Bozward Toronto Adventure

Penultimate Post...

2011-06-22T14:39:00.000-04:00

This is it, we both fly home today, although I fly back on Sunday for another three weeks in Toronto but our Canadian adventure is currently over...

The last week has been fairly typical, we were off out last weekend to a strawberry festival on Saturday morning, sounds interesting right? hmmm, we found lots of people with t-shirts on and some deals at the normal market stands in St Lawrence Market but in reality it was four tables, three people, we got two free chocolate covered strawberries and a strawberry drink. still, the weekend had lots to offer!

After the mild disappointment of the 'festival' we grabbed snacks from St Lawrence Market, Canadian Fois Gras is much cheaper than french but easily as nice, and then headed home for a nap to prepare for NXNE, at least the free bit of it at Yonge and Dundas.

Festivally attired, shorts, cool tshirts, we were off, the square was a little quiet when we arrived and the sun blazed down, On came The Coppertone, wow, they certainly make a lot of noise for a three piece, most enjoyable bluesy rocking, definitely one to watch for in the future. Once they had finished their great 45 minute set we decided we needed a drink.

Luckily there was a beer tent in the square, a Mill Street beer tent, we walked in past security and the twin security fences. Now being Canadian you can't pay where you get the beer, so we bought $6 tokens and walked over to the table, asked for two beers and tried to not look at all disappointed when she came back with what looked like a third of a pint of (actually quite good quality beer).

We stood through Cults drinking more tiny beers, they were okay, although I am not sure the sound check had been worth while, either that or they like the too much bass, not enough vocal sound.

Waiting for Men Without Hats and Devo we got a proper drink in the Hard Rock Cafe, then another drink, then some more, then we missed the Men Without Hats and decided to visit a friend and watch Devo videos on his TV instead of seeing them live, Whip it good...

After all this excitement we rounded off the night with a few drinks in our local and some much needed sleep.

Sunday was going to be a trip to the Italian Festival, luckily Alex had been and tweeted that it wasn't very good, so we stayed in bed and then watched lots of British TV, mostly because we miss quality television...

Now I am writing this waiting for a plane , about to leave the office, one more post, from home, summarizing this adventure...

The last weekend looms

2011-06-17T06:31:00.001-04:00

Our time is nearly done, at least here together, we are now less than a week from returning home, although I will return briefly possibly until the 16th of July...

So the next week is a week of endings, Wednesday was the last baseball game we will attend together, luckily the Blue Jays played like stars, pounding out 4 homeruns on 70's night.

Through the power of StubHub, a website I wish I had discovered earlier we got cheap tickets down in the 100's - front row, although we failed to get a game ball as the Jays were hitting most everything fair and the Orioles barely hit a thing...

I doubt we have made our last trip to the Rabba, although with 6 days to go I am loathe to buy anything we have run out of but Tomato Ketchup - anyone who knows Wissy will know that I should be out buying some now instead of writing this, in fact - I'm off, more at the weekend!

Sunday Morning, Weekend Overload Woofstock edition

2011-06-12T07:15:00.000-04:00

Responding to the public, there have been several - okay two - calls for more info on Woofstock.

Woofstock is North America's largest outdoor festival for dogs, now we were expecting a few stalls and some dog owners wandering around at the side of the road near St Lawrence Market.

Wow - how wrong can you be?

Wissy and I arrived at the St Lawrence Market end having used the rental bikes to cycle there, when we arrived we were greeted with closed roads and stalls stretching for half a kilometer in two directions, in total 2.5 kilometers of roads were closed, and these were not back streets, this is the equivalent of closing Oxford Street to all traffic. Apparently last year there were 300,000 visitors, having seen what we saw yesterday I can well believe it!

We saw, and met, dogs of all shapes and sizes, the dog population of Toronto is very diverse, Great Danes as tall as my waist down to a 3 month old Chihuahua which was about the size of a new born kitten. Guide dogs in training, Leonburgers - which are very soft when they are puppies, to Dalmatians.

There were stalls for everything you could ever need, and lots of things you may want but really don't need, we saw sunglasses, sun hats, sombreros, and sandals, there were 5 different types of organic foods and treats that looked like cupcakes, maple carved dog tags, elk antler dog chews, slings so you could carry your dog like a handbag and so much more.

