John Mackie, Vancouver Sun 23 May 2020
Twenty years ago local musician Kuba Oms was recording at the Miller Block, a now defunct Hastings Street recording studio near Save-On-Meats.
He jaywalked and was stopped by a cop, who handed him a ticket.
“I said ‘Are you kidding me?’” Oms recounts. “You know there’s a guy shooting up over there, and a crack dealer over there. And the cop said ‘That’s a health issue.’”
That story pretty much sums up the city’s attitude toward the Downtown Eastside over the past few decades.
In some ways the cop was right — it is a Vancouver health issue. But letting people openly do drugs in public and turn Hastings and the wider Downtown Eastside into a ghetto is political correctness gone mad.
Drive down Hastings Street between Abbott and Gore and you’ll see dozens, even hundreds of people hanging out on the street, in various states of sobriety. They are definitely not social distancing. It’s a miracle that COVID-19 hasn’t swept the entire area.
The height of this madness was the recent occupation of Oppenheimer Park. Vancouver has real issues of homelessness, but to some degree Oppenheimer was about a fringe group of politicos manipulating the homeless.
Many police resources were diverted to the park and there was a crime wave in nearby Chinatown — one business closed because they were being robbed a dozen times a day.
The province recently made hotel rooms available for the homeless people occupying Oppenheimer Park, so things have calmed down somewhat. But the big question is what happens in a few months? Is government going to find permanent homes for them?
Odds are if they do, it will be in highrises in the Downtown Eastside. For decades that’s where the city and province have been concentrating social housing, especially for the mentally ill and drug addicted.
Their argument is these residents feel comfortable there. But the reality is the more poverty is concentrated, the worse the area seems to become.
Maybe it’s time for the city of Vancouver to give its head a shake and realize that its much-ballyhooed Downtown Eastside Plan is actually part of the problem, not the solution.
Part of the plan decrees you can’t build condos on Hastings between Carrall Street in Gastown and Heatley Avenue in Strathcona, or in historic Japantown around Oppenheimer Park.
Development in those areas has to be rental only, with at least 60 per cent social housing. This pretty much ensures that no market housing is built in the poorest area of the city.
When the plan was unveiled in 2014, Vancouver’s former head planner Brian Jackson said the aim was to ensure that low-income people in the Downtown Eastside weren’t displaced.
“The plan is attempting to achieve balance,” he explained then.
In fact, the plan does the exact opposite. There is no balance in the Downtown Eastside: It’s been turned into a ghetto. A friend who’s worked there for two decades calls it a war zone.
The city desperately need some market housing, co-ops and development on Hastings and around Oppenheimer. The anti-poverty activists will scream blue murder that it’s gentrification, but it’s actually normalization. You don’t have to displace anybody, you just have add a different mix to make it safer.
I live in Strathcona, where about 6,500 people live in social housing and about 3,500 in market homes. It’s a close-knit neighbourhood that has the balance Brian Jackson was taking about — it’s diverse and features a variety of incomes.
Japantown and the Downtown Eastside could be a real neighbourhood again if the city retained its stock of handsome historic buildings but allowed some development of its many non-descript structures.
It could be like Strathcona, even the West End. But I fear it could get even worse, if the planners and politicians continue to concentrate all the Lower Mainland’s poverty and social ills in one small area.
jmackie@postmedia.com
John Mackie is a veteran Postmedia reporter who has written several stories about Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Plan.
13 JULY, 2020
Vancouver can’t catch up to its housing crisis
ADRIENNE TANNER
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED 13 JULY 2020
It is obvious now the cheers that erupted when Vancouver’s longest running tent city was dismantled were wildly premature. Fearing a COVID-19 outbreak would take hold in the overcrowded inner-city camp, the provincial government in April acquired emergency housing in hotels for homeless people living there and cleared the site.
Many camp residents embraced the offer of a clean room. Some refused and relocated outdoors. The camp shifted, first to some empty Port of Vancouver land, and when a court order quickly shut it down, finally landed in Strathcona Park. With each move, it grew.
Today there are about 150 tents Strathcona Park, roughly double the number there were in Oppenheimer Park. How many inhabitants are truly homeless is anyone’s guess. Some of the tents were erected by activists with homes. Others belong to people living in single room occupancy hotels, the worst of which are noisy, bug-infested and so hot that some residents prefer to spend summer outside.
There is already an air of permanence to the camp; the city has installed porta-potties, fresh drinking water and handwashing stations. Park rangers drop by a few times daily. The area is reasonably clean, but these are early days.
Strathcona residents are largely sympathetic to homeless people, but are understandably unhappy about losing a large chunk of park space. They fear the same violence and social disorder that cropped up at Oppenheimer is inevitable; there has already been a small fire and there appears to be a bike chop shop on site. There are cries for the city to sanction a permanent tent city location – elsewhere, of course.
So how exactly did the province’s efforts to shut down a tent city and house homeless people backfire so badly? The city and provincial officials have been out-manoeuvered and out-organized by anti-poverty activists who seized a COVID-19 opportunity when they saw it.
The pandemic raised fears the Oppenheimer tent city would turn into a reservoir of disease that could overwhelm the health system. The activists know that’s why the government cleared the camp and purchased hotels for social housing. They understand this is the moment to highlight society’s failure to solve homelessness, even if their end goals seem to differ. Some are calling for permanent housing – others prefer the idea of a permanent, free-wheeling tent city.
