No self control

I went for a walk.
The plan was to hop on the streetcar and/or subway to get a drive by view of things that were happening and see if my brother's neighbourhood was still in tact (I'd read reports that it wasn't) then pick up some much needed fruit in Chinatown, but I didn't end up spending a dime.
When I left, I thought everything was over. I honestly wanted to just take in the aftermath.
I was wrong.
Up to this point, I had just seen police wearing their regular uniforms, holding their helmets and acting quite friendly to me. The street that I was planning on taking was blocked by a line of police with their bicycles. So had I not been diverted, I may have never run into this at Queen St. West and Spadina Ave.:
Cops in riot gear are SCARY. There were probably between 100-200 people in the crowd and at least half of them being people who, like me were trying to get somewhere but somewhat curious as to what was happening. I've never seen anything like it, and now that I've seen it, I don't need to see any more. When I arrived, the protesters were in the middle of the intersection (cars were a little stressed out by this - the megabus was full of passengers plastered to the window watching the action), and police had blocked off Queen St. West (going east). I should have taken a picture of the wall of them. It was terrifying. Protesters were getting a little rowdy, so the police moved forward and blocked off the intersection. The crowd didn't move much
because police seemed to be able to get the rowdy ones to stay out of the intersection. We all just stood at the edge of the intersection and watched (I think someone was taken down by a couple police at the opposite corner) and then the gentleman on the left of the guy with the massive gun came forward and told us (in a threatening, loud and assertive voice) if we didn't leave, we'd all get arrested. We innocent bystanders took the hint and left.
I had to go through some back alleys and side streets to get around Queen St. to continue my walk north on Spadina. Fruit kind of fell off my radar (although I did look and the selection looked pretty crappy, anyway). I went east on Dundas St. , knowing that College St. could be risky. I kept walking and passed through Chinatown which seemed completely out of the loop. It was so surreal that just a block away, something really bad could have happened.
Before I turned north onto University Ave., A convoy of police in vans and a big bus went by. They didn't have any marked vehicles with them, so it was interesting to see how they handled the unsuspecting traffic. It was kind of like a movie where a van stops randomly in the middle of an intersection, cuts off regular traffic, a taxi driver looks confused, a sliding door opens, and a couple massive (it was like he was wearing hockey gear) cops step out, hold their arms out to stop traffic, let the convoy go by, jump back into the van and speed away.
Nearing University and College, the intersection is blocked off. After detouring, I even tried to get to the are from the east side as well. No go. Police are still friendly when advising pedestrians to go somewhere else. "Sir, do you love your dog? Yes? Well, then you should probably walk
him the other way." Cyclists are turned away. It's a no vehicle zone. I look around and University Ave. south is closed off. It's filled with police vans and buses. Medical staff stand outside of their hospitals and watch. The hospitals are on lockdown. I walk past an emergency driveway and see that stations have been set out outdoors. I noticed a triage and decontamination zone. The hot dog vendor gets some business. I think it's interesting how the police make a barrier with their bikes. I see some protesters carrying
a colleague who has a bandana tied around his eyes. Pepper spray? They get help from the EMT. There's a media presence. No one even goes close to the cops. They yell at you to stay back. I see someone get arrested and put into a Court Services truck. I eavesdrop on a reporter asking a lady who saw police spray an older lady. Didn't see it. Can't comment on if her story is biased.
I walk east on College towards Yonge. I've already heard that protesters have come and gone from this area and I want to see the damage. I get very sad. Windows have been broken. Clean up crews are already
on the scene and shops and banks are boarded up. All the way down Yonge, I am appalled at the amount of damage that can been done. Slightly buoyed that not all stores have been targeted, by the time I get to Yonge and Dundas Square it seem like nothing's different. As I watch a street magician bent a metal fork with his mind, I see crews fixing up some damaged shop spaces in the background. I don't completely understand why they targeted some companies but not others.
Heading west on Queen St. West, I'm glad that the Toronto Jazz Festival events at Nathan Philips Square have not been disturbed. Andre Rieu's concert had been canceled.
My brother's building is still in tact, but as I continue westward, I see something in the distance. I guess it shows that I'll never be a protester, but the scene of police on horses (and the four legged creatures were wearing masks to protect their eyes) and riot police made me pause.
It seemed like a similar group of protesters in this intersection and although there were more civilians than police (at least in plain sight), it seemed like a futile mission for the protesters. More media presence, tons of cameras in all shapes and sizes. After a couple protesters sat in
front of the police, the wall of riot police chanted "Move! Move!" as they inched forward and banged their batons on their shields. Their voices reverberated from behind their helmets. Every time they did so, civilians started retreating. Running. After standing back and watching the wall of police change shifts, advance a couple more times, and listened to the protesters shouting and chanting, I was ready to go home.
I was done of the day, and as I said before, done with my curiosity. I snaked my way home, said good evening to some of the police closer to home (and less scarily dressed) and walked along side the security gates that the protesters I think had initially tried to get near. The zone was quiet and empty.
Perhaps they have good reasons to do what they do, but I'm not sure they're going about it in the right way, nor are they being effective in the process.
The rain starts to fall and I'm happy that I'm on my way home. I got some much needed exercise for the day. Almost a good 3 hours of fresh air.

