Alan Kane in MEC

I was in the MEC the other day, just killing time and looking around as didn't have anything else to do(!) and while in books section a little note caught my eye about presence of Alan Kane, a well-known scrambler and hiker in western Canada in MEC on Fri. His book Scrambling in Canadian Rockies was also available there for $34 and even me who never pays for stuff like this and relies on available information in the web, wants to buy it. In fact if I was not unemployed, I wouldn't mind paying that much for a book which guides me through trails to reach summits. It is very goof particularly for me who like to hike solo. 

I won a little money this week as a result of my contributions to a volunteer work I do. I thought the best thing I can do with that money is buy a few books or similar valuable things that every time I use them, it reminds me of my volunteer work. Alan Kane's book could be one of them. 

Anyways today I went to MEC to see him. I was expecting to have a crowed sitting and Kane at a tribune talking for them and answering questions but it was not that! 

He was sitting at a small table with a rack of his books at his side and as many as 7 people, maybe, had lined up to get their books signed and have a little chat with him. I am not a fan of signed books. This is part of Western culture and as much as I value a book and its author, I don't see much in having a signature on the first page. I like to have a photo of him sitting at the desk talking to people but I was not sure whether he would be OK with that or not. So I cancelled the whole meeting(!) and went to GPS section! Over there I had a chat with one of the guys over a Garmin handheld GPS for $119. It would have been a good purchase for me, If I had been employed but I'm not. Perhaps I buy it later although I always like the challenge of route finding in mountains. 

(Photo: This little Garmin GPS in center is the cheapest they have in MEC and is quite useful. That would help me to prevent from getting lost in forest and mountain)