The sorry truth is, even with the addition of 600 units of temporary modular housing and, more recently, the purchase of three downtown hotels, there are still more homeless people than homes. Successions of governments at all levels have allowed this crisis to grow. They’ve failed to build enough social housing. Failed to provide adequate mental health services. Failed to fund enough drug rehabilitation programs for those who want to quit and provide a safe drug supply for those who can’t.
So, now here we are with the largest homeless camp the city has ever seen and another stressed-out neighbourhood. Legally, the new tent city may prove more difficult to dismantle – it’s a large park and the tents are well spaced so the pandemic may not wash as a valid reason. And unless housing is available for everyone who is homeless, it is unlikely the courts would grant an injunction.
Solving problems associated with homelessness is a huge challenge. We can start with housing, but that alone is not nearly enough. Many of the people living in the hotels and park are drug users. Many are mentally ill. Some are both. It takes money – and lots of it – to provide decent housing and supports for this segment of society.
But to cave to demands for a permanent tent city is an American-style admission of defeat. The park board seems resigned to tent cities in parks and is considering a bylaw seeking to control locations. City council has resisted sanctioning a permanent spot, instead offering up land for new social housing. The province has stepped up with money for temporary modular housing and purchases of hotels.
It will be tough to keep neighbourhoods onside if more parks are rendered unusable for recreation. There is only one palatable solution; the provincial government must stay the course and keep adding decent, affordable housing. It won’t be cheap or easy. Catchup never is.
01 APRIL 2022
More than 2,200 British Columbians lost to illicit drugs in 2021
The toxic illicit drug supply claimed the lives of at least 2,224 British Columbians in 2021, according to preliminary data released by the BC Coroners Service.
“Over the past seven years, our province has experienced a devastating loss of life due to a toxic illicit drug supply,” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner. “This public health emergency has impacted families and communities across the province and shows no sign of abating. In 2021 alone, more than 2,200 families experienced the devastating loss of a loved one. In the past seven years, the rate of death due to illicit drug toxicity in our province has risen more than 400%. Drug toxicity is now second only to cancers in B.C. for potential years of life lost. We cannot simply hope that things will improve. It is long past time to end the chaos and devastation in our communities resulting from the flourishing illicit drug market, and to ensure, on an urgent basis, access across the province to a safe, reliable regulated drug supply.”
The last two months of 2021 saw the largest number of suspected illicit drug deaths ever recorded in the province, with 210 deaths in November and an additional 215 in December. The 2,224 total number of deaths is 26% more than the 1,767 illicit drug-related deaths investigated by the BC Coroners Service in 2020, and equates to an average of 6.1 lives lost every day.
The provincewide death rate in 2021 was 42.8 per 100,000 residents. Every health authority in B.C. experienced a record loss of lives.
Since the public health emergency into substance-related harms was first declared in April 2016, more than 8,800 British Columbians have been lost to toxic drugs.
Toxicological testing once again underscores the reality that the illicit drug supply continues to be unstable and increasingly toxic. Fentanyl was detected in 83% of samples tested in 2021. Carfentanil was present in 187 results, almost triple the number recorded in 2020 (66).
Additionally, 50% of samples in December tested positive for etizolam, more than three times the rate of detection in July 2020 (15%). Benzodiazepines create significant challenges for life-saving efforts as naloxone does not reverse its effects. As with previous reporting, almost all test results included the presence of multiple substances.
“We need decision-makers at all levels to recognize and respond to this public health emergency with the level of urgency it demands,” Lapointe said. “The reality is this: every day we wait to act, six more people will die. COVID-19 has shown what is possible when goverments act decisively to save lives. And in order to save lives in this public-heath emergency, we need to provide people with access to the substances they need, where and when they need them. Time has run out for research and discussion. It is time to take action.”
Additional key preliminary findings are below. Data is subject to change as additional toxicology results are received:
In 2021, 71% of those who died as a result of suspected drug toxicity were between 30 to 59, and 78% were male.
The townships that experienced the highest number of illicit drug toxicity deaths in 2021 were Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria.
By health authority, in 2021, the highest numbers of illicit drug toxicity deaths were in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities (765 and 615 deaths, respectively), making up 62% of all such deaths during this period.
By health authority, in 2021, the highest rates of death were in Vancouver Coastal Health (49 deaths per 100,000 individuals) and Northern Health (48 per 100,000).
By Health Service Delivery Area, in 2021, the highest rates of death were in Vancouver, Thompson Cariboo, Northwest, Northern Interior and Fraser East.
By Local Health Area, in 2021, the highest rates of death were in Upper Skeena, Merritt, Enderby, Lillooet and North Thompson.
Quotes:
Dr. Nel Wieman, deputy chief medical officer, First Nations Health Authority –
“The number of deaths due to toxic drug poisonings for 2021 translates to devastating losses of First Nations people: daughters and sons, aunties and uncles, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and grandfathers and grandmothers. These are people who loved and were loved. In every year since this public health emergency was declared, B.C. First Nations people have been over-represented in toxic drug-poisoning events and deaths. We must change our understanding of the root causes of substance use and addiction, and work together to address the stigmas surrounding toxic drug use and the people who use drugs. We must continue to invest in Indigenous-specific, culturally safe harm-reduction, treatment and recovery services that are accessible, timely and free from discrimination and racism.”
Guy Felicella, peer clinical adviser, Vancouver Coastal Health –
“I join the thousands of British Columbians who are heartbroken, frustrated and angry over this unfathomable loss. Every one of these deaths was preventable and represents a failure to act, a failure to learn from mistakes. Change nothing and nothing changes. That’s been the story now for years as the approach throughout this crisis has been to meet policies where they’re at, rather than meeting people who use drugs where they’re at. This approach is killing and continues to kill people. Who has the courage to step forward and make this stop?”
