local

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I stumbled across this record of a brief encounter memorialized on a stone tablet at a brick beach. I’m amazed I even chanced upon it, lying there, partially hidden amongst all the bricks, cinderblock and other demolition site junk that created this beach on the Leslie Street Spit, in Toronto’s East End. That someone had…

Read More It Was a Dark and Stormy Nite
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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 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 he…

Read More Coffee and people
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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…

Read More Corrado’s barbershop
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For the record, I am not a good skater. I’m actually pretty crap at it, but I will give it a try every now and then. Today Franco and I went down to the Harbourfront Centre Natrel Rink for a practice session. He’s taking hockey lessons right now and needed to practice so I tagged along for the ride,…

Read More Skating at the Harbourfront
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Since moving into our old house in 2007, there have been some debates between El Franco and me over the state of the flagstones in the small front yard. I maintained that they were in good condition and that we didn’t need to remove them, whereas El Franco hated the relatively new yellow stone flags…

Read More Good Friday
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I attended a presentation this week by Peabody Award-winning writer and broadcaster, Jowi Taylor, about his project Six String Nation. During the presentation Jowi explained how, in the weeks leading up to the 1995 Quebec Referendum, he was dismayed by the quality of the iconography portrayed by the media as representing the Canadian identity. These symbols were hokey in…

Read More Six String Nation
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I just went to Trinity-Bellwoods Park on Queen West, where there was a gathering of redheads. It was an event organised by a couple of filmmakers—Gareth C. Scales and Aaron Champion—for an upcoming documentary about life as a ginger, so I thought I’d go check it out. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse…

Read More Toronto Redhead Summit
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We went out for bike ride on Sunday, trying to find the entrance to a new bike path named the West Toronto Railpath. It took us about 20 minutes to wend our way through the West End until we finally reached Landsdowne, which is where the website map shows the (supposed) southern end of the path. If you…

Read More A street named Shirley
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Walking home last night after work, I tried to stay on the sunny side of the street as much as possible. Even though the weather is warming up, there’s still a chill in the air and keeping in the sun makes for a more pleasant stroll through the city. My mobile sunbathing technique took me…

Read More No smoke without fire
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The intersection of Bay and King Streets in the downtown core of Toronto can be a busy and treacherous crossing for pedestrians. This is where the Go Train crowds gather as they make their way to work in the mornings, or as they head back to the train station on their way home at the end of the day.…

Read More Look left, look right
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When I was a kid in England, my dad used to take me and my younger brother to a local barber shop to have our hair cut. The name of the barber’s was Gillman’s and the owner was this small, compact, neat older guy, whose name I’ve forgotten (and who has since passed away) but…

Read More Slasher’s Chair
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Some people think the way the CN Tower is lit up these days is decidedly tacky. Some just think it’s fun. Whatever the school of thought, if there’s a special occasion the tower usually displays a colour scheme appropriate to the event of the day. Yesterday being St. Patrick’s Day, the CN Tower was lit up in…

Read More Green Day
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We moved into an old Victorian row house in September, 2007, having lived in a loft condo since moving to Toronto in 2004. The loft experience was great and we made lots of good friends in what was, to us, a new city. Still, we missed the floorspace and instant access to the outside that…

Read More Stained Glass