Luckily most of what I would consider ridiculous was way too small for Lola... we did see a dog in pink sandals, we missed although were told of a Chihuahua with pink painted (toe nails) claws, outfits too diverse to discuss although the tiny dog in a wedding dress on a chaise longe was a treat.

All of this has increased Wissy's desire to get home to see Lola, I think she managed to pet about 80% of the dogs as we wandered about and the grin took a while to wear off.

We didn't see any dogs fighting or barking, everything was ever so friendly and even Jaclyn who we met and who is scared of dogs didn't seem to freaked out, maybe just a little jumpy.

All in all a great mini festival and something we may even return to this morning, this is the sort of thing London needs, an all inclusive bring your pet dog meet and greet...

Saturday morning, weekend overload

2011-06-11T10:10:00.000-04:00

I am writing this on Saturday morning, it is currently sunny although knowing the ability of weather forecasting in this part of the world we could be under 6 feet of snow within an hour.

The weekend started on Thursday evening with a trip to an off cut restaurant after sampling some belgian beers in a camp dive bar. I have reviewed the restaurant here - The Black Hoof. So several strong beers, and wine and I woke to a groggy Friday morning.

Luckily Friday ended early as everyone I was trying to work with in the office was out of the door at lunch time as they are working 'summer hours'. So 3pm and out of the office with a decision being made to head out to the Scotiabank Cinema to catch the IMAX showing of Super 8. As soon as you get the chance go see this movie, and see it at a decent cinema, I could spoil it all here but I won't, it reminded me of 80's movies being a cross between Goonies and ET with some Cloverfield thrown in as it is a JJ Abrahams movie.

We ended the evening early with a portion of hot wings and some 7up in Hooters, great service and a screen showing every sport available on Canadian TV.

Now we are about to head out to Woofstock - the largest outdoor dog gathering in North America - I will report more on this later!

Cycling again (slowly)

2011-06-09T17:15:00.000-04:00

So it has been 8 months since I cycled from London to Paris in 3 days, I have been in Toronto since and have used this and lots of other reasons for not cycling and staying fit.

Toronto now has the same cycle rental scheme as London, more to the point there is a rental station 2 minute walk from the condo and directly outside of the office, on the day it started I got a rental keys organised for both of us!

Wissy has used the bikes to get around, meeting me from the office or heading off to the marina to see friends. I have used them nearly everyday to get to and from the office and I think they are great.
Now its not my Cannondale racing bike but I feel like I can cycle in work wear on the Bixi and I won't look out of place and you can't cycle hard enough to work up a sweat.

Three gears is more than enough in Toronto as there are no real hills and having somewhere to bungy my bag on the front means no sweat marks from the bag strap. Being all black - unlike the London bikes - they are pretty cool looking too.

I almost wish I lived in the rental zone in London, then they would become my almost exclusive mode of transport.

Boat Trip II

2011-06-08T09:32:00.000-04:00

Another weekend was planned, a boat trip, and this time under sail.

Wissy was dreaming of Swallows and Amazons, lazy summers messing about, I had visions of winning the America's Cup, either way we both couldn't wait.

Canadian weather services claimed the weather would be good, then with a day to go they changed slightly - they started predicting some light precipitation (<2mm) on Saturday morning.

We were picked up opposite our condo on Friday evening, great skies, and we motored back to anchor at Cherry Beach. A great evening starting with Oysters and beers, followed by Fillet Mignon and beers, and finished off with wine and beers.

The next morning there were boat jobs to do, but the light precipitation had arrived. The above was the view from our 'bunk'.

Everyone had a little lie in, waiting for the less than 2mm to disappear, of course the weather service had failed and a storm rolled in with rain measured in cm, lightening and storm force winds. This was quite spectacular but not what we needed! By the afternoon the rain had subsided and I discovered Stephan and Patricia's real reason for having me on the boat, muscles, next thing I know I am hoisting the main sail and pulling up the anchor!

Although the weather was not perfect we were off, the sails were up, the anchor too and we headed out to the open lake, the wind was perfect, unfortunately the waves were choppy and coming in fast, Wissy was starting to look queasy but we carried on as she claimed it would all pass. Further into the lake and we all decided we should head back to Cherry Beach, the wind wasn't in the right direction and with Wissy feeling queasy our dreams of Whitby were dashed.