AUGUST 2023
Today’s release of the report on drug toxicity deaths for the month of July 2023 by the BC Coroners Service is a stark reminder that the ongoing toxic-drug crisis continues to have a devastating impact on communities across our province. We hold in our hearts the memories of the 198 people lost in July in British Columbia.
The coroners service said the 1,455 deaths from January to July are the most ever reported in the first seven months of the year since a public health emergency over drug poisoning deaths in the province was declared in 2016.
It puts the province on pace to potentially exceed the 2,383 deaths recorded in 2022. A total of 12,739 people in the province have died from drug overdoses in the seven years.
30 NOVEMBER, 2023
At least 2,039 British Columbians have died from toxic drugs so far this year, according to preliminary figures released by the B.C. Coroners Service on Thursday, 29 November, 2023.
Of those, 189 people died in October, which is about 6.1 deaths a day. Most of the dead were between 30 and 59 years of age, and more than three-quarters were men, according to the coroner.
While the largest number of deaths reported so far has been in urban centres, such as Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria, the health authority with the highest rate of death in 2023 is Northern Health, with 61 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the coroner.
As in previous months, fentanyl was found in most — 85 per cent — of the illicit drugs tested, often combined with other opioids or stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine.
Earlier this month, Interior Health issued a drug advisory warning for people who use drugs that some substances being advertised as hydromorphone on the black market contain isotonitazine, a drug the coroner says is as potent as fentanyl.
Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death in B.C. for people aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disease combined, the coroner said.
Since a public health emergency was declared in 2016, more than 13,000 people have died.
JANUARY 2024:
Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, has released the following statement regarding the BC Coroners Service year-end report on illicit drug toxicity deaths:
“Today, as we reflect on the year behind us, our hearts are heavy with the loss of 2,511 people in British Columbia to toxic drugs. Each of these lives was precious and important, each with their own story, their own dreams and people who love them. They were part of our community, and their loss is felt deeply by us all.
So what is the game plane to stop it?
C. seeks to keep cash seized from Downtown Eastside gang
Courtesy Kim Bolan and the Vancouver Sun.
Kim Bolan is an experienced and award-winning journalist who has covered gangs in British Columbia for the past 40 years. Bolan also investigated the Air India bombing for 25 years until the publication in 2005 of her book, Loss of Faith.
The B.C. government has filed a lawsuit against a group of alleged Downtown Eastside drug traffickers, seeking the forfeiture of more than $150,000 seized from them.
The lawsuit, filed this week by the director of civil forfeiture, names four defendants that it alleges are part of a criminal organization investigated by the Vancouver Police Department.
While the group is not named in the statement of claim, details of the VPD probe outlined in the court document match an investigation into Zone 43 — a gang that originated in Montreal but has taken over the Downtown Eastside in recent years. Zone 43 has connections to B.C.’s notorious Wolfpack gang alliance.
In June, the VPD announced arrests of several Zone 43 gangsters, though they were released pending approval of charges.
The VPD said it had seized firearms, 24 kilos of drugs and $150,000 in cash during searches on May 14 in Vancouver and Burnaby.
The civil forfeiture lawsuit refers to three VPD searches done on the same date in the same cities and alleges Shayne Cozier-Flanagan, Evantee Jevontee Eustace Stoney, Tristin Johnson and Raimon Geday were “participating in the activities of a criminal organization.”
When police searched Stoney’s apartment on the 30th floor at 2388 Madison Ave. in Burnaby, they found $143,910.75 in Canadian currency and $607 in U.S. currency, the lawsuit said.
Officers seized another $5,800 at Cozier-Flanagan’s suite, also on the 30th floor, at 5665 Boundary Rd. in Vancouver, it said.
About $3,417 was seized from Johnson, who also lives in the Madison apartment, when he was arrested in the 300-block of East Hastings. Another $1,920 was found in Geday’s room in a supportive housing building on Kaslo Street, the lawsuit said.
The VPD also seized a 2017 Acura RDX, of which Stoney is the registered owner and which was used “to facilitate the trafficking of controlled substances,” the civil forfeiture director alleged.
The statement of claim notes that both Stoney and Geday have previous trafficking convictions and are banned from possessing firearms.
All four men named in the lawsuit “trafficked in controlled substances in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver and the surrounding areas,” the lawsuit alleges.
In the Boundary apartment, police also found a money counter and business cards with the number to call to purchase drugs — known as a ‘dialer’ number.
In the Madison suite, the VPD also found dilaudid pills, oxycodone pills and “score sheets” documenting drug sales, collection and debts.
In Geday’s room, police found crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and another 275 dilaudid pills, as well as score sheets, bear spray and “miscellaneous drug packaging materials.”
The cash and car should be forfeited to the government because they are proceeds of or were used for unlawful activity, the lawsuit alleged.
The crimes committed include possession for the purpose of trafficking and trafficking, committing offences for the benefit of a criminal organization, conspiracy, money laundering and failure to declare taxable income, it alleged
No statements of defence have yet been filed on behalf of the four men.
Vancouver Police Insp. Phil Heard said at the June news conference that Zone 43 gangsters “pose a very significant risk to the public. They’re involved in a well-documented conflict ongoing in the province of Quebec with a rival group.”
Sources say the gang is still selling drugs in the Downtown Eastside.
