Yes, well

I'm not sure any comment is necessary for this picture...apart from something like 'Ah, Canada...' (though for those not in the know the info that the immense moose statues perched on this guys roof are also wearing the Toronto Hockey Team and Baseball team jersey might help you appreciate the beauty of the moment....)

A Night out in Toronto the Good, and strange

So, I wandered out to see an Icelandic new music/pop band play at the Drake hotel which a relatively pretentious art hotel that has a couple of venues and they were fine, a little minimalist, but kind of charming, in a artlessly artful kind of way. And then I wandered on over to the Gladstone to see if I could get a burger... well, the kitchen was closed, but it was probably because everyone in the hotel, and most likely the chefs as well, were in the Ballroom, watching a new local sport that's cropped up here - competitive pillow fighting... I'm not sure how much is the lure of sport or how much is the lure of watching girls in pigtails and little kilts whack each other with pillows....





luckily the lakeview lunch was still open on the way home... so I managed to get a grilled cheese and fries in one of it's faded art deco diner booths

Snow Day

We're almost over the 1939 record snowfall! It is spectacular around the city.



This is the kind of winter that I remember as a kid in NYC.

and Ok, I don't drive, so I'm allowed to just enjoy it. However, to get back to an earlier post about the cost of snow removal, CBC broadcast a whole show on the economic and environmental problems with the way we cope with snow in Canada, and its pretty devastating. Apparently in Sweden they don't salt and the snow removal is much more basic, everyone has to have studded tires and the expectation is that in winter you are going to have to cope with the weather and the problems. Currently the cost of snow removal in Toronto is up to 48 Million bucks and they are forecasting going over budget for the upcoming year... They interviewed a guy who'd been given a ticket for parking on a snowy street the day after the big snow storm - his car was out in the street enough to block all the Streetcars and therefore all the public transit. And he was screaming in anger at the City since they hadn't cleared the street enough for him to park conveniently... talk about a feeling of entitlement...

Anyway... rant over... I'm gonna go walk the dog and watch her leap into the snowbanks...

In the Lap of Greatness

One of my Heroes... Glenn Gould sits very (very) quietly in front of the CBC studios on Front St. in Toronto with his trademark gloves and hat and scarf. One of Canada's true, fabulous, brilliant eccentrics. I'd put a link to his foundation's site... but it is so, so dull and he was so wacky and wild and always fascinating....so here's a youtube link to a very young Glenn at the piano... and if you want to hear about his life long obsession with Petula Clark, then click here