Odds n Ends

#1. As Stephen Colbert occasionally says, I called it. It appears the Toronto Sun's Joe Warmington reads my blog. This column ran in Saturday's edition.

#2. I bought this parka today. I think I'll be ready for winter now. The thing's like wearing a huge down blanket. With a hood. And on sale. Score!

#3. Song of the week: And It Rained All Night, from the Eraser, by Thom Yorke. A beautiful nugget that captures one night in Manhattan. Can't stop playing it.

#4. Basement apartments are the devil. Every homeowner in the GTA (that's Greater Toronto Area, for those who don't live here, which is everyone) rents out their basement to make a little cash. That'd be fine if the average basement were taller than 6'2". But it's not, and it's not OK. 96% of all the apartments listed on any given day are basements. Exactly 96%, if you were wondering. Due to historical/ architectural/ geographical phenomena, 80% of all the houses in Toronto look like this one. They're narrow, brick (if painted, usually red. "What color should we paint our brick house? How about brick red?") And they have the pointed gable in the front, and their basements are very short. My theory, that I worked out with Capella as we were walking away from another place where we'd have to duck to walk into the kitchen, is that it's because Toronto has no natural boundries. Cities like Boston and Montreal are built on islands, or close to it, and so people building houses had to stack them up & make duelpxes and triplexes, and larger apartment buildings. In Toronto there is no such pressure to be in the city because the city just keeps going. It's become hard to tell Toronto from Oakville from Hamilton from St Catherines (and long, long ago stopped being possible to tell Toronto from York or Missisagua). Thus, there's no reason to build a triplex when you can just build the house. So, the basements which people rent out were never meant to actually be lived in at all. They were just basements. And now they're apartments that people feel justified renting out for $900 per month.

Toronto is an elderly second grade teacher

I was on the subway on Saturday on the way to a gig with my friend Nathan, and he pointed out a sign on the platform meant to discourage littering:

Does that make anyone else feel like they've been admonished by an elderly schoolmarm, index finger a-wagging? The garbage goblins?? Really? It's the "please" at the end, that really nails it home, in order to really MAKE YOU THINK about what you've done. I was in New York last year, and some guy was smoking on the platform. Another guy with his pants around his knees and a big baseball cap turned backwards walked by and told him "You can't fucking smoke here," and continued walking past, assured in the knowledge that the guy would put his ciggarette out. Apparently Toronto doubles as New York in movies. Ha!

landed...

I've been inspired by Sage (hi Sage) to post a blog for people to read. I'm going to try to share the experience of Toronto with everyone, and maybe get a little camera and start posting pictures, as well.

We survived the drive (13 hours) and the moving of boxes & stuff OK. My cat seems to be settling into his new home pretty well-
he's staying with our friend Aya because Jim & Anna's nanny is allergic... [explanation: we're house-sitting for the summer for Jim & Anna, whom I've never met- thanks Jim and Anna! - who Capella knows through Jim's brother Andy, who went to McGill with us a few years ago. Jim's also a rockstar.] Tony and Andy (hi guys) helped us get most of our junk into the truck (thank you!) and Shay packed up our kitchen for us (thanks Shay!). Gabe and Leah stopped by later in the evening and gave us packing tape when we ran out, so we could get those last boxes of random stuff taped up (thanks, Gabe and Leah!). Many very nice people, who I was meeting for the first time, helped us get all of our stuff into the basement, and the weather was perfect. We'll be taking them all out for beers at some later date.

On Friday we drove the truck down to Buffalo to save some money, and had lunch there with Capella's old friend Antoine who plays in the Buffalo Phil (hi Antoine). He picked us up at the truck depot and drove us around on a little tour of town. It seems like a pretty neat city, & like parts of it aren't that different from when my father lived there many, many, many years ago (hi Dad!) I'd like to go down again before the end of summer, and see Niagara Falls, as well. We had planned on going to see it when we returned the truck, but got lost & ran out of time...

I should go out and explore the city, but it just started raining, so I think I'll go sit on the couch & read- they have no TV. Damn Canadians.