AUGUST 2025:
The law protects the rights of the most vulnerable among us to live in filth and despair
Pete McMartin: I'm tired of how homelessness and addiction take up so much oxygen in the social discourse.
Published Aug 03, 2025
In 2014, Vancouver Sun reporter Lori Culbert and I wrote a weeklong series of stories identifying the government social welfare programs — and their cost to taxpayers — in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Over 100 programs existed just for housing. Thirty provided health care, 30 offered family services and a miscellany of another 100 services — including a food bank for pets — brought the total to 260 social welfare agencies operating solely within the eight square blocks of the DTES.
Those 260 programs served just 6,500 clients.
Five years earlier, in 2009, Province reporter David Carrigg also did a survey of the programs available in the DTES, and he identified 174 social welfare agencies offering services to about 5,000 clients.
In other words, in the five years between Carrigg’s survey and Culbert’s and mine, not only had the number of people needing help grown but so had the number of agencies serving them.
And the cost to taxpayers?
Over $360 million annually.
That astounding figure — almost a million dollars a day — did little to satisfy the DTES’s voracious appetite for tax dollars. More to the point, it did nothing to eradicate the misery and living conditions of the people who lived there.
Rather than winning the war on poverty — and what a quaint phrase that seems now — governments engineered a truce, with the unstated understanding that if they couldn’t solve the problem or spend their way out of it, they could contain it. Those 260 social service bureaucracies weren’t solutions to an intractable problem; they were barricades. They ghettoized their impoverished clientele by concentrating the services on which they depended.
And let’s be honest: The public was complicit in this, and content for it to continue as long as the misery stayed confined within the borders of the DTES.
And yet here we are. The squalor spreads. It corrodes a once-vibrant downtown core. It infiltrates the suburbs. Daily acts of random violence and vandalism have become normalized, while a cornucopia of drugs — some decriminalized, some tolerated, many deadly — act as accelerants.
In 2016, a year after our survey, provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall declared a public health emergency under the Public Health Act due to the alarming rise in opioid-related overdose deaths. Since then, over 16,000 people have died from those opioids. That’s not progress. It’s a plague.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, has worked. Over the decades, the problem has been studied to death — admittedly, a poor choice of words — with consultants and academics and the legions of poverty industry advocates offering up solutions that ultimately fail. They fail because they’re predicated on two simple criteria:
1. Give us more money.
2. Give us more of everything — housing, hospital beds, food banks, drugs, injection sites, counselling or — and this is always implicit — empathy, with a side order of collective guilt.
I’ve seen this in my own newspaper.
In one recent opinion piece, the author laments that it has been the public’s and governments’ norm “to daily bypass our downtrodden, our homeless, our addicted or mentally ill on the street as though they are either invisible or merely equivalent to lampposts” — to which I have to reply: ‘Are you f—ng kidding me?’
The public and its governments have done exactly the opposite and, short of bathing their feet with Christ-like piety, have directed billions of tax dollars not only to ease the suffering of the homeless, the addicted and the mentally ill, but also to make them completely dependent upon those dollars.
Another Sun story — this one again by Culbert — examined the merits of involuntary care through the experiences of three addicts who underwent the process, and while two saw it as beneficial and helped them get clean, the third condemned it as “dehumanizing” and a cause of her PTSD. Though she no longer does drugs, she said that if she relapses she would prefer to take her chances with street drugs that could possibly kill her rather than be readmitted to hospital against her will.
Well, OK, I thought, ‘You’re an adult. Good for you for having the honesty to express that choice, however idiotic I may find it.’
But what I thought was missing in her testimonial was (a) any appreciation of the monumentally expensive efforts governments and the public had tried to make on her behalf, however ill-informed she may have believed those attempts to be, and (b) her failure to recognize the destructive effects that a relapse would have not just on her own health and family, but, more importantly, also on the collective health of the public, who would be asked to offer up yet more money, and deal yet again with her relapse — providing she survives it.
Finally, in The Sun, there was another column, this one by Sam Sullivan, who wrote that, after 52 years, it was time to end the DTES “experiment” and the restrictive housing policies that he believes led to the homelessness and violence bedevilling it.
Funny thing about that.
Between 1993 and 2005, Sullivan was a Vancouver city councillor, and for three years after that, he was mayor. Yet despite the fact that his 15-year tenure at city hall placed him in the midst of that DTES experiment, if not close to its helm, it is only now, 20 years later, that he publicly declares the experiment to be a failure, and — as far as I could tell from reading his opinion piece — without taking any responsibility for it.
I will refrain here, in my own column, from claiming to speak for the public or with any inkling of what popular sentiment might be.
But this is how I feel:
My patience is Exhausted.
I’m tired of the endless, self-regenerating calls for more studies and more funding when all I see is a colossal waste of money and effort leading to no improvement. I’m tired of how homelessness and addiction take up so much oxygen in the social discourse. I’m tired of civil rights that supersede my own, and treat the right to defecate in the streets with greater regard than my right to be offended by it.
Finally, I’m tired of a social welfare system that not only encourages dependency, but refuses, out of moral timidity, to also admit its complicity in it, and which shies away from asking hard questions about personal responsibility and the consideration of measures more draconian than safe injection sites — measures like a return to complete drug criminalization, a higher threshold of minimum sentences for trafficking, the establishment of rehabilitation centres or work camps exclusively in wilderness areas far from the temptations of cities, the discontinuation of any efforts that facilitate drug use, and yes, the robust expansion of an involuntary care system.
