Good Sign?

You know you're in a class joint when the server automatically brings a glass of ice - to put in your beer -  because the beer is so warm.

Mmmmmm, mmmmmm.......

I shore can pick 'em!

Wrong Message, Karen

The Chair of the TTC got a $110 traffic ticket for riding her bike through a stop sign yesterday.

And she is going to fight it.

She admits to rolling through multiple stop signs on that same ride, but is going to flight this one a technicality.

It was just over a year ago that the police stopped her for a similar infraction.

In almost the same place.  She got off with a warning.

At the time, she tweeted; "Just got pulled over by Toronto’s finest for rolling through a stop-sign on my bike. Pls cycle safely ;).”

That is the appropriate response.

The appropriate response is not admitting to rolling through multiple stop signs, then vowing to fight the ticket because of a typo.   What kind of message is that?

This time she thought she was going to get another warning.  As she related to the Star; “He went into his car,” she said, “and I figured, OK, I’m going to get a warning. And he came out with a $110 ticket. I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me? Are you serious?’”

So she is fighting this on the grounds that he allegedly wrote the wrong intersection on the ticket.

Maybe he did, but come on, her response should have been; "My bad.  Pls cycle safely ;)".

Someone said, now that she is considering a mayoral run, she's trying to develop an edgier, gritter attitude to appeal to the hip, downtown crowd.

Which obviously includes dissing the police.

Because she took a potshot at them as well, as the Star also reports;

"Stintz also urged Toronto Police, through Twitter, to focus on drivers blocking transit lanes rather than cyclists on residential streets. 

“I love Toronto Police but suggest less of an enforcement clampdown on cyclists and more of one on King transit lanes,” she tweeted."

Gotta love politicians......

Yikes! I Never Would Have Graduated!

Oh Yeah.....

Pride Week is coming up soon.

I saw the Trans March last year.  It is on the Friday night. Very....uhhh....interesting.

And on Saturday is the Dyke Hike.   Here is a reminder of one of the times I watched it;  Reminder

So maybe this is Pride Week.

It didn't take me long - on my own hike - to confirm that it is.

And didn't take long to remind me that I was also in the heart of the Gay village.

And looks like everybody is trying to get in on the act.

Even good old corporate TD Canada Trust.

In fairness to them, they have been a long time sponsor - as you can tell if you clicked on the Reminder, above.

Now this could be considered Ground Zero for the...uhhh... festivities; Woody's, Sailor and Flash.

Maybe you go to one after the other.  Maybe you don't go at all.

But lots of patios and lots of fun, for sure.

Fer sure, Sailor.....

Très Schwank

Who says golfing can't be classy?

Especially a golf driving range.

Not that I needed them, but these are the heaters at the Dock's driving range.

I did need something else, but the golf gods haven't invented that yet.

Good thing they have those big nets up everywhere......

Here We Grow Again.....

Was out and about on a heritage walk around Toronto yesterday.

In specific, through leafy Rosedale.

Looks like this stately mansion is going to be getting a new neighbour, in front there.

Could it be something like this turn-of-the-last-century beauty, just around the corner?

 Maybe something in this Queen Anne style across the street?

 Or like this, with the impressive Mansard roof?

Or this?

Lots to choose from.

Ohhhhh.......

Wow, this looks to be a bit larger than the rest of the buildings in the neighbourhood.

There's a depiction of it on that orange sign on the left.

Ahhhh......perfect!

No one will even notice.....

 

Missed It By That Much

This guy tried to make it into the Canadian Tire loading dock the hard way.

Locals say you never try to get in that way, from the south.

You only attempt it from the north.  And now you know why.

Now the driver's buddy is out directing - and blocking - traffic on Yonge St. during rush hour.

Attached video shows some of the action - or lack of - as the driver tries to rock the truck from between that rock and the hard place.  And his buddy patiently waves cars by and encourages him to back that big rig up.

The only action really is the bar manager as she makes funny faces at me.

I mean I only stopped in to ask what the problem was.  Otherwise I'd never be in there, of course.

This Is Not Your Girlfriend's Yorkville

Although technically this is part of Yorkville (a chi-chi foo foo section of Toronto), you can be forgiven if you don't believe it.

If you do believe this building is next to where I live then you don't need to be forgiven.  You are correct.

Hey, don't judge a book by its cover.

So when I'm ready for my first "Mani", I might go over there, kick the garbage bags out of the way, and check it out.

International News

South Korean rice farmers staged a peaceful protest yesterday.

It only took a minute and came out perfect.

Thank you.

The Years Have Been Better To Superman Than To Me

How we all remember him.

Well, some of us anyway.

And 50 years later - still looking good.

Hmmmmm.....in fact, very good.

Lois is going to have a tough choice.....

Maybe not.....

I will not be doing the same thing with a picture of the 70's me and today.

You're welcome.

The Merciless Canadian Justice System

Another in a continuing series about the Canadian judicial system.  Unfortunately.

And the headline leaves out one little important detail, as you will see.

Let me recap the article for you;

• This woman was on probation and had just been released from jail three days earlier for assaulting her boyfriend.
• She set fire to her boyfriend's mother's house because his mother had called police about the assault.
• She kills five people.
• She gets a life sentence.
• And here comes the good part - the judge then looks at her and says, "...with no chance of parole for five years!  And if you ever do this again, you won't get parole for seven years next time!" The judge may not have said the second line.

