Not The Hockey Player » Places

Strait-Jacket

Gary Roberts — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:21:31 +0000

There’s a small art exhibition currently showing at 778 King Street West, called STRAIT-JACKET. From the outside, you’d hardly know it existed; it’s housed in a very nondescript building and the only clue to its existence is the stainless steel plaque on the wall bearing the “Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation” name, along with another, tiny plaque at …

Coffee and people

Gary Roberts — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:40:37 +0000

I love my local coffee shop, where I sit and read as two guys on my right argue passionately in Russian, a little old lady sips her tea on her own and glances sharply over the top of her newspaper at the two guys arguing, and an ochre-robed Buddhist monk serenley sips an espresso as …

Egyptian women cane morality police

Gary Roberts — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:54:21 +0000

You go, grrrlz! Post-revolution gangs of young men trying to enforce Sharia law in the Nile delta town of Benha, Egypt, found themselves on the receiving end this week. According to reports in the Egyptian news media: Vigilante gangs of ultra-conservative Salafi men have been harassing shop owners and female customers in rural towns around Egypt …

Corrado’s Barber Shop. Men’s Hair Stylist.

Gary Roberts — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:01:10 +0000

Adam is sitting in the steel and leather barber’s chair, his back to the small table displaying the tools of his trade and the large mirror on the wall, as he talks to an older guy seated across from him. The mirror competes for wall space with a number of vintage Playboy pin-up posters, the edges of …

Me, in a church? What’s that all about?

Gary Roberts — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:24:40 +0000

This isn’t something that happens very often. I’m at Christ Church Deer Park on Yonge Street just north of St. Claire. It’s a very nice church. Quite beautiful, in fact, with its vaulted wooden ceiling and stained glass windows. However, I’m not here to pray or to kowtow to things immaterial, but to listen to the …

Occupy Bay Street! Or is it Occupy Toronto..?

Gary Roberts — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:03:54 +0000

There seems to be some confusion over the whole “Occupy” event here in Toronto this week. Is it supposed to follow the U.S. version of Occupy Wall Street, in which case Occupy Bay Street would be the obvious choice? If so, then why is there also an “Occupy Toronto” camp currently stirring sleepily in St. James …

We got free tickets!

Gary Roberts — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:08:08 +0000

Sometimes, things just land in your lap. A friend called last night to ask if we’d like two free tickets to go see the Gidon Kramer Trio perform tonight at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Um, hello? So, we met for breakfast this morning and the handover went without a hitch and I now have the …

Star gazing in San Francisco

Gary Roberts — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:21:12 +0000

Yesterday was our fourth day in San Francisco. We’d been doing a lot of walking around the city so far, getting used to the steep streets around Nob Hill where we rented an apartment for the week. At first, we had decided that yesterday would be a day of relaxation, just to give our legs …

The Streets of San Francisco

Gary Roberts — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:25:07 +0000

Yesterday was the first day of our vacation in San Francisco. We landed just after noon and made our way on foot to Nob Hill (after a gruelling walk up the hill with luggage and backpacks!), one of the many neighbourhoods in this pretty city and where we had rented a furnished apartment for the …

The Leslie Street Spit

Gary Roberts — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:55:20 +0000

It was another hot day in Toronto today. El Franco and I went out on our bikes to donate some no-longer-needed books to a local library branch and soon realized the temperature wasn’t exactly conducive to cycling around the city streets, which is what we’d originally intended to do. The heat was sultry with barely …