On our way back I ate one too many pretzels and the amazing stomach settling property of the baked bread snack turned my stomach and suddenly I was out through the flap in the side of the cabin and on deck promptly losing my breakfast. luckily this was the last excitement before we made it back to the harbor and safety.

Luckily we both felt human pretty quickly and were back on the beers and eating food happily. Now we are the eighth and ninth dwarfs queasy and pukey...

Next morning the sun was up and after another delightful on deck breakfast we had to head home, all in all a great trip even if I met my breakfast twice, and the land sickness didn't last too long.

Better a bad day on a boat than a good day in the office!

An aside: Being a Blue Jays Fan

2011-06-03T16:20:00.000-04:00

I always liked the idea of baseball, although being English and living in England it was never regularly shown on TV, occasionally Channel 5 would show live games in the middle of the night but it wasn't watchable...

Living in Toronto, a 2 minute walk from the Rogers Centre, has meant I can indulge my desire to be a fan. Last season I went to lots of games with an American, this gave me the opportunity to learn the subtleties of the game, when to arrive - after the first inning via a bar for beer - which snacks are best - peanuts, sunflower seeds, hot dogs and so on. Last year was also Jose Bautista's first season with the Blue Jays and included a season best 54 home runs...

This year the Jays have gone from strength to strength offensively and are playing great Baseball, Jose is leading the league in all offensive stats and we are going to more and more games, often sitting in the 500's to keep the price down.

Wednesday was a lesson in what being a Jays fan means. They were playing the best team in the league, the Cleveland Indians, and after they scored 4 runs in the first and 8 in the third inning we were 12-0 down and making errors all over the pitch. Most teams fans would leave but Jays fans are fully aware of the offensive animal that sleeps within their team...

After an inning where the jays scored 3 runs with three back to back triples (where the batter makes it round three bases) we were off, this was possible, yes we were still 12-3 down but... Next inning we held them to zero and yet again 3 runs batted in, already there was talk of winning 15-12 if we kept up this pace, next inning we only scored one and felt cheated. The Indians scored again but we clawed back the deficit and by the end of the ninth were 13-9 down.

Now with 2 men out and 2 strikes most people would leave, but Jays fans stayed and cheered, even backed into a corner we thought we could win, we know we have a team who can do this. We have one plenty of games in the last inning and this would be one of the greatest baseball games in history...

Unfortunately the strike came and they were all out but I like being a part of such a positive, balls out, no holds barred team, a team who can win at the wire.

I love baseball...
I love the Blue Jays...

Chilled out Toronto

2011-05-29T08:31:00.001-04:00

After the full on five days of New York, being back in Toronto is definitely a different pace.

The rental bike keys have arrived so I am now commuting on a Bixi bike everyday to the office, now it was only a fifteen minute walk but this is transformed into a five minute cycle. I'd like to say this means more time in the gym but so far it has only led to more bed time...

Toronto is finally waking up from the winter hibernation, the Market stalls on the harbour front are opening, tables and chairs are appearing on bar patios and the locals are working 'summer hours' (finishing at lunch time Fridays)

Now all we need is some dry days to enjoy cycling around town...

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Lazy Day 4 in NYC

2011-05-24T00:15:00.001-04:00

Right, the tale of day 4...

After all of the walking, eating and drinking we had a little lie in, well, actually until 11 but it was an absolute necessity!

The gang all set off together but I split the group and was off alone to met Scott for lunch. Wissy, Fiona, and Paul were yet again walking, this time over Brooklyn Bridge, by 2:45 the group had reformed, I had enjoyed a delicious sushi lunch while the gang had eaten at Katz Deli, the star of When Harry Met Sally.

All of this was a precursor to the main event, a trip to Yankee Stadium to see the the Blue Jays play. Getting there I realised there are lots more Yankee fans, even before were in the stadium there were fans everywhere, luckily we weren't the only jays fans their.

After a typical early start, Bautista hitting a first inning home run, the Jays played their normal aggressive game, and the Yankees tried pitching around Bautista but the runs keep coming. During all the excitement Wissy made it onto the Jumbotron on fan cam and the people across the aisle from me got engaged!