But what she did say was, "I accept that she didn't mean to harm anyone."

Really? She torches a house with five people inside.

Now, his mother was not one of the ones killed in the fire.

So I'm guessing that in just about five years, his mother better start looking over her shoulder.

And maybe me, too......

Balls This Big

Wow!  Gotta give her credit.

Woman abducts a couple's daughter and takes her to Italy, then sues the husband for child support while she is there.

What?  You think it's cheap to live in Italy?

What Is This?

Fascinating!

I just received this in the mail from the Heart & Stroke people.

It says it's called an "Address Book".....

Wild.  Page after page of places for names and numbers and addresses.  Hope you don't have more than six "M" friends, becaue you only have one page!

Looks a lot like your iPhone Contacts List.

Except this is made out of, what is it, paper!

What will they think of next!

Apparently, you write these "names" and "addresses" on the paper with something called a pen or a pencil, not sure the difference.

And if their number or address changes, you strike it out and write the new address underneath in very small letters.

It even has a page for your ICE information.

Nobody can say they're wasting our donations!

The recycling guys like them.

[Ed. note; That started out okay, but man......]

Okay, okay.  If anyone sees a dead horse lying around, I'd love to come over and beat that, too.

Lightning Strikes Twice!

It seems like just yesterday I was agreeing with a Toronto Star columnist and today I'm agreeing with a Toronto Star letter writer.

Is there a full moon?  An impending Apocalypse?

But I think she captures perfectly what is happening today.

See  Dollar Store Mentality Is Hurting Us  for a ledgible copy.

And it's true.  Half the people say the outsourcing of Canadian jobs is bad.

But as soon as they take off their "jobs" hat and put on their "consumer" hat, they head straight to Walmart or Costco or Target.  Or a Dollar Store.

Because if that wasn't true, those places would be empty.  But they're not. They're packed!

And there's the rub......

Better Late Than Never?

Well, the separated Sherbourne Street bike lanes in Toronto are now operational.

Six months after they were almost ready.

I posted about this last winter, when they were just about finished constructing them.  See That Didn't Take Long! for a reminder.

It then took six months from that date to finally get them operational.  Six months!

Must have been a lot of last minute modifications to make.

Now the title of the original post (That Didn't Take Long) may be a bit misleading, but it was referring to how long it would take before cars and delivery vehicles would be parking illegally in those lanes.

And guess what - today's article focused almost exclusively on cars blocking the supposedly separated lanes.  Which were concerns expressed six months ago by cyclists and, ahem......insightful bloggers.

So in that six months, city workers addressed exactly.......nothing.

Thanks for coming out, guys.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Stolen Borrowed from another's blog.

Right On, Eh?

Now They've Gone Too Far

What kind of "art" are they commissioning these days?

"Reclining larva"?

"Boogie on a Stick?"

Oh, it's in Chinatown.

Guess it's the backside of a dragon.

Meanwhile, down the street - more art.

This time to recognize "The Garment District", on Spadina Ave in Toronto.

Now known as, thanks to the Marketers, "The Fashion District".

Complete with a very realistic tape measure.

In fact, too realistic.

The artist had done the letters in ink only.  Then, one night, an aspiring artist painted it yellow and black.

I kind of like the effect, but the original artist is incensed.

Still better than a lump of poo on a pole, I say.

"Soon To Be Unemployed" Update

A Toronto Star journalist insupport of Rob Ford?

Boing, boing!

Now that's a story in itself.

And against Olivia Chow!!

Has the world gone crazy?

I hope so......

What Else Could They Do?

Because too many students have been applying to teacher's college to get a crack at the fantastic pay, time off and pension (admit it, Rob!) the Liberal government has announced that they will have to cut in half how many admissions they will accept.

But then the teachers said to her, "But, but that will mean we'll need fewer teachers to teach them!"

So the government thought about it and said, "Uhhhhh....welll..... uhhhh.....then we'll double the length of time it takes!"

Teachers; "Yay!!  You're the greatest!"

And they all, continued, to live happily ever after.  The End.

Poor Old Percy

Maybe you could call this the Rodney Dangerfield Park;  "No Respect".

A parking lot.  And not just any parking lot.

A parking lot tucked under an on-ramp to the DVP.

You could ask the city fathers; What did Percy ever do to you?

The "New" (Improved?) RCMI

One in a continuing series of historic Toronto buildings that are no more.

Here we are featuring what's left of the Royal Canadian Military Institute (RCMI).  Where my folks - and many of my friends' folks - would repair for brandy and cigars after a good dinner of red wine and redder meat.

This is what it looked like in its glory days.

So what kind of a tribute is this to such a grand old building?

[I cleverly said "tribute", as that is the name of the developer - whose blue name you can just make out in the bottom of the first photo.]

They claim they are retaining the facade, but looks like, from the above drawing, they are just going to build something that looks like the old facade around the front.  Considering they've essentially torn down the original building.

And, of course, what it looks like right now.

But you can still see the fitting tribute.

The blue Tribute sign, that is.

I guess the facade is tucked in, behind those trees somewhere.....