It’s also my opinion that none of these measures, given the current legal climate, will become reality, at least for the foreseeable future. Under our Constitution and the Criminal Code, the law, in its majestic equality, protects the rights of the most vulnerable among us to live in filth and despair, and, as so often happens, bring about their own deaths.
How enlightened we have become! What progress we have made! We’ve reached that point when now sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets and stealing one’s daily bread are no longer evidence of a system’s failure.
They are the system.
Civil engineers train on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway on St David's Day, approaching Cwm Lane, halway between Llanfair and Welshpool. Friday 1.3.24.
Courtesy of the Llanfair and Welshpool Light Railway web site:
No. 7 Chattenden is six-coupled machine was built by E. E. Baguley at Burton-on-Trent in 1949 to the order of the Drewry Car Company and is now fitted with a Gardner engine developing 150 h.p. Originally it worked on the Admiralty’s Upnor and Lodge Hill Railway then later transferred to Broughton Moor, Cumbria. Capable of working passenger trains in an emergency, the locomotive is normally used for the heavier civil engineering works trains.
The latest edition of the Phoenix Railway Photographic Journal has been published and you can read for free by copying and pasting this link into your browser:
online.fliphtml5.com/lnylv/nqzm/
Just after midday and I catch one of two northbound Engineers trains. The first one I catch at Greenholme with 66523 heading up Shap with 5Y53, Oubeck Loop - Carlisle on Sunday 14th May 2017
Civil Engineers 'Dutch' Liveried 37025 seen at Kyle Of Localsh, waiting to depart with 2H86 17.00 Kyle Of Localsh to Inverness, 03.09.1992
Copyright © Chris Brogdale
No Unauthorised Use
A 50 / 50 chance of seeing this which paid off today as both 66779 and 66762 were at Toton this morning.
BR Green 66779 "Evening Star" approaches Harrowden Junction on it's first run down through my local haunt on the 6G35 - Toton North Yard to Wellingborough Engineers working - 30-07-16
One of the many uncannily realistic mannequins in the Brunel Centre in Bristol. Not sure if this is Brunel himself or someone working for him but he's presented as working on a major project.
The engineer to Delaware-Lackawanna train PT-97 grabs a couple notches and five Alco and MLW products come to life and send exhaust skyward as they hustle through East Stroudsburg, PA. The crew is running short on time and will be tying the train down at a location called “Gravel Place” until Monday.
Cosmic Engineers is a science fiction novel by American author Clifford D. Simak. It was published in 1950 by Gnome Press in an edition of 6,000 copies, of which 1,000 were bound in paperback for an armed forces edition. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding in 1939.
The novel concerns a group of earthmen and a girl, who is awakened from suspended animation, being contacted by aliens with whom they join to prevent the collision of one universe with another.
Running 2 hours early, 66850 David Maidment OBE leads 6M28 Hinksey Sidings to Bescot Up Engineers Sidings through Saltley.
31468 ticks over in a weekend possession, whilst 47749 departs up the branch with a train of Dogfish
Author's Note: The contents of this chapter include very sensitive subject matter and may be triggering to some individuals. Scenes of abuse of various forms are represented as not only for storytelling, but to raise awareness of what this behavior looks like. Abusive behavior in this story includes, but is not limited to: physical abuse, mental abuse, verbal abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, intentional triggering of another's PTSD, and trauma. In no way are these scenes intended to purposely trigger or harm anyone.
...
"...Vincent, it's me! Open the door! I need to talk to you now!"
After such an exciting (though socially exhausting) day, hearing Damien's persistent tone on the other side of the door caused him to tense as if he'd been doused with cold water. This was not how he would have liked to end his day! He really didn't want to deal with Damien right now, but he couldn't pretend he wasn't home anymore. He'd hoped Damien would have let him know before coming over. Vincent already felt a stress-headache coming on. He put the safety back on his pistol and gave a soft sigh. He could do this.
But as Vincent reached for the lock so he could let Damien in, the door was knocked on again! Vincent stared at the door and scowled. Well, that was rude of him, he thought sourly. He was sorely tempted to leave Damien out there even longer but then Damien called through the door again, "Come on, Vincent! Don't leave me out here like this. I thought you said you wanted to talk this out!"
Inhaling sharply through his nose, Vincent grit his teeth. Damien didn't need to make such a loud commotion for the whole building to hear! Deciding just to get this over with he let out some tension as he exhaled. Then he reached for the door, unlocked it, and pulled the door open to stare stoically up at his best friend of six years with his pistol resting at his side defenselessly.
Damien stared back at him with a look Vincent had seen many times; just never directed at him. In his interrogation mode, Damien's brows furrowed deeply and eyes darkened a certain way that could send chills down the spine of almost anyone who received it. His arms were folded over his chest and, in Vincent's opinion, he looked more impatient than he'd ever seen him. Vincent, however, was not like most people, and he maintained his stoic exterior. But oh, he was offended! Who the Hell did Damien think he was?! He opened his mouth to put Damien in his place but Damien cut in just a tiny bit faster.
"Are you alone?" Damien demanded quietly. Vincent blinked at him with just a hint of surprise at this question. He barely had a chance to utter, "Yes?" before Damien nodded and brushed past him to enter the flat. He grunted, "Good. We have much to discuss and I don't want any interruptions this time."
"What is the meaning of this?" Vincent asked incredulously as he pushed the door closed with a groan. "I was expecting you to let me know when you were coming over first. You always let me know first." And when he turned to look at Damien, he found Damien standing nearly an arm's length away and glowering at him.
