The Maple Leaf Lounge

some-one I know not only still has an Expos jacket, but wears it.

 

My dad has an Expos cap. It's his favorite. He got it when we went to Montréal back in '19. He wears it all the time, even to Storm Chasers games here at home.

You DO know that's not what I meant, right?

 

LB In Canada! Yay! I was in Toronto for a day a few weeks ago and it was the first time in decades since I'd been there, but it reminded me of you . It's very much a different world to the one I'm used to, and a 6 hour drive there and back. One thing I really noticed was how much more efficient transit is over there. They've got the subway, the bus, the trolleys and GO trains, but at the same time everything is so much more pedestrian friendly, and the timing of the crosswalks are much quicker. Where I am, we only have taxis and the bus, and waiting to cross a street can be as long as a minute and a half to 2 min.

 

I'm still pissed that the CBC museum closed. It was one of my favorite places to go in Toronto!

and speaking of museums, is it just me or does the ROM look like a crashed Borg cube?

Yay indeed!

In fact the first three vacations I'm taking this summer are all to Canada: Montréal in May, Toronto in June, and Calgary (for the Stampede) in July.

If not for the construction/remodeling at Parliament Hill, I'd be coming to Ottawa as well. Oh well, I can wait.

 

See, I didn't even know there was a CBC Museum, so you're ahead of me on that front! Lots of things that happen in Toronto simply aren't on my radar.

Speaking of Museums, the Ontario Science Center, has been in the news a lot recently, as Ford wants to move the thing to the former grounds of Ontario Place.

 

Really? Huh. I wonder why.

I love that museum as well, BTW.

And on an unrelated matter...I was at a Second City Toronto show a few years ago and one of the stars was the actress who played Dennas (a Klingon) on Discovery. I thought that was pretty cool. I wanted to talk to her about it but I totally forgot who she was until after I'd already gone home.

 

So do the rest of us in Ontario. We're waiting to find out about development deals for the existing land....

 

I've only heard off-hand that the building is quite old and in need of some TLC, that the exterior might look fine but that as soon as you step inside, it shows its age. But yeah, we don't know what will happen just yet. Personally, I think having the museum at the former Ontario Place would be a good idea.

 

I wasn't kidding about the ROM by the way. I get serious Borg vibes from that front entrance.

 

I kind of wonder if maybe that was the intent? To go with something scientific/scifi-ish? Our local science museum was designed to look like two snowflakes when looking at it from above.

 

I've probably blabbed about this already, but:

I think this was the last time I came to Toronto (in '19)...when I passed through customs, the border officer who took my receipt was named Picard.

I did not ask her to "make it so".

 

She probably would have rolled her eyes, assuming she would have got the reference.

 

The main PSAC strike seems to be just about done, barring the contract ratification vote...which I hope will be better attended to by the membership than the initial strike vote. That strike vote participation level scares me in ways that remind me of how the Ottawa municipals and Ontario provincials...didn't work out. We need more of the people eligible to vote to actually vote.

I don't fault the resistance to "Return To Office" doctrine at all these days. Between the Pandemic, the climate emergency in progress, and other factors I'm surely forgetting to name right now...? The fewer people who actually have to show up in offices in order to get each day's work done, the better.

 

Well, kind of eerie about how we were only talking about him in February, but he's now joined the other two Gords in the Sky at the age of 84. Sorry to bring you such a downer, LB!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/gordon-lightfoot-dead-1.6828991

 

To answer your question: Sorta. I didn't actually bother going to bed. I just found a Canadian network streaming online, and alternately watched and dozed my way through what was basically a FOUR-HOUR CHURCH SERVICE with a few minutes devoted to plopping crowns on Charles and Camilla's heads.

FFS, even the Remembrance Day ceremonies here acknowledges that there are people in Canada who don't identify with any religion or faith. The impression I got from this ceremony is that there's no room for atheists in the UK, at least as far as the Royal Family is concerned (not talking about the line of succession, just atheists in general).

I watched out of curiosity, and to say that I saw a historical event that I might never see again (though I give Charles 12-15 years, tops, before the same rigamarole happens for William.

Hmm. Well, for once, Andrew's daughters weren't wearing hideously ugly hats. Harry sat with his cousins, rather than with his brother and uncles. The CTV's guest commentator was NOT pleased to see Andrew there in a place of honor, wearing military medals.

Those poor horses pulling Charles' carriage. They were forced to stand there while the church bells rang and rang and rang and rang... VERY loudly. The horses were all tossing their heads, clearly in distress from the noise.

There was a distinct lack of bagpipe music. That did not please me, as I love bagpipe music.

All the while in the ceremony, Camilla sat there with a small smile on her face, and there were times when it looked like she was smirking. I couldn't help thinking, it should have been Diana getting crowned Queen.

Yeah, the new crown design is much better.


Thankfully the fires are nowhere near me, and we're not even getting much smoke here yet (that will change). It's just been unseasonably hot. It feels like late June, not early May. There have been some years when we've had occasional snow this time of year.

Of course we're having a provincial election this month, with a female version of Trump as the incumbent Premier. Election Day is May 29.

That's an auspicious day in history. It will be the 570th anniversary of the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottomans, and the 37th anniversary of the most unseasonable, freakish major blizzard my city has had within living memory.

 

I wanted to watch the coronation but it was all over by the time I got home from work.