55!

Interesting, the motorcade was driving with civilian traffic. Not a big team of escorts.

Executive decision

I really wanted to witness a riot. I wanted to see what one is like. Feel the emotion. Observe the movement. Hear the sounds.
I've finally decided that I'm going to let this one pass. There are some things that may be better not experienced.
It's fascinating how we're wired in that I, as a person who doesn't want to be a participant of a riot in any way shape or form, desperately wanted to be there.
I am following the action on-line.
And it's more interesting that I would have been more prone to going if someone else had asked me to join them as a spectator.
The mob mentality. Curiousity.
I can't help but think back the BBC educational series about kids growing up and the changes in their brain. How in the teenaged years there's a chemical imbalance that contributes to teens being more daring and making silly decisions.
I'm past that age, but the urge is still there.
Maybe I'll go later on when it's all over. See? I still come up with thoughts of wanting to get in there.
I should put a movie in and go offline.

Finally: 89!

11!

71!

38!

B-I-N-G-O

46! (Or something like that. I've forgotten because I'm caught up in following the riots)
25! (Someone important was part of that in there I think because there was a limo with a little flag like in the movies)

Choppers everywhere!!!

A whole bunch of them zoomed by. And so close to my building! I was in too much awe (read: too slow) to take a picture. That's my next goal. To take a good picture of a chopper. But really, if I had been able to get my act together, I would have gotten great (although, it's too bad that it's a foggy day) shots. They were so close, I felt like I could have reached out to touch them!
I noticed that they always travel in pairs. There's got to be a reason for that. This is so exciting.
I also got to do a little plane-spotting of my own. I'm lucky enough to watch the Porter planes of a regular basis, but this beast of a plane (which may just be a regular sized plane, but I'm so used to the mini's taking off from the Island Airport), well, looked like a beast. I wonder what they are carting around in there? And that's the black boat-y thing that I saw before. I hope more choppers come by soon. It's exciting! (I said that already.)
There are tons of people hanging out on their balconies watching the view as well. I'm not the only one who thinks this is cool, you know.

Seen, heard, thought...(G20 edition)

Seen: A very empty St. Lawrence Market. The North Market was particularly sad with less than half the vendors present.

Heard: "I'm disgusted with what Canada has become" (Man on his cell phone in the North Market).

Thought: I should buy myself some Koslik's mustard and Guyere cheese and call it a day.

Seen: Cops taking pictures of each other standing beside the fences.

Thought: Couches are expensive!!!

Seen: BINGO!

Seen: Special G20 license plates on cars.

Thought: What happened to the 90min waiting time to get onto the Gardiner from Spadina Ave. that they were talking about? This weekend would actually be a GREAT time to drive downtown. Same with the TTC.

Seen: Police riding around on ATVs.

Thought: It's a ghost town.

Seen: A black hovercrafty-thingy with passengers all in black and looking mighty intimidating zooming by the harbourfront.

