By Alex P. Vidal
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- As a "news hunter," I normally start my day with a 10-minute bus ride to the Surrey Central Station where I take a 45-minute ride in the SkyTrain (this train indeed lives up to its name because it really "passes the sky" when crossing the Fraser River to New Westminster vice versa overlooking the arch-shaped Pattullo Bridge).
I did not have to go far last Sunday afternoon, January 8, to search for news.
The scene inside the train I boarded at Broadway Station after leaving the recording studio located somewhere in the corner of Terminal and Main Streets, was already news.
BOARDED
Hordes of passengers boarded the SkyTrain without pants.
If you did not know that they were participants in the third annual global No Pants SkyTrain Ride in Vancouver, you would think they were bums, lunatics and exhibitionists.
There were mixed reactions from from other riders but none negative.
Vancouver event organizer Laurent Piche said, "Most are surprised and kind of like 'this is strange," but not much more than that.
It's Vancouver and it's not that uncommon, it seems.
The Flash mobbers met at 1 o'clock in the afternoon at Broadway Station and were instructed to board a train toward Waterfront, remove their pants, pretend not to know each other, (try to) keep a straight face and act casual throughout the ride.
'TOO WARM'
"It's too warm in here" or "my pants are uncomfortable" were some of the excuses participants made when asked by fellow passengers why they had removed their pants.
Sunmedia.ca's Erica Bulman reported that even transit police joined in -- maybe not removing their pants, but posing for pictures with mobbers.
"Vancouver's event was just one of many staged on subways across Canada and 23 other countries," Bulman reported. "Improved Everywhere started the phenomenon in New York in 2002." The event has no real point other than to cause "scenes of chaos and joy."
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