"Well, I was expecting a bit more loyalty from YOU!"
"Loyalty?!"
"Yes! Why should I do what you want me to do when you won't do what 'I' want? All I wanted to do was to talk this out....just you and me. And all anyone else can do is put their nose in where it doesn't belong."
"It had nothing to do with Aiden!"
But at the mention of their engineer's name, Damien's nostrils flared and he spat out, "See how quickly you think of 'him?' You are proving my point. No, Vincent, it has EVERYTHING to do with YOU!" He pointed his finger right at Vincent's chest and accused, "You are throwing me to the side like a discarded, rotted apple core on the side of the road for the rats! I didn't even mention anyone in particular and already your mind went to him! Aiden this! Aiden that! Why does he even matter anyway?" Damien pressed his hands to his own chest and his expression implored Vincent to see his side as he pleaded, "Don't you care about me at all, Vincent?"
Fleetingly, Vincent was amazed that Damien had the courage to behave and speak to him like this when Vincent was armed. Despite his calm exterior, he was growing more confused and upset at Damien's onslaught of unexpected feelings. However, it was as Aiden was brought up that it shifted into anger. Vincent was done. He was going to put him in his place once and for all! But damn it all Damien asked him if he cared about him at all and Vincent felt like the wind had been knocked out of him! He felt as if he couldn't focus on what he was upset about anymore as he grappled with the unexpected, emotional question.
Of course he cared about Damien! Damien was like a brother to him! He loved him as much despite their current situation. It was what made it hurt so much worse as each second of this whole interaction passed. Had....he been unfair to Damien somehow? He did want to work things out! After all, he'd gone to Damien's temporary residence as Damien had told him before many times to do if he ever needed anything. Unlike Vincent, Damien didn't care if anyone simply dropped in. Damien's sister had insisted once before that it was fine if he stopped in anytime. Honestly, he'd wondered if Damien had nudged her into it but he was grateful to be able to see his friend all the same.
"Of course, I care about you," Vincent relented as his stoic expression faded and a small, sad frown pulled at his lips. Was that how Damien felt about him? About their friendship? "That's not fair, Damien. How can you even say that after everything we've been through?"
"I can say the same about you," Damien responded with just a touch of edge in his voice as he reached out with his metallic arm and pressed his mechanical hand to the door behind Vincent and leaned in slightly; almost a touch dangerously. It made Vincent tense involuntarily as he stared back up at him. However, Damien's voice softened and he sounded and looked hurt.
"I just wanted to talk. And you sent me away."
"I-I just..."
"You just what, Vincent?"
Vincent shrank back slightly against the door and gazed up at his best friend before sighing. Finally he replied, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like you don't matter." At his words, Damien's aggression dissipated as he smiled more. "I knew you would understand. I forgive you," Damien responded as his hand slid to squeeze Vincent's shoulder before resting there. Vincent glanced at his hand then gave a small nod before turning and brushing past Damien to head towards the veranda to get some air. As he walked past a bookshelf, he set down his gun then proceeded to run his hands through his hair. Bloody Hell...
Damien let his hand fall to his side as he turned slowly in place to visually follow Vincent's figure as he made to step outside. His eyes narrowed before he began to follow him out. Was something else wrong?
Out on the veranda, Vincent inhaled slowly and deeply through his nostrils before slowly exhaling as he glanced up at the evening sky. While he didn't mean to make Damien feel like he didn't matter, Damien's behavior as of late was....not okay. He really needed to talk to him about it. He needed to get to the bottom of it once and for all. Vincent could hear Damien following him out onto the veranda behind him. This was his chance to talk it out....just the two of them.
"Look... Damien..." Vincent turned to face Damien and he spoke sincerely as he tried to reason and understand. "I don't know what's been going on lately. I don't like this contention going on between us. I want you to talk to me. Tell me what's going on."
"There's nothing to talk about. You already apologized."
"Yes but that's not what I'm talking about."
"Then what ARE you talking about?"
"The contention going on between us lately; 'before' just the day before. Surely, you've felt it too?"
"Contention?"
"Yes. That's what I said."
"I don't know what you mean."
Damien looked genuinely confused! Vincent just couldn't understand why Damien didn't see what he was talking about. If he was being honest with himself, he had only noticed it during the last few weeks. Prior to that, they'd gotten on well enough and had always been able to work things out. It only seemed to be getting worse....and for some reason it felt like it was only around Aiden. He couldn't quite figure it out. Surely, that couldn't be it, he thought. Surely, Damien would tell him if he had a problem with Aiden! Up until the day before yesterday, the two seemed to have worked out whatever problem they had. But apparently they hadn't and something still seemed off between them even the other day. But...hadn't it always? Vincent had not forgotten what Bernadette had told him about Damien and Aiden's quarrel while he was still abed with high fever. He trusted she would never lie to him; especially about something like that. Therefore, he had taken her word that they had worked it. After all, Aiden hadn't come to him about Damien's misconduct. Was there not as big of a problem as he believed it was? Or was it just worse under the surface?
"Well," Vincent cleared his throat and began calmly, "that aside, I wanted to talk to you about something else. Just...I want to have a heart to heart, okay? Two days ago-"
"But you-"
"Don't interrupt me. Please let me finish."
Damien scowled but he closed his mouth and folded his arms over his chest defensively. However he did keep his mouth closed as he quirked his brow at Vincent and waited for whatever he was going to tell him. Opposite him, Vincent stared up at him calmly and waited for him. Once he saw Damien was actually going to listen he continued.