I also got a mini baseball cap full of ice cream, winner! There were nearly 42,000 people at the game, the Blue Jays can only dream of crowds like this, even at the weekends, let alone on a Monday night... No wonder the Yankees can afford superstars.

As the ninth inning was about to start the Jumbotron showed clips of 300 to inspire the team and the crowd, I didn't have the heart to tell them that the Spartans lost and all died, which was like the Yankees dreams on this night.

Finally, after the victory, we left the Bronx, through Manhattan and back to our spiritual home, Brooklyn, a slice of pizza and we were asleep in one of the most comfortable beds.

Now, it is the end of the trip, we have to pack and prepare for our Porter flight home. Hopefully Newark isn't such a nightmare on the way out.

Here are all the pictures https://picasaweb.google.com/gbozward/NewYorkDay4May2011

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Location:4th Ave,,United States

Day three in Brooklyn again

2011-05-22T21:27:00.001-04:00

We ate, drank, and were merry for Fiona's birthday... There was a brewery tour, a Whisky bar, and steak...

With similar Metro outages to London Tube outages at weekends we started the days transport on a metro replacement bus. Buses give you a much better view of the city, although they do also give a better view of the more unstable members of the city.

We were heading into Williamsburg for the brewery tour, 30 minutes of understanding where some of my favourite beers come from followed by a piss up in a brewery!

Well, a couple of small beers, beers brewed in the building we were in. Then off to the Whisky bar which had carded us the day before, this time we had ID and were ready, but no doorman, no carding, just mini hotdogs, cocktails and a great atmosphere.

Not being a big fan of whiskey I was nervous of the sneaky shot Jonathon our barman poured for the boys but the Tom Lawless was delicious!

For Fiona's birthday meal we wanted steak, the first recommendation was full, which was a shame, luckily Mortons was more accommodating. We passed on starters and deserts being fully aware of US portion sizes and we all still left food on the plate, delicious though, and I have never been introduced to broccoli before...

Yes this trip has turned into a walking and eating tour of Brooklyn. It is good.

Here are pictures... https://picasaweb.google.com/gbozward/NewYorkDay3May2011

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Second Day - no Manhattan

2011-05-22T08:10:00.001-04:00

We have our bearings now, also we know that breakfast in the hotel, although complimentary is not worthy of the amount of walking we have been doing, so the first order of the day was finding a diner...

A short walk from our hotel down leafy boulevards past brown stones, breakfasts of gargantuan sizes were consumed. This turned out to be a most fortuitous start as arriving at the metro stop, 5 blocks from the hotel, we found buses and no working metro... We decided to walk through Park Slope as it looked nice, and it was, lots of older hipsters on fixed gear bikes with big headphones on and young couples pushing prams.

After what felt like a marathon but apparently was only three miles we stopped for lunch (yes - it's all about the food) a burrito bar and yet more filled plates, of course not trusting the local water the menfolk had to drink beer...

Suitably sated we walked again, past several metro stops although never for the right line and a cab driver who refused to take us, but it was sunny and I had to walk off a 'chimmied' burrito so I kept my whinging to a minimum...

Finally we found the right line and managed to rest our feet on public transport. I made a decision and we got off a stop earlier than planned and were back in the sun walking, through a more 'interesting' part of Williamsburg, luckily Toto wasn't with us as even he would have realised we weren't in Kansas anymore.

A mile of almost ghetto bought us to our destination, the Cotton Candy Machine, Tara McPherson's shop, and one of the greatest places on earth, although this may have had something to do with being offered a beer as soon as we arrived by the energetic and most knowledgable shop keeper.

Much listening and browsing and purchasing was done post beer, a small photo shoot...

...and we were off again, straight into hipster town, skinny jeans and little beards and skateboards.

Our plan was to hit The Whisky Brooklyn but a strict door policy on ID sent us next door where meat platters, cocktails and Brooklyn beer slowly defused an angry Wissy. Our plan on leaving the Counting Rooms was to cab back to the hotel was derailed slightly 50 yards down the road by another bar named like my local when I lived in Balham, The Bedford... 12 oysters later the seafood eating portion of the party was content. Wissy was especially so as she had talked the chef into giving her crackling from a suckling pig she spied in the kitchen...

