Next summer T.O. plans to let you drink publicly, or at least in parks and on beaches. So far so awesome, but I have questions. For example, does the parking lot in front of Walmart count as a public park? If not, what is the point of the legislation? That’s
Continue readingTag: Life In Scarborough
BigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: The Plague Journal, Day II
Visited The Elsy (LCBO) today. I notice that while they’re knifing each other over toilet paper at the Walmart across the parking lot, here everything is calm. People believe that Water and wipes are essential, booze some kind of peripheral benefit. These people are fools! Give it a couple of
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: The Plague Journal, Day I
This evening at the local Metro I saw something resembling “panic buying”. Not quite at that point. Nobody got violent. More like the kind of lineups you see before the Superbowl or a long-weekend. Except everyone, everyone, was buying toilet paper and bottled water. Nobody was buying beer. Which doesn’t
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: The Fried Pork Rinds of Scarborough
Was inside the Jian Hing market at Markham and Lawrence on Family Day, looking for Filipino Pork Rinds. They have about 40 different varieties at Jian Hing. I’m not kidding, there’s a whole aisle devoted to nothing but. Filipino Pork Rinds are basically deep-fried pig-skin; you can get them either “fat
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Toronto The Unready
WTF happened? Did the dispatcher pass out just before the storm hit? Did the plow-guy bust a leg trying to smuggle a hooker into the barracks through a back window? Or did they stop at VP and say Fuck it its Scarborough lets turn around and plow The Bridle Path
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Gulls Before A Storm
So the wife and I spent our evening on the balcony of our condo unit drinking a bottle of wine. We noticed a flock of gulls in the air, surfing the turbulence in advance of a line of storm clouds. These were the same gulls that usually inhabit the roof
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: The Bus Drivers of Scarborough
The lady bus driver on the bus today was wearing a nose-ring. And the TTC let her drive the bus like that. She was a white chick so it couldn’t be a religious accommodation thing. But people will get on her bus and see her nose-ring and think fuck why
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Paul Bernardo’s Old Neighborhood
Famed serial killer Paul Bernardo graduated high-school from Sir Wilfred Laurier Collegiate, down in The Guild. Apparently they’ve left the picture of his graduating class (him included) on the wall there. I was down in The Guild today and heard a story I didn’t know: that every year the picture
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: The Building Confronts Kitec Plumbing Problem
So the condo corp held a big meeting the other night. They rented a room at the local community center. They’d already sent around a letter so everyone knew what it was about; the building has Kitec plumbing. You can look it up but the stuff was manufactured between 1995
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: The Buses Of Scarborough
On the bus in Scarborough this morning two youths were listening to angry gangster rap music on headphones. They were both rapping along fiercely to completely different tunes. They became quite loud, and it sounded like they might scrap. But in fact the two never became even aware of one
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: The Washing Machines Of Scarborough
I’ve timed it on several occasions, and when I set my washing machine to Express Wash, it tells me the wash will take 30 minutes. But it doesn’t, it takes 37 minutes. Everything is fine until the last minute of the cycle, which takes 7 minutes. This seems dangerously misleading
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Wisdom From Out In Scarborough
Was sitting in my favorite working man’s pub out in Scarborough today, and heard something which I thought was quite deep. One of the fellows at the bar said: “If you can’t laid in Cuba, you can’t get laid anywhere.” Which is a fact that many other people have told
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Wisdom From Out In Scarborough
Was sitting in my favorite working man’s pub out in Scarborough today, and heard something which I thought was quite deep. One of the fellows at the bar said: “If you can’t laid in Cuba, you can’t get laid anywhere.” Which is a fact that many other people have told
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Anti-Union Sentiments Overheard Being Expressed In Scarborough Pub!
I hear a guy at the bar today, talking. He says: “Hey, you know what a union is, don’t ya? It’s a bunch of drunk guys fallin’ off a roof.” The guy’s in construction. He’s management.
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Anti-Union Sentiments Overheard Being Expressed In Scarborough Pub!
I hear a guy at the bar today, talking. He says: “Hey, you know what a union is, don’t ya? It’s a bunch of drunk guys fallin’ off a roof.” The guy’s in construction. He’s management.
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Anti-Union Sentiments Overheard Being Expressed In Scarborough Pub!
I hear a guy at the bar today, talking. He says: “Hey, you know what a union is, don’t ya? It’s a bunch of drunk guys fallin’ off a roof.” The guy’s in construction. He’s management.
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Jobs That Won’t Exist Tomorrow, In Scarborough
I was sitting in my favorite Scarborough workin’ man’s pub today, listening to a couple of truck drivers talk. They had just got off shift and were discussing an accident on the 401. “Scrape ’em off and get it clear” was their general attitu…
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Jobs That Won’t Exist Tomorrow, In Scarborough
I was sitting in my favorite Scarborough workin’ man’s pub today, listening to a couple of truck drivers talk. They had just got off shift and were discussing an accident on the 401. “Scrape ’em off and get it clear” was their general attitu…
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: Goodbye, Old Car!
So I finally pulled the plug on my ’97 Cavalier yesterday afternoon. I feel OK about it. I’d put a new engine in last February and hoped this would squeeze a few more years out of the thing. But it was like sewing a shiny fresh metal…
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Life In Scarborough: A Lost Generation Of Scarborough Youth
Was on the bus today, and listening to a couple of young kids talk about rock music. One of them wore a Motley Crue t-shirt, out of teenage irony. Another one thought Alice Cooper was a girl. These kids are doomed. You can’t get through life with this low degree
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