"Two days ago when you and I were speaking, some of the things you said to me were out of line." Vincent watched Damien's jaw tighten as his jaw clenched. Vincent felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach but tried to explain how he felt anyway. "You really hurt my feelings; especially when you accused me of being too intoxicated." And, sure enough, he'd barely had a chance to utter the last word of his sentence before Damien cut in defensively, "Well YOU hurt MY feelings!"
"I know, and I already apologized. But I still want to talk about what you-"
"You know I can't help what I say when I get angry!"
"Damien, don't you see?! THIS is what I'm talking about! We never argue like this!"
"You are just mad that I called you out on it!" He took a step closer and poked Vincent's chest which caused him to gasp in surprise! "It's not MY fault you like to overindulge in alcohol and herbs! Damn it, Vincent! You know what? Sometimes it's hard to tell if it's 'you' I'm talking to, or your addictions!"
Vincent's face fell, and for the second time this week he very nearly broke down completely. He bit his lower lip and gave a small nod before turning and facing away from Damien. He defensively folded his arms over his chest as his shoulders sank depressingly. That had hurt. It had hurt a lot. Was that really how Damien felt?
Damien sighed. He ran his hands over his face then peeked at Vincent through his fingers. Vincent still wasn't looking at him. He was just...standing there dejectedly and hurt. Frowning slightly, Damien stepped closer and placed his hand on Vincent's shoulder. At his touch, however, Vincent turned away more; clearly not wanting to be touched.
"What do you want me to say, Vincent? I'm sorry, okay?"
After several seconds of no response, Damien huffed and leaned around him and peered at the side of his face. Still nothing. In fact, Vincent turned his head away from him even more! 'Damn it all!' Damien thought. He groaned softly and leaned his forearms against the railing and leaned against it. He hung his head down slightly before glancing back at Vincent.
"Come on. You know I didn't mean that," he tried again, his voice softening. This time he sounded more sincere. "I really am sorry, Vincent. You know sometimes I say things I don't mean. Don't let this silly misunderstanding ruin what we have." At this, Vincent took a deep breath and slowly let it out before turning to glance over his shoulder at Damien, his gaze lifting towards his face but unable to meet his eyes.
"Is that what you really think of me?"
"I just said I didn't. Look, why don't we just start over and put all this behind us? We agree there have been misunderstandings and things done and said that we don't mean."
Vincent licked his lips as he considered that. Maybe Damien was right and it would be best to put it behind them and move on from it. While things had never escalated this much, they had done the same thing in the past once they reached an understanding. It always seemed to work out and they were fine again. Though, this time Aiden was a third party in this. Would things be okay with Aiden too?
"What about Aiden?"
"He will be fine! And if he can't work this out with me, it's not a big deal. He can leave just like the others did and go back to that little garage you plucked him out of." Damien gave a noncommittal shrug then confidently slid his arm around Vincent's shoulders and drew him to his side with an encouraging grin. Much to his delight he watched as Vincent lifted his gaze to finally look at him and gave a small smile and replied, "I suppose you're right."
"Of course I am!" Damien tightened his arm around Vincent's shoulders and jostled him gently with a chuckle. "You and me against the world, right?"
Vincent smiled a bit more and nodded. "Yeah, you and me against the world." Damien grinned and looked up at the sky and continued to ramble on about how he couldn't wait to get back up into the air. Beside him, Vincent's gaze lowered and he looked down at the railing. He could feel his mood sinking more and more. He couldn't help feeling like he hadn't really had a chance to get out what he wanted to say. It felt unfinished on Vincent's end but they HAD agreed it was a misunderstanding and to just move on from it. He decided to push it down and just...tuck it away. Perhaps things would just get better after all; just like Damien was saying. However, there was still something he couldn't seem to shake.
While he had voiced his agreement, the idea of Aiden leaving because he couldn't work things out with Damien made him feel even worse; somehow even worse than this unfinished business with Damien. Aiden was NOT like the handful of others who had departed from Leon's Claw. Aiden was special...important. He didn't want to see him go!
"...and in a few weeks your ribs will be healed! Guh...I'm so bored. I can't wait to get back in the air again," Damien was saying beside him. He appeared not to notice Vincent's quick-sinking depression. Perhaps it was better that way, Vincent figured. He really didn't want to upset Damien even more tonight. He was tired and growing more and more exhausted. Honestly, he just wanted to be done. He wanted to be alone. More than anything, he just wanted to escape. However, Vincent noticed Damien didn't seem ready to leave anytime soon. He'd have to do something about that.
"You're right!" Vincent replied with a small smirk, nudging Damien gently with his elbow as an idea had suddenly come to him. All he had to do was play along to keep Damien in a good enough mood. "Just a few more weeks. You're worried about being bored right? So why don't you keep yourself entertained by going to your family's gathering?" Damien opened his mouth and was about to interrupt but Vincent turned in Damien's arm and quickly added, "I know you want to stay here with me but all I'm going to be doing is sitting around. Boring. I'm boring."
"Are you trying to get rid of me?"
"I am pointing out the benefits if you go...such as the amazing food you KNOW will be there and you can share all your new adventures with everyone. It's been a long while since you've been there. You know everyone loves to hear when you tell a story! It would be fun!"
Damien gave a smug smirk and shrug as Vincent stroked his ego. He was right: everyone DID enjoy a good story and Damien had plenty to share now. The younger generations of his family all seemed to look up to him. It never failed to boost his ego.
