Canada Day, World Cup fever, and a long weekend ahead

Happy Canada Day. You're looking at 14°C and mostly cloudy skies, which is pretty forgiving for a Wednesday off. The UV's sitting at 7 (high), so if you're heading outside for the day, sunscreen's worth it even under the clouds. Sun doesn't drop until 9:21 tonight, so you've got a solid 16 hours of daylight to play with.

Transit's running holiday schedules, so double-check your route if you're heading anywhere. A couple of notes: the SeaBus has some early-morning timing shifts on specific dates (July 2 is one of them), and if you're heading to BC Place for any of the World Cup matches, SkyTrain will ramp up to peak-hour frequency—trains every 2 to 2.5 minutes.

World Cup's hit the halfway mark and BC Place has been rammed. Nearly full houses, 17,000 hot dogs sold—the city's properly into it. If you want in on the action tomorrow, that's when the Round of 32 kicks off. There's also a watch party happening at the Kettle on Burrard for residents in the building, which is a nice touch.

If hunger hits, there's some good eating to be had. The Morra brothers have traded their pizza peels for pasta at a new Yaletown osteria, and Honest to Pete—the Mount Pleasant roaster you probably already know—just opened a downtown café at CBC Plaza. Botanist Bar is hosting some of Toronto's top cocktail bars for a thing called Sips Across Canada, if you're in the mood for a proper drink.

Tonight's got plenty of live music on tap. Kurt Vile & the Violators are at the Commodore, A$AP Rocky's at Rogers Arena, and Come From Away is playing at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (both matinee at 1 and evening show at 7). There's also electronic stuff happening at Celebrities if that's your speed. It's the kind of night where Van's got something for everyone.

If baseball's more your thing, the Vancouver Canadians are home at Scotiabank Field at 7:05 against Eugene.

Enjoy the day off. The long weekend's shaping up nicely.