Back To St Louis

Well, okay, now that my interest in Tami Erin (see http://spriggsblog.blogspot.ca/2013/10/pippi-is-lisbeth-or-at-least-tami-is.html) has waned, we can now return to my other current fascination -- the city of St. Louis, Missouri. http://spriggsblog.blogspot.ca/2013/09/meet-me-in-st-louis-lewis.html

And what a beautiful city it would seem to be!

I  have an affinity for the place, and i realise that this began when i started listening online to the radio station K-SHE from there virtually every day. But occasionally i also listen to radio stations from Kingston, Ontario and Auckland New Zealand, and i haven't been busy researching airfares to those places. In fact i'm beginning to think that, in a previous life, i may have been a Saint Louisan.




Now, here's the thing. In my previous post, i wrote that, evidently, St Louis has a high crime rate. This turns out not to be true at all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZFODAoYwOo

It's like Toronto. The G.T.A. (Greater Toronto Area) has a very high crime rate, but the city of Toronto is a relatively small part of the G.T.A., and has a low crime rate. The Jane-Finch corridor, however (northwestern part and well outside the city itself) is a war zone.

Anyway, back to the subject.... I'm not a baseball fan at all but in the World Series, it was St Louis vs. Boston and i was wrapped up in it. Some seat-gripping moments there! Well, okay, the Cardinals lost (to, as John Ulett called them, the "Beantown Beardies") and i was disappointed, but maybe the St Louis Blues will do better in hockey.

Vacation Diary -- Overview

Quotation of the day ~Tom Carey: The ultimate metric that I would like to propose for user friendliness is quite simple: if this system was a person, how long would it take before you punched it in the nose?

Hi, everyone. Here, on the final day of my spring holiday,  i have to say that it's been great. I think that i am eminently suited to the life of leisure. Anyone interested in financing this for me, please leave a comment and a contact address. Thanks! (I don't need much: $1000 a week would be ample.)

The week, in some ways, was also extremely frustrating. My long-term reader (i.e., me) will recall that, the last time i took a week off, back in October, i spent a great deal of time working on some drastic computer problems. During that week, both my desktop PC and my laptop had to go into the shop, and the PC had Windows re-installed, and, while i didn't lose any files, i lost most of my program files, and it took a great deal of time to re-install and configure them.

This week, another, albeit less serious problem arose. Something was corrupt in my email program (Thunderbird). Sent messages wouldn't appear in my Sent Items folder and in one isolated case, a message appeared there five times (when, of course, i'd only sent it once). And sometimes, the font size would go doolally, so that messages would appear to the recipient looking something like this. I went to various Thunderbird user forums and tried to solve the problem, i uninstalled and re-installed it, all to no avail. So i decided to find an alternate email client. I tried Sea Monkey. I liked it, it looked good, i successfully sent a test message and so i imported all of my settings from Thunderbird and ... must also have imported whatever was corrupt, because from then on it was useless. So, i uninstalled it. Then i tried Opera's built-in email program (i already use Opera as my secondary browser). Same thing -- as soon as i imported my Thunderbird settings, it was useless.

I tried, believe me. For three days.

Then i gave up and tried to find some workarounds in Thunderbird. And, not just another pretty face, i did. And then gave up, i was tired of working on it. Some holiday!

Well, that took me up to Wednesday. What did i do on Thursday? Don't remember, got drunk probably....

Friday i went to Toronto for the day. Via Rail has free Wi-Fi so i was able to listen to my favourite radio station, K-SHE, all the way (i have their app on my phone). Had lunch with my old friends Julian & Andrea, nipped over to the HMV superstore and bought the new CD by Paula Cole and Big Wreck's second album, and thereafter mostly took a walking tour. And it was a beautiful day for it -- nice and warm. Stumbled upon a charity book sale at the Church Of The Holy Trinity, a beautiful old (1847) church in the heart of downtown Toronto, and look, there's its picture:

I only bought one book, though: "The Child In Time," a title i'd never read by one of my favourite writers, Ian McEwan.










And then i just walked more and more, stopped in a pub whenever i got thirsty (and there's no shortage of those in downtown Toronna!) and then it was time for the train home.

One of my Toronto traditions is to buy some street meat -- generally spicy sausage on a bun -- from one of the vendors in front of Union Station before boarding the train home. Unfortunately, this time, it was not to be: there's so much construction going on around there that the vendors have been forced to relocate, and i couldn't find one in time. Bummer! So i had to settle for a can of very nasty beer and a very small bag of chips on the train -- for eight dollars, they must have seen me coming. At least i was able to listen to K-SHE all the way home....

And really, that was the end of the holiday: on Saturday, Sunday & Monday i had to go into work for just a couple of hours each day, but still, it meant that i didn't really have those days to myself, and this, then is it. Back to what we laughingly call "normal" around here tomorrow. Blah.

Oh, one last thing, my last post i said that my CD collection was complete for the letter "A." Wrong again. Somehow i missed this album by Kevin Ayers, Mike Oldfield, Robert Wyatt, David Bedford, Lol Coxhill & Six Beautiful Girls:

Now, onwards to the letter B.

Love, light & peace, y'all...

Vacation, Spring 2013, Day 1

Quotation of the day ~ Ray Davies: Holiday, oh what a lovely day today.

Yes, yes, yes, i have a week off! Nine days, to be precise, woo hoo! (I'm entitled to five weeks a year but i'm lucky if i get three....)