"Honestly," Vincent continued, "you won't miss a thing. I intend to spend the next few weeks with my nose in a book."
"You'd rather choose a book over my company? How nice."
"Hmph! I keep telling you I'm not nice!"
Damien laughed and lifted his arm off of Vincent's shoulder so he could turn and face him properly as he leaned against the railing. Vincent turned fully to face him and gave him a small, amused smirk. "There are no plans except to sit and rest. Honest. No more adventures for me for a while. I am going to be resting. Bernadette's orders. Go with your sister. Go enjoy your vacation away and just have fun! You deserve it! You'll be back in three weeks from now, yes? By then my ribs should be good enough to go sailing! You and I can go together and then you can tell me all about your trip. It will give us both something to look forward to!"
"Fine," Damien finally agreed with a small chuckle. "I suppose you're right." He chuckled before he reached over his head and stretched and felt his back pop where he needed it and let himself drift off with thoughts of going to his family reunion after all.
"Good! It's decided!" Vincent agreed before Damien could change his mind. He had to fight to actually sigh with relief. While he truly did enjoy Damien's friendship, right now he really needed time away from him. It was best just to let him be happy and just...get past this for now. Maybe one day they could actually talk this out like he wanted to. He also figured that this time apart might be just what Damien and Aiden needed as well.
"Well since I'm here why don't we have dinner at The Fat Lady's? We can celebrate getting past all this messy business!" Damien was saying, but already Vincent felt his stomach lurch at the idea; especially at the mention of the tavern where Thorn and Micah had accused him of gambling. He smiled weakly and shook his head. "I appreciate the offer, but I think I will need to postpone. Why don't we celebrate tomorrow instead?"
"How come?"
"How come? Because I am not ready to go out tonight. I have a headache brewing, my ribs are aching, and I was not prepared for company let alone ready to go out in public tonight." Vincent pleaded exhaustedly. He just wanted to be left alone! And indeed, Damien finally began to see how tired Vincent looked. He did look a bit pale, didn't he? His brow furrowed in concern and asked, "Vincent, why didn't you say so? I could have just come back another time!"
Vincent fought back the knee-jerk reaction of angrily calling Damien a rather creative, colorful name. Instead, he sighed and just snorted at the irony of the situation and went to head back inside. Damien could have started with that when he first arrived! he thought.
Finally Vincent managed in a convincing voice as he paused at the door: "It's fine. Don't worry about it. Come on. I'll see you out."
NEXT PART:
www.flickr.com/photos/153660805@N05/52966552948/in/datepo...
To read the rest of the story, here's the album link:
www.flickr.com/photos/153660805@N05/albums/72157717075565127
***Please note this is a BOY LOVE (BL/yaoi/gay) series. It is a slow burn and rated PG13!***
Special thank you to my husband Vin (Be My Mannequin? Pose Store) for collaborating with me on this series and co-starring as The Captain!
DISCORD SERVER: That's right! The Captain and The Engineer has a Discord Server! If you wanna join and chat with other crewmates and see what's new and happening before it gets posted to Flickr, click the link!
***NEW!!!!***
The Captain and the Engineer now has a FACEBOOK PAGE! Please come Like, Follow, and join the crew! Thank you so much for all your support!
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IMG_0553 SOOC - N.B. This image is NOT in Black & White.
I recommend clicking on the expansion arrows icon (top right corner) to go into the Lightbox for maximum effect.
Don't use or reproduce this image on Websites/Blog or any other media without my explicit permission.
© All Rights Reserved - Jim Goodyear 2015.
Colas Railfreight Class 56 56087 passes Woodacre on 6c57 0945 Penrith North Lakes - Crewe Basford Hall Yard on 25/03/2018
British Rail 'research' liveried 69004 'RIDC Melton' eases past the site of Belper Goods Yard on 25th June 2026 with the early running 7M18 07:19 Doncaster Up Decoy to Toton North Yard engineers train.
Although the name of the once-thriving goods yard lives on with the nearby industrial estate for various businesses, it ceased railfreight operations around 1969 as road transport started to take over.
56105 at Green Lane, Darlington on the 5th of March 2025 with a Doncaster to Millerhill Engineers train.
I've mentioned before how friendly train staff are in America. Look carefully and you can see the engineer / driver returning our wave when he saw photos being taken. As so often there were also a couple of 'hello' blasts on the horn : )
FURX 5520 leads BNSF 2020 as they haul a freight from LyondellBasell's Equistar chemical plant outside Matagorda, TX. It is probably heading for the docks at Corpus Christi.
For the rail aficionados - FURX 5520 is a rebuilt GP38-2 locomotive. The unit was originally built as Norfolk & Western 4140, a GP38AC, in September 1971. The "FU" stands for "First Union" though that company was taken over by Wells Fargo Rail late in 2015. That is a leasing company based in Illinois.
After working at Coteau and Maxville, CN 589 has come to a stop in the siding at Carlsbad Springs. Engineer J.C Opens the window to talk for a bit while waiting for his Brother, Engr B.C to fly by on VIA 26. They will then take their Slow to Clear signal and head home to Walkley Yard, well ahead of Schedule
Garden surrounding the Museo Cárcamo de Dolores in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City. Architects: Ricardo Rivas and Alberto Kalach. Murals and mosaics: Diego Rivera.
my OWN Dead Space engineer figure with a Heavy Laser Cutter, massively inspired by Dead Space.
i'm really happy with this guy, and the HLC (no, not brickarms), i think they look really Dead Space-y :D
hope you like it!
*credit for use* (if you want to)