Finally a cab, I spent a happy 20 minutes in the front discussing baseball and why Bautista is going to hit home runs on Monday, before a brief detour for dumplings and then to bed... Day two done, pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/gbozward/NewYorkDay2May2011#

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First full day in the Big Apple

2011-05-20T19:35:00.001-04:00

So last night I think I left you all after our hellish travelling to the hotel with some notes on how after everything that happened on our journey the hotel was great.

Well not long after I posted the blog our friends arrived, and with the hotel bar out of commission for refurbishment we headed back to the Hoxton-lite of 5th avenue Brooklyn. More great drinks at Brooklyn a pizza roll and back to bed. And yes, the hotel beds are by far the best I have ever slept in - ever, and everyone agrees... This will be a restful trip...

Morning beckons, the hotel, without a restaurant offered some baked goods, although these did not live up to the hype, we left the hotel hungry and in search of culture, after photo opportunities at the Ai Weiwei zodiac sculptures

and a brief sojourn in the Apple Store we found a genuine Belgian waffle truck, we all tucked into variations on fried batter with strawberries, bananas and Spekuloos spread, extra breakfast sorted we were ready to face the rain and Central Park.

The Park turned into a search for statues, our first target, Peter Pan, didn't exist, luckily we found ample replacements in Hans Cristian Andersson,

and all of the Alice in Wonderland characters...

The John Lennon memorial confused me, as it was a quiet zone, for a man who made his name and money singing loud catchy pop tunes? Oh well...

As the deluge continued we headed for a bar, sustenance came in the form of beers, cocktails, wings and meaty sandwiches... Finally we dried off and the real retail therapy could start... Another short subway journey and we were in kidrobot, a favourite for all of us damp travellers, money parted we were off again, suddenly the day started to feel like a pub crawl but really we were looking for shelter from the rain...

A unilateral decision to take some rest before a supper somewhere in Brooklyn has given me a chance to write this blog and upload more pictures.. See here for the full stash https://picasaweb.google.com/gbozward/NewYorkDay1May2011

More tomorrow!

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Location:4th Ave,,United States

Getting to New York

2011-05-19T19:37:00.001-04:00

Today has been an experience, not always for the right reasons...

My day started at 6:00, this was expected, after the normal morning ablutions and waking up Wissy at 6:30 everything was going to plan, we set off, a short walk to the airport, yes, a short walk, also following the short walk we experienced the shortest regularly scheduled ferry ride in the world, 20 metres.

At the front of the queue we realised we hadn't applied for our ESTAs, a requirement of the security theatre. In Heathrow we would have been banished to work it out ourselves, but Porter let me behind the desk to use their 24 inch iMac where I applied for the requisite documentation online, mine sailed through, but Wissy's application apparently required 72 hours, my heart dropped through the floor, luckily the nice Porter girl fixed it all and the sweating stopped.

Off to the free lounge to eat free snacks and drink free soda, unfortunately the realisation that the fog we had walked through may have a material affect on our ability to fly, the 6:45 flight was just taking off at 8:30, the flight after ours had been cancelled and yet again we doubted our ability to get to america.

The next announcement was all about us, unfortunately our plane had landed at the wrong airport, a 40 minute coach ride away, while sitting and waiting the coach arrived, ready for the third mode of transport a cheer inspiring message over the tannoy, our plane had made it all the way home and would be ready for us at the right airport.

Forty minutes later we were on the plane, joy oh joy, with full skies we couldn't take off for another half an hour, luckily iPad scrabble saved the day, no boredom... Up up and away and above the fog the skies were beautiful, barely a free and a salty snack later and we were landing in Newark (1 hr 15 min later - this will be important)

Off the plane and into the stygian hell that is American immigration, queue, queue, queue, bored bureaucrat queue, I have never felt such internal rage at a badly organised processes I did in Newark, Wissy put it best, having lived through a bird strike and a pilot dying and this was still worse...

After finally making it through the kafka-esque limbo we had to collect our luggage, made infinitely more difficult by it not actually being on the carousel as we had spent 1:30 minutes getting through the airport. Yes 15 minutes longer than it took to get to the US... Happy happy joy joy. The lack of luggage led to difficult questions about our travel insurance, luckily we were yet again rescued by a member of the Porter staff who tracked our luggage down in the oversize section...

Finally we were the right side of the airport in a cab, we thought we were going to get public transport to the hotel but after the day we had a cab was well deserved...