Seen: Explosive Removal Unit and Contamination Unit trucks driving away from the security zone. Hope everything's okay! (Maybe they're done for the day now that Obama's in the building)

Thought: Crappy weather would make protest watching no fun?

G20 bingo

I've spotted cars 5, 6, 15, and 16 thus far.
I'm hoping to spot at least one helicopter.

Motorcade in the morning!

Motorcade of 28 vehicles coming across the Gardiner, north on Spadina, then east on Bremner. It included 3 greyhound buses, just a couple motorcycles, and was mostly dark cube van looking cars. I'm going to guess that the passengers of the motorcade were coppers.
I'm going to the market now. Hopefully it won't be too deserted. I hear clubland was pretty quiet last night.

The excitement! (G20 - duh)

About 20 minutes ago, I noticed that the Gardiner had no traffic going eastbound. Ooooh...convoy?!? I saw a lone car drive by and then a couple motorcycles. Maybe I was getting my hopes up for nothing. It could be a traffic accident, afterall.
Nope. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Convoy!!!
Okay okay, I'm sure you're not terribly impressed, but it was still cool to see. I wonder who was in those cars?
It was over in mere seconds of course, but I feel like I was part of history or something. Stop rolling your eyes at me, I'm having a great time learning! That's right, I said learning. For example, I didn't know that some of the cars would be numbered. Does this mean that there were decoy cars? It's like a movie. The helicopters are circling, talking about who's in what number of a car, and when something crazy happens, they break off and they follow whatever number. Action packed chase sequence!!!
Oh yeah, and then soon after they went by, cars started appearing on the Gardiner. Just like that. No more convoys for the next little while. I wonder how they block off the area and what happens to traffic that wants to use the area? Can they wait it out?
At the same time, I noticed that there was a mini-protest at the end of the block on Spadina. I'd seen a couple of them on my way home from my walk this afternoon, but didn't really pay attention to their cause. Something Chinese I imagine with the Chinese flags they carried and signs written in Chinese. My balcony didn't give me a clear line of sight to the group, so I don't exactly know how many of them their were, but I was more confused as to why they chose this particular intersection. A couple minutes after the convoy passed, I saw a different (and mini) convoy (maybe a car or two and off course a team of coppers) drive up Spadina. How do protesters know these things?
I'm tempted to go to the core and see the super protest in action, but I'm pretty happy hanging out on my balcony to get some reading done. More convoys, please!

Update 1: Just learned something else. I should start calling them motorcades instead of convoys.
Update 2: I'm reading the Toronto Star's G20 blog. I know I'm incredibly naive and have too positive of an outlook on things, but I'm glad I'm not at that protest right now. Part of me wants to be there to see what it's like, but part of me is sad that stuff like this happens. No, I don't think that all of the decisions that world leaders make are the right now, but I don't like to acknowledge the conflicts that we have in the world. There are too many people out there that deal with the stuff, I want to be part of the group that tries to look at the good in everything.

Schiessen!

Who do I cheer for now?

Again, G20

It's a ghost town in the downtown core today, and another great day for wandering the streets to take in more G20 amazingness. A couple gates have been closed, but I nothing was really closed off quite yet. I don't really understand why some things shut down Thursday and Friday, because based on what I've seen, there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in the city. Except for the huge police presence and big fences. I walked to the Eaton Centre, figuring it might be a little bit emptier than usual. It was. Fantastic. I loitered in the electronics section of the department stores to watch some of the Fifa World Cup. I wasn't the only one. Crappy thing was that everyone was showing the Chile-Spain game. I know why they're getting first billing over the Switzerland-Honduras game, but I would have wanted to see just one in the fifty TVs showing the game that I cared more about. As I stood and watched the game, I had a feeling of dread that Spain was in the lead. I try not to think ill of anyone, but I really want the Swiss to advance to the next round...so, you know.
Anyway, I'm wondering if the city will be any different this weekend. I hope I catch at least one convoy. My view has to be good for something, afterall.

