"I like selling this time of year because everybody's happy. Everybody's in a good mood and everybody's happy the calendars are out—they know it's that time of year again.

"They enjoy the calendar and it brings up their spirits. Everyobody's spirits are up; that's what I like about selling this time of year.

"My most memorable moment this year was my trip to Merritt with my family. It was enjoyable. We cruised the river, did a lot of sightseeing there and visited family. I have my uncle and cousins living up there.

"Something I was proud of doing this year was helping my sister fix up her car for the trip to Merritt, the long road trip. The car, it needed new tires, an oil change, and it needed other things to make it there and back. It was just to make it for the road conditions so it doesn't have any problems along the way.

"I helped her get the tires, change the tires, and did other stuff with the car. With the new cars it's a bit harder, but with the older ones I'm able to do some mechanical stuff. It was much easier because you have more room inside the engine than you do now. Now, you can barely get around in there, you have to drop the engine just to get to the starter.

"Something that surprised me this year? That's a hard one. But this one day when I was selling papers, I was looking across the street and I saw a green paper.

"I was going to check it out but I saw someone else had crossed the street so I was waiting to talk to them first before I checked out that green paper.

"As the person came across the street toward me, I was talking to them. A lot of people across the street walked over the green piece of paper except this one woman. She picked it up and it was a $20 bill.

"But then she came across the street toward me with the $20, waving it and said, 'This has your name on it.'

"She was some random person that was just walking by.

"The weather was a really big challenge this year because you didn't know what to wear or you didn't know what the day was going to be like.

"One day I went out there, I thought it was going to be nice and warm because it was sunny out but it was freezing. I didn't expect it to be that cold. I didn't wear enough clothing for that day.

"It makes selling really hard. I had to quit early that day because I got too cold.

"For the year ahead, I'm going to try to be as bright as I'll ever be.

"I wish all my customers all the best the rest of this year and in the coming new year."

Peter sells in Vancouver at the corner of the Whole Foods building, under the canopy, at West 4th and Vine. Photo by David Denofreo, Black Opal Images.

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