The hotel in Brooklyn is great and we are one street over from the New York equivalent of Hoxton, 5th Avenue, where we managed to get proper beer, a margarita properly made and some cheap Thai food, the holiday has truly started and I am finally forgetting the queue from hell...

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Location:4th Ave,,United States

The Dull Weekend

2011-05-15T18:08:00.001-04:00

So next weekend we will be in New York, this meant we are doing nothing saving all of our fun for America.

Of course we still had to fill time, although as it was raining here, and has been since Friday...

Saturday was a trip up Queen West, we needed essentials, new vinyl toys and tights (for Wissy, not me). After a snack of wings and ribs we hid from the the deluge and watched baseball and dozed until it was time for bed...

Sunday, yet again rainy, not exactly perfect weather for the Toronto marathon, luckily not as big as the London marathon as it passes our condo in both directions. They only closed the bike lane, I think on our walk we saw maybe 30 runners...

We decided to pass up the chance to spectate and instead headed up to the AMC cinema to catch a pre-matinee $6 special, the film of choice, a cinematic spectacular, Fast Five, more Michael Bay than Martin Scorsese but definitely fun and having cars and explosions it ticked most of our movie boxes!

Deciding to up our intellectual quotient we headed home via Longos to watch Mulan, no not the Disney cartoon but a live action Chinese movie, this was good, good enough to almost make Wissy cry and even with subtitles it kept us figured for two hours.

Next I decided to stretch my culinary skill, I have not cooked many desserts but having lots of eggs I managed to cover every surface in a variety of substances making custard from scratch, although slightly lumpy it was delicious, and as we had fresh fruit in the condo pudding preceded supper!

Now with 4 egg whites left I turned my hand to meringue, at first I tried whisking by hand, luckily I found a hand machine and after 2 hours in the oven it was edible... More experimentation is required although Wissy says this will be bad for us!

A Weekend of Walking

2011-05-13T19:04:00.000-04:00

Walk a mile in another mans shoes... well I was wearing my Vibram Five Fingers and we walked about 5 miles this weekend, but before my tales of tired toes lets zoom back to Friday where the weekend started...

It was my colleague Alex Lakey's birthday so of course a steak dinner was in order, Houston Steak and Bar seemed like a good choice and with a couple more work chums and Wissy I tucked into a delicious dinner of red meat. Wissy ordered her steak blue, which looked and tasted delicious although this shocked Dave - Wissy does like her meat walked through the kitchen, with it's hooves and horns removed and slapped on its arse, then it's ready.

Of course this was a Friday night and a birthday, with me, Wissy and Buca Dave I am sure you can imagine the fun we had... This was not one of those Fridays, I was in bed by 9:30 watching crime drama, and I am pretty sure everyone else was too, maybe I am getting old!

Saturday, we had an early start, off to the farmers market, we bought some odd pickles (cauliflower and turnip), some very strong mustards (XXX, Horseradish) and some elk jerky! In the evening I experienced my first girls night out in a long while, I will say no more about this experience.

Sunday was a new adventure down Queen East, five miles from away from condo, we marched back, via thrift stores, cafes, ice cream shops until we reached the distillery district, we were going to have a quiet lunch but we spotted a oyster bar and a decision was made. Six naked cowboys and six kusshi later and we had tasted fabulous wild oysters we had never had before. Searching for naked cowboys on google was certainly an experience!

After this we were going to be lazy and get a cab back home but with only two miles to go we sucked it up and carried on the march... Finally we were home and my poor aching feet had a chance to rest, Sunday afternoon and already we had managed 6 miles practically barefoot.

Another fabulous weekend in, what is now a sunny, Toronto.

Charity...

2011-05-06T09:58:00.000-04:00

Before I forget...

Sunday evenings have occasionally become a trip up to Woodys, which is about as far north as we currently adventure and at the heart of Toronto's gay district. Last Sunday was special, so to start the evening right we gathered up Alex Lakey and hit A&W burger (The Best Burgers in Toronto) to get some stomach lining before the night started...

We arrived at 4pm, where lots of members of Dave's riding team (read his blog and sponsor him here) where already in attendance. There was free food, although having indulged in burgers I abstained, and we managed to get a good view of the bar and also of some of the screens.