So many pretty colours

How could you not want a pair of car shoes after seeing this picture? I'm sure that it's mostly the Italian men that buy the bright colours. I don't know how they know how to make it look so good.
I won't be greedy. I just want one pair. But then, if the Tod's are really as comfortable as everyone says, the sky's the limit. Okay, so I am greedy.

- picture courtesy of GQ and Tommy Ton

What else, G20!

I told you plane spotting would have been cool.

More G20 related notes

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm excited that we're hosting the G20:

- They tell me to work from home, so I decide to go to the ballet and watch a corps de ballet get his big break! I've never gone to a weekday matinee, so although it makes complete sense, I was a little bit thrown off when it was me and a bunch of pensioners. Rex Harrington gave a great Ballet Talk and the all debuting cast was impressive. McGee Maddox looked a little shaky to start, but eased into his character quite nicely. Brett van Sickle seemed to be quite good in his role although I was concerned that he wouldn't be able to pull out his gloves from his sleeve fast enough (they got stuck somehow) to slap McGee in the face in time to the music. Bridgett Zehr is still amazing. Of course Heather Ogden is good, but she wasn't making a lasting impression until the final scene. Ummm, I kinda had tears in my eyes.

- How fancy schmancy am I? I now live in a gated community.

- I love playing the license plate game, but with the police and which city/force they're from. Of course there are tons of cops representing the Toronto Police, but I've also spotted contingents from Niagara, York, Edmonton, Hamilton, and Halton, among others. Oh yes, can't forget the dear RCMP, although those folk could be from almost anywhere.

- Apparently, John St., between Wellington and Front is horsey central.

- Everyone I'd chatted with seems so friendly. And they don't laugh in my face when I ask them naive questions like: Do you carry tasers? (Yes) or What do you have in those packs around your thighs? (Gas masks)

- The Roundhouse Park is quite nice. The Roundhouse is a beautiful building and I wish I could go back in time to see what the area was like when it was still working.

- People actually line-up to get into Jays games. I didn't think that many people attended. I guess there really aren't that many compared to the number of seats that are in the stadium. I wonder if the scalpers make any money.

- I like seeing the special TTC buses carting around coppers.

I do have a paper I need to write, so maybe I'll actually get started on it tomorrow, but I feel like I'm learning a lot from walking around the area. I'm lucky that I don't live in a city/country that has riots or wars on a regular basis, so these teachable moments are very valuable to me.

Alberta (March 17-21, 2010)

Ever since returning back to Canada, my travel bug has not left me. I have been lucky to go on a couple trips, but it never seems enough. I'm embarassed to say that I haven't even traveled around Canada very much, so I was thrilled to have the chance to travel to Alberta to have a reunion of sorts and attend a wedding of some very dear friends.
I spent a couple days in Calgary before going out to Lake Louise for the wedding. I'm not sure what I was expecting from the city, but it was less exciting than I had hoped. I think had I had a vehicle or more time to venture out of the city, I would have gotten a better vibe from the city. I especially would have liked to visit Canada Olympic Park and the Royal Tyrell Museum. I also happened to go in between seasons, as I couldn't even visit Heritage Park.



I did visit the Calgary Tower because I love a good view. It was nice to get my bearings and understand that the city is a place where Calgarians work and then see way in the distance all of the great areas where they
would go out to play. As a fan of the winter Olympics, I was happiest spotting as many 1988 Olympic venues as I could. I was supremely jealous of the kiddies that were skating on the outdoor rink in the Olympic Plaza.




Obviously, I have to go back to attend the Stampede. I don't completely understand what happens, but I'm sure that I would love it.






I was happy to have the chance to go to the Calgary Zoo. I looooove animals.




One of the elephant's had a cap on his tusk. I'd never seen that before. Apparently they capped it so that he wouldn't break it.





After a couple days in Calgary and enjoying being on a much needed vacation, we drove out to Lake Louise. It was a lovely drive. It hadn't crossed my mind that I missed the sight of mountains, but during that drive, I got a little homesick for Switzerland. Homesick, yet excited that soon I would be back in the mountains and hopefully having a chance to go on the slopes. This trip was also my first time in a National Park. I don't even think that I've been in a Provincial Park before. How embarassing. After detouring through British Columbia (ooops), we arrived to Lake Louise. Un-real. I mean, seriously:
Excited didn't even describe it. And the massive outdoor rink? Heaven. It took me awhile to realize that the entire surface was a frozen over lake. For real. This was crazy-town.



