Our Lunch with Wanda

Since it was Sat­ur­day and the sun was out (a rare com­bi­na­tion if there ever was on in Van­cou­ver in Win­ter), we took a walk, and ended up on Granville Street, up near Meinhardt’s. We had met with some­one ear­lier and didn’t have lunch, so we were a lit­tle hun­gry. We stopped and went into the nar­row lit­tle restau­rant that is run by Mein­hardts called ‘Pic­nic’, which offers some of their sal­ads, sand­wiches and quiches from a glass case at the front, and has seat­ing in the form of 3 or 4 tables for two and a large, marble-topped picnic-style table that runs roughly half the length of the room. We took our seats, the two of us next to each other on the bench, and were just about to dig into a lunch of Endive Salad, Chicken Sausage roll (in my case) and Yam salad, when Pam’s eyes go wide and her jaw drops. Across from us, about to sit down right in front of Pam, is Nancy Robert­son, who is the woman who plays “Wanda” in the Cana­dian TV sit­com “Cor­ner Gas”. I knew that Ms. Robert­son and her hus­band (and cre­ator of the show), Brent Butt, were both Van­cou­ver res­i­dents and lived nearby, but this was the first time we’d ever run into any of the cast.

It’s impor­tant to note that Pam is a Cor­ner Gas Fan. Actu­ally, she’s more than a fan. She’s a big fan. As in not ever miss­ing an episode (and thank good­ness for the TiVo, we don’t have to rush home to catch it when it’s on).

After let­ting Nancy eat her lunch and read her Geor­gia Straight, Pam couldn’t hold back any longer and said what an hon­our it was to meet her. We chat­ted for a lit­tle while, and Nancy was very gra­cious, and hope­fully not too put upon. We noted that it was a nice thing for her to be able to get a vaca­tion, and she related the shoot­ing sched­ule (4 1/2 months) in Saskatchewan, where the series takes place. She told us that the series was being released in the US this com­ing Sep­tem­ber, and Aus­tralia as well. I’m hop­ing it’s a hit in the US, partly because it will be nice to see Cana­dian char­ac­ters on Amer­i­can TV who are not Moun­ties or the <a href=“http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/9134/” target=_blank” >McKen­zie Brothers .

After we said good­bye and headed out for other errands, I asked Pam if this made her day or per­haps her week? She just grinned from ear to ear.