The charity part of the evening involved lots of entertainment from Miss Conception, by far the most entertaining drag act I have ever seen, and a viewing of her appearance on Wipeout Canada, which is surprisingly so much easier to watch after a jug of beer and being surrounded by lots of gay men laughing hysterically.

I failed to win a Blackberry Playbook and the 50:50 raffle, but as it was all for a good cause I am not too upset... (bah humbug)

I will examine all of the pictures taken of the evenings festivities and some of them may make the next montage, possibly...

Boat Trip! (or The advantages of having a Wissy in your life)

2011-05-04T12:29:00.000-04:00

I had lead a reasonably successful life in Toronto, I had spoken to lots of locals and very often drank with the same people in the same pubs for conversation and everything that goes with hanging out in pubs...

The difference a Wissy makes though has become very obvious in the first month of her trip here, at the weekend we were on a boat. Now I am sure I was in the same pub as Patricia and Stephan on more than one occasion, in fact we share two locals in the downtown area but having Wissy here a conversation in the pub about baseball is very different to finding out someone has a boat, and then managing to get invited on it!

Yes, that is us on a boat, before we set sail at the weekend, and yes, Wissy did grin the whole time we were out.

The other upside to being on a boat is taking lots of pictures that no one else on the project can possibly have taken, because they were not on a boat...

Yes, thats our condo building, the short one in front of the CN tower...

After an afternoon of motoring around Toronto Island, seeing lots of birds, boats and a little too much sunshine we parked up (sorry, moored, for all you boating types) on the Island and settled down for some beers, food and solving the worlds problems...

After the sun had set and the conversation had run out (although for some people this took longer than others) a night of being rocked to sleep by the gentle undulations of the lake made for a very restful night...

I took lots and lots of pictures, all available here... Boat Trip there are 258 pictures so don't feel obliged to view all.
After a quick slightly greyer trip home the next day we yet again experienced the upside of boats and living near the lakeshore, our walk home was 2 minutes as they dropped us off opposite our condo.

Big Thanks to Patricia and Stephan and also Wissy, for being chattier than I am!

The map of our life in Toronto

2011-04-26T14:14:00.000-04:00

A Great Monday

2011-04-25T18:11:00.001-04:00

We got up late, well, later than we get up in London where Lola is bouncing on the bed demanding attention...

After a delicious breakfast of sliced strawberries on warm, toasted hot cross buns we watched some great TV and jumped a cab to get further north than we had ever been in Toronto. I had used Living Social to get us half price massages at 3080 Yonge Street (we live near 1 Yonge Street!).

Two fabulous massages later, Wissy's even had hot stones, we were off to get some of the best food in Toronto.

A&W Burgers, yes I know, they make the best root beer and they make burgers! Wow! The really cool thing is that the burgers actually look like the pictures on the walls. Examine the pictures next time you are in McDonalds, this is a big deal. Oh and they had free wifi and onion rings to die for...

Next we walked, and walked, nearly two miles in the rain, all the way to Queens Quay West and our local Pizza Pizza for our FREE slices of pepperoni pizza courtesy of the Toronto Blue Jays pitching seven strike outs on Friday, Boom!

Luckily we live close and we are now contentedly warm on the sofa watching more Criminal Minds...

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Photo Montage Again

2011-04-25T06:01:00.000-04:00

The CN Tower emerges from the clouds

Wissy sits in the big read canoe in a park designed by Douglas Coupland

Me looking very small in a big red canoe

Wissy by the Beaver Dam

The giant fishing floats in front of the CN Tower

Where's Wissy?

The last row of the stadium

A happy 'last row of the stadium' smile

A camera above the 100's

Yes it is...

Easter art and craft time

It's the weekend... (The Long Weekend!)

2011-04-24T09:19:00.000-04:00

Well here we are, day three of the four day weekend. Toronto had the good grace to yet again defy the weathermen, although luckily this time in our favor, what was supposed to be a poor damp weekend turned into rainy Friday and a glorious sunny Saturday.

