thank you, ttc

Thank you for hosting the type of people who wear old-school blue jays hats, grey slacks, cheap earphones and moustaches.  And thank you, to one of those people, for shuffle-dancing your way along in front of me, and peeping a little tid bit of your spanish music.

And thank you, ttc, for employing the type of people who can and do still keep a smile on while they cart around the ridiculous quantity of trash that Toronto riders create each day.  And thank you, to one of those young employees, for keeping the cart of trash in the elevator door long enough that you had the chance to catch my eye as I walked towards the stairs, and stick out your tongue at me, and make me smile too.

Thank you, to both of you Torontonians, for reminding me that there is true pleasure in the little moments in this city.

And thank you, to another Torontonian, for inspiring me to write it down when I take notice of these types of moments.

noodled me in!

Heyyyyy Alternative Grounds in Roncesvalles, you just TOTALLY impressed me with your ingenuity.  Maybe you’re not the first to do this, but you’re the first that I’ve noticed and I LOVE IT!

stir sticks!

They use what I think is either raw fettuccine or linguine noodles as stir sticks for coffee! Now THAT is biodegradeable and economic AND kitschy!  I like you, A.G. I can’t wait to find out other reasons for why I do!

I thoroughly enjoy how many fair trade organic coffee shops are opening up and are already open in Toronto.  I will always choose them over starbucks, timmy’s, timothy’s, second cup, coffee time, country style, etc.  I hope others will continue to do so as well!

i’ve had enough outta you

yeah you;

go away.

you’ve made your point. you’ve shown your influence. we’re done. begone. g’bye.

i’m a little self-righteous

one month of garbage strike, following two weeks of garbage waiting for the next pick up
that’s 6 weeks and we haven’t had to empty our garbage or recycle bins into any public dump sites.

Two people. Our bins are nearing the top, but nowhere near overflowing. Should I feel good about this, or should I feel bad that they’ve reached as high as they have?

I realize that this strike has encouraged me to buy things with less packaging, to drink water instead of juice and pop, and to try to use more of a vegetable so I wouldn’t have to throw it in the compost.

I’m hoping that this strike has changed the consumer/waste habits of at least a portion of the people that are affected by it. The mountains of disgusting waste that are at the temporary dump sites tell me otherwise, but I’d like to have hope.

Fiiiish and chips and vinegarrrrrr

Don’t throw your junk in my back yard

my back yard

my back yard

Don’t throw your junk in my back yard

my back yard

junk.

 

 

Ok.  There’s a garbage strike in Toronto right now.  It’s day two. There’s already garbage piling up in certain places in the city.   That is F***ING REPULSIVE.  WHO is creating this much garbage?  Maybe this should be a lesson to city dwellers to think a little more about how much consumer waste they are accumulating and disposing of on a daily basis.  This week is a prime opportunity to break out your reusable coffee mugs and bring in your own tupperware containers to takeout places.  You can then feel good about not throwing something into the taped off public disposal units, instead of being all irate on the garbage workers.  Yes, you are a tax-payer, but that doesn’t give you the right to throw out your own weight in WASTE every week.  That’ s disgusting.

Ew.  Not looking forward to the imminent garbage strike stench.

your morning hope

I’m a bike rider.  It’s a relatively new identity for me.  I’d rather ride my bike than walk or take transit.  I will ride 13km and back to get a pay check.  I will carry picnic goods on the back of my bike. I haven’t reached hardcore status though, because I do not ride in the rain. 

ANYWAY. This isn’t about me.  This is about the fact that if I decided to bike to a concert, I could potentially plug my bike in to power that very concert.  I could ride a few extra kilometers to power the sound that will keep me dancing all night.

I just found out on CBC Radio One that since Mr Something Something wants to “emphasize the importance of audience participation and draw attention to sustainability issues, the Toronto collective has put together Canada’s first pedal powered sound system, the SoundCycle.”

They refer to this idea as dancefloor activism.  In the past I’ve heard about a group that figured out a way to harness the power of the movements that happen ON the dancefloor.  Something about registering the vibrations.  Anyway.  Whoever they are (which I’ll try to find out later), imagine if they played a concert together?

Mr. Something Something will be making an appearance at the Spring Opening of Pedestrian Sundays. No cars allowed there!

Stay active!