And what (i hear you ask) did i do today? Well, this morning i beetled on down to the Stratford train station and bought a ticket -- i'm going to Toronto on Friday.  Third time lucky: the last two times i went to the station the ticket office was closed.

Grabbed some breakfast at the local A & W on the way home -- i hate their burgers but their breakfast menu is okay -- and then watched this DVD (for the second time):

An extraordinary, powerful film.
















And that was about it, really. Day 1 in a nutshell.

Here's the latest from my CD collection (cos i know you care):

And of course the playlist:

Mike Oldfield - Live From The European Adventure Tour
The Collectors - Grass And Wild Strawberries
Chicago - VII
The Who - Live At Leeds
Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior
Big Wreck - In Loving Memory Of
Colin James - Twenty Five Live
James Taylor - James Taylor
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
U. Shrinivas - Mandolin Maestro
Hector Berlioz - Harold In Italy
The Albion Band - The Battle Of The Field
King Crimson - The Night Watch

Toronto, October 2012, Part One

Quotation of the day ~ Jimi Hendrix (upon being asked what it felt like to be the greatest guitarist in the world): "I don't know, ask Rory Gallagher."

Okay, well, in my last post, as you, my regular reader, may recall, i suggested that i would write about the trip to Toronto i took at the beginning of October.  Not sure if it was a suggestion, a promise, or a threat, but, well, whatever.  I love Toronto.  I don't get there often enough.  I don't have enough time off, really, working five and a half days a week, c'est la vie.

Anyway! The primary purpose of my visit was to see Oysterband http://www.oysterband.co.uk/ at Hugh's Room http://hughsroom.com/  

It was the third time i'd seen them in four years, and they didn't disappoint.  Such a great band. 










Here's the venue:

Oh, and here's a pic of me with my companions at the show, Barbara & Eric, outside Hugh's Room:

 (i'm the somewhat sozzled-looking one with glasses askew and rapidly-greying hair on the right). (Spatulate fingers out of shot.)

Anyway.  The show was on Tuesday, i arrived via Via Rail an hour after the scheduled arrival time that morning, and headed straight to The Wolf & Firkin pub in Elm Street (stopping only at an ATM en route) to have lunch with Julian & Andrea, my friends with whom i'd be staying that night.  We always meet at The Wolf & Firkin, it's a great pub.  Unfortunately, there was something lacking this lunchtime: Andrea.  She's an actress and she was working or rehearsing or something, and sent her regrets. I was sorry to miss her, but Julian & i made the best of it, had a lovely lunch but then he had to go off to work -- he was busy directing a play and he gave me a card with the title of the play on it but i regret i can't find it just now. Sorry, Julian, i can't give you a plug!

So i just went off to explore the mean streets of Toronto.  I walked. North. I love walking in the first place (my doctor says it's why i'm in the good shape that i am in spite of years of over-indulgence in cigarettes and alcohol) and i especially love walking around in Toronto and it was a great day for it, sunny and mild, and my ultimate destination was my old neighbourhood of Yonge & Eglinton, a distance of three miles or so.

Basically i walked straight up Yonge Street, but there was one diversion: Bloor Street East and a visit to a pub called The Spotted Dick http://spotteddickpub.com/  

Here's the view from their smoking section (i.e., outside):

I've been there before, and i like the place, and this time, to my great delight, their satellite muzak (©) system was tuned in to a blues station! So i had a couple of pints there and listened to Muddy Waters, George Thorogood, Otis Rush et al and could have stayed there for the afternoon.  Maybe next time.





I continued my trek and by the time i reached St. Clair Avenue, i was desperate for a pee.  Fortunately, i found -- who'd have thought it possible? -- a pub.  (I forget its name.)  The pub was all right, the barmaid was cute, and the pee was a blessed relief and no mistake....

I could have relaxed there -- yes, become as relaxed as a newt -- but time was now becoming a factor.  It was only a couple of hours until i was to meet Barbara & Eric at Hugh's Room, so i forged ahead, continued the northward-walking scenario.  And when i passed Yonge & Davisville, i took this picture of my old apartment:

Yep, i lived upstairs from Pizza Pizza for quite a while.  I've written somewhere -- maybe not on this blog, but somewhere -- maybe an email to Vera Farmiga? -- that my lust for pizza (nature's most perfect food IMFFHO) derives from the fact that i would have the aroma wafting into my nostrils starting at ten a.m. every day.....











So, then, nevermind, further north to Yonge & Eglinton, and here's the approach:

Yes, there be potholes!

And i paid my customary visit to my old neighbourhood pub, The Duke Of Kent. Nice to be there, it was indeed, but i saw no one i knew.  Not that i really expected to but you never know....

Anyway, i had one pint there and then it was off to the subway, to Dundas West station and Eric and Barbara and Oysterband! 









More later.... 

April 18th / 19th Toronto -- "War Horse"

Quotation of the day: Michael Morpurgo ~ This one isn’t just any old horse. There’s a nobility in his eye, a regal serenity about him. Does he not personify all that men try to be and never can be? I tell you, my friend, there’s divinity in a horse, and specially in a horse like this. God got it right the day he created them. And to find a horse like this in the middle of this filthy abomination of a war, is for me like finding a butterfly on a dung heap. We don’t belong in the same universe as a creature like this.

And so off i went to Toronto on Wednesday morning, to see the stage production of "War Horse" at The Princess Of Wales Theatre with my friends Julian (www.julianmulock.ca) and Andrea (http://bjfletcherprivateeye.com/team/supporting-cast/andrea-risk). My train left bang on time, arrived in Toronto 15