The weekend really started on Wednesday evening, we went and watched the Blue Jays again, this time from the 500 seats right at the top of the stadium, of course we were also in the back row, vertigo yikes, but actually this does give you a good view of the game and this also allays Wissys fears of being hit by a foul ball as you are so high even Bautista can't hit it that far. Blue Jays lost but it was a good close game again, although this had not broken the curse! (Every game Wissy had been to the Blue Jays lost). We left the stadium and feeling peckish and not willing to pay the exorbitant food prices popped into Shoeless for a lemonade and some Wings. Amanda leaving for vacation meant as we arrived there was a loud cheer and lemonade became beer... Oh Wednesday...

A quiet Thursday drifted by mostly filled with the anticipation of the four day weekend, which started late, the 7:07pm start to (another) Blue Jays game, wow, lots of excitement, with the Jays coming from behind to draw level in the 9th and then winning with a home run in the 11th inning, and yes, the Wissy curse was broken! Luckily the beer stayed at very sensible levels and so Saturday we woke up and enjoyed the bright sunlight, 21c with a nice breeze when last weekend we hid from snow...

Our Saturdays seem to involve walking, of course there was a tiny detour this weekend, we got caught behind some construction and added about 2 miles to our trek to the Magic Pony but as it meant finding a new park with a giant red canoe and massive fishing floats it was well worth while (see next photo montage). On the way home we visited Europe Bound, which is an outdoor store but looks like a jumble sale, and purchased a pair of Five Fingers for Wissy, so she can look like a freak like me. To round off a great day we had Dave over for supper and the new Dr Who, cliffhangers, beer and home made pizza made for another great evening.

Now what will Sunday and Monday bring, I know at the very least it will involve Drag Queens and Massages!

Sofa time for Easter!

2011-04-21T19:18:00.001-04:00

I am writing is on my lap on the sofa watching Big Bang Theory through the AppleTV, this is pretty cool and means I can be lazier than before...

Also I don't plan on moving until we are half way through season three...

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Location:Queens Quay W,Toronto,Canada

Canadian Weather (Bah Humbug)

2011-04-19T11:30:00.000-04:00

Now I know Canadians think it rains all of the time in the UK and I will accept that London may be slightly damper than Toronto but it was still snowing here at the weekend. I tried to pretend it was slightly icy rain but it was actually snow.

And this is the first country I have lived in where a poor choice of clothing can kill you, I know you could die in the UK if you were incredibly stupid and hung out all night in you underwear in mid winter but here not having a hat can mean death.

Basically, the point I am trying to make is, apparently we are on the same latitude as Rome, so where is the sun, or at least a temperature in Celsius in double figures?

What a week!

2011-04-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

So after all of the culture last weekend we went to have a quiet beer with Dave and some of his cycling buddies Sunday evening. Okay, maybe quiet is completely the wrong word, it was Woodys on Drag Queen night. It was a spectacular night of entertainment with lots of singing along and some incredible dancing in six inch high heels, dancing I couldn't of pulled off in my wannabe Justin Timberlake past! this sort of Sunday made Monday a little more tricky than normal but it was well worth it!

After an evening of rest we headed up to a BBQ with the same people, and after procuring a large quantity of Limes it was straight back into the party although slightly more civilised! I was making Mojito by the jug full, I helped Shana shuck some of the 90 oysters, watching Dave cook a BBQ full of sardines while I waited for the piece de resistance, although described by Harvey as 'an Elephants Dong' it was actually a salmon wrapped around scallops then all wrapped in banana leaves, absolutely divine and enough to easily feed the 20 people in attendance. Luckily we managed to get invites to Sunday again based solely on my ability to mix Mojito!

Wednesday, no rest this time, was our first Dinner party in the condo, with Wissy on Lasagna duty we had Patricia and Stephan round, apart from everything nearly stopping because I broke the corkscrew we yet again had great food, good wine and great company, I had to pinch myself as it is only Wednesday and I have already had too much fun this week!

Thursday was described as Beers with Engineers for Paul's leaving do, luckily this was much more interesting than it sounds and then we ended up in Frans diner on the hunt for dirty food, this is of course what happens when you eat healthy all week!

The next photo montage...

2011-04-10T11:04:00.001-04:00

I LOVE baseball and I live by the home of the Blue Jays

There are things bigger than me and my beard!

Coffee Juice and the Blue Jays Merchandise

More Coffee Shop Chillin' in the new hat

I'm going to rock down to, Crocker Avenue!

Tramlines and Skylines

Stain Boy

Jack Skellington is a man of many heads

Scary Wonka children