This trip provided another first. High tea. And at the Fairmont of all places. The bar has been set quite high. The view wasn't bad either. This was the vacation that I was desperately needing and I was loving every moment.













It was a lovely service with yummy snacks. I could have eaten scones all afternoon. Kindly, our waiter (from the UK, I would quickly find out that almost everyone in the area was an ex-pat taking advantage of the mountainous terrain) let me test out a couple different teas. I can't wait to go for afternoon tea again.




We drove back a bit to Banff. The main drag was Zermatt-esque, or Whistler-esque. The streets were just a little bit wider, but it's that architecture which reminds me of mountain towns. In Banff, we
went up the gondola to look around (ahem, site of my dramatic accident) and then headed to the hot springs before dinner. I can't believe that it's been three years since seeing views like this on a regular basis.






Over the next couple of days, sandwiching the wedding, we discovered Lake Louise. Although I ended up with a bum ankle, the trip was a dream. I have to go back to get my real skating
session on the lake (I could do backspins, but that was about it). I would also bring more sensible shoes to go hiking (I haven't worn sneakers for over a year now). I wonder if they have ice climbing? I was happy to have the chance to get into the mountains and one some skis again. It was a much
needed release and sense of freedom. (Notice the two pictures from opposite ends - looking towards the slopes and looking from the slopes.)





I need to head out east at some point. I've been thinking about lobster recently. Some east coast lobster. Canada's great.

LuminaTO, Part 3 (Finale)

This past Saturday, I attended my final LuminaTO event, the 1000 Tastes of Toronto. I had gone to the event last year, so my expectations were high. Too high, apparently.
This year was a disappointment.
First of all, the event was held in a different space, which I admit, did bode well for having other events happening at the same time, but I love the waterfront and anything that seems boardwalk-y is fantastic.
Secondly, the food was blah. There was only a handful of fancy-schmancy restauranteurs that set up shop this year, so it didn't have the cool factor that I loved about last year. I'm not entirely sure if the organizers have a goal of having festival-goers get to sample dishes from slick locations that they may not usually get to dine at, or if it's just a chance for vendors to get some publicity. I do admit that there was a nice selection of ethnic food to represent the cultural diversity of Toronto, but I don't need a LuminaTO event for that. I'm probably growing out of their intended demographic (I'll make parallels to Summerlicious/Winterlicious).
The event did give me the opportunity to re-try an oyster on the half shell. Courtesy of Rodney's Oyster House, they aren't as bad as I remember. I'm open to having a couple more in the future.
There's also a chance that I just happened to go to the event at the wrong time. Some of the booths worked in shifts and in talking to someone else that went earlier in the day, I'd missed out on a couple stand-out dishes.
Oh well. It was nice to get out and take in another event in the city. I'll probably go next year as well, but be prepared to be disappointed and dine elsewhere.

Earthquake!!!

Wow, that was the craziest tremor that I've ever felt. And it lasted awhile too. Since we don't get many in Canada, ever time I feel a tremor, I'm always doubtful of whether or not it's a tremor or maybe I'm just loosing my mind.
Thank goodness the internet was invented so that I can check more reliable sources.
The rickety old building that I'm in sometimes shake when the subway goes by. Eleven floors up, I can hear the subway, but usually can't feel anything. Next door, someone was playing really loud music that was grating on my nerves (it's usually a quiet floor), so when everything started to shake, I thought they were doing something crazy as the walls are paper thin and with this building, you never know if jumping around in one room will make the entire place shake.
I honestly thought I was imagining things and then I realized that the blinds on the windows were shaking so violently that there must have been something up.
Too bad there wasn't anyone else in the office to confirm that yes, we had in fact noticed that the room was shaking. When you don't experience much in the way of earthquakes, it's easy to doubt your instincts. You know, come to think of it, I've never been in the same room as someone else when I've felt a tremor.