Posts from — February 2008

It has been a while since I got back from Toronto and last wrote in this blog. It isn’t that I haven’t been spending time on the blog, it is that I have been spending all my time developing this blog. What a learning curve for an old…well, older fellow. At times it has been totally frustrating and at times totally exhilarating. At all times it has been time consuming. I have learned an amazing amount and am quite happy with the results. I hope you are as well?

A couple of quick updates on events we have gone to  in the last couple of weeks. We went to the movies with the intention of seeing either “The Kite Runner” or No Country for Old Men” We opted for “The Kite Runner” because we had both read the book and the reviews were consistently good. No Country seemed to  be a movie reviewers either hated or loved and given that we had heard the violence was pretty extreme we passed on it. Obviously Hollywood has no taste. They should have selected “Juno” for best everything. What a great flick.

I also went to see Caramel with a friend from Victoria. It was a film brought to the city by North of Superior Film Society. What a great light movie. Made in Lebanon it was a close up look into the lives of four hairdressers and their families. Couldn’t help but think it probably isn’t much different here in Thunder Bay. The Film Society have been doing a wonderful job of bringing independent movies to the city. I have enjoyed all the choices this year and am looking forward to the festival at the end of March.

I just sent Thunder Bay Seniors Paper to the printers today and am very upset with the photo of the Volunteer of the Month. It turned out very dark and I can’t seem to get help correcting the way pictures are made press ready.

I returned the paper and asked for help with the photos and a reprint. This is of course, after a sleepless night of wondering how to handle the situation. I have a rescuer coming on Thursday to see if he can show me how to manage pictures. After six years of partial successes and more failures I hope it will help.

I had an Older Adult Centre’s Association meeting in Toronto on Sunday, Feb. 10 so decided to fly in early Sat. morning and enjoy some culture.

Leaving home at 6:30 am was a bit of a stretch. Never have liked getting up at 5:30. The nice thing about Thunder Bay is one can get up at 5:30 and still be at the airport to catch a 6:30 plane. May not look too pretty but at that hour no one does.

Toronto was a mess. Slush, slush and more slush. I was glad I wore my boots. My son, who lives in Toronto and I got together for brunch at a great vegan/vegetarian restaurant called the Pulp Kitchen. It’s on Queen close to Broadview. I’m not the vegan. He is. I quite enjoy going out with him to eat. I am actually getting to like tofu and I must say that the fake omlette he had looked like the real thing. My Thai stir fry was tasty as well. Another little hole in the wall vegetarian restaurant we enjoy is Simon’s Wok on Gerrard. It’s run by Simon I guess? and has good food very reasonably priced. I find eating out in Toronto can be very cheap if you aren’t fussy about your surroundings.

Staying on the restaurant theme, I had supper at King’s Noodles on Spadina. I found it recommended in the Toronto Today paper. Quite the place. Looking in the door from the street was a little intimidating. The place was a zoo. Big round tables with what felt like zillions of Chinese servers running at full tilt. I was quickly placed at a table with 5 or 6 Chinese people, none of whom were together.

I had duck on rice with eggs. It was the first thing I saw on the menu when I was confronted by one of the rushing waitresses. It was not something I would order again as the undescribable things others at my table were eating looked better. Feeling rather rushed I fingered and chop sticked my way through my dinner, paid the $9.50 it cost for the experience and left.

You know you are in Toronto when you go into a corner store and no one speaks English. Try charading your desire for Tic Tac breathmints to a couple of older Chinese folks who keep on looking at each other like they would really like to help but are lost as to what to do. I did finally receive a package of something (marked only in Chinese) that they thought might do the trick. In the package were tiny little silver balls that looked like ball bearings and were strong fennel, liquorice tasting. I guess my charades weren’t that bad as I did end up with breath mints.

Before my supper and after my lunch with my son I went to see Dirty Dancing at the Royal Alexander Theatre on King St. I almost missed the play because the King Street  street car never came. I was saved by a damsel. I was the one in distress. We got to chatting as we waited for the street car and when it didn’t come she took things into her own hands and flagged down a cab for us. (She was going to the theatre next door from the Royal Alex. The Princess something or other.) She even insisted on paying for the cab. I was indebted.

The Royal Alex is a beautiful old theatre although not well marked. I was told to go up two flights to my seat which I thought I did. I found B21 and was quite pleased with the view. It was choice. However 20 minutes into the play I was asked for my ticket and sent up to the next balcony level to the seat I had booked. Not nearly as good a seat and rather embarrassing as I stumbled over people thinking at any moment I was going to fall over the edge to my doom.

The play!! I thought the staging was amazing. I couldn’t warm to the actors. The play was very close to the movie. However Monica West wasn’t Jennifer Grey and Christopher Tierney wasn’t Patrick Swayze. Even the “legs go on forever” Britta Lazenga didn’t get my blood rushing and if nothing else that is what Dirty Dancing all about. Two stars. **

While sitting at Starbucks reading the Toronto Today paper in order to plan my evening I was offered great deal on a Sony DVD player. Wrapped nicely (well not so nicely) in a black garbage bag a slightly seedy looking fellow made the offer. (The DVD was wrapped in the garbage bag, not the seedy looking guy). I declined and he slipped out the door.

I did make a great find in the paper (besides the King’s Noodle Restaurant). Famous Blues singer John Hammond was playing that very evening at Hugh’s Room. Hugh’s Room has a Thunder Bay connection in that Hugh and Richard Carson lived in Thunder Bay for many years with the dream of opening a venue for musicians. Unfortunately Hugh passed away in 1999. Richard opened Hugh’s Room in Toronto in memory of his brother. When I mentioned to the host that I was from Thunder Bay, his eyes lit up and he said “Folks from Thunder Bay are special guests in Hugh’s Room.” I felt like a special guest when he moved me to a choice spot in the packed house. Many of Thunder Bay’s musicians have entertained there. Needless to say John Hammond was wonderful as was Paul James who folks will know from Thunder Bay’s Blues Festival. Paul opened for John.

The next day I got up at 7 am in order to make the trip to my meeting out at the airport. I was headed for the subway until the fellow I was talking with on my bus said the subway didn’t open until 9 a.m. on Sundays. The bus driver who was listening in on our conversation said I could take the Danforth 300 Blue Night bus right across town to Kipling. It usually takes 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour by subway so I knew I was in for a long ride in the bus. By the time we got to the Kipling area the bus had filled and emptied and there was just myself and a couple of fellows sleeping in the back, left in the bus. For some reason I had missed the station so I asked the driver where I could get a cab. He said this wasn’t his normal route but that we could look for one. We drove around till we spotted a cab and he pulled out in front of the guy forcing him to stop. Quite the bus driver. I felt like I was being chauffeured in this 60 seat city bus.

I made it to my meeting, enjoyed seeing folks there and all in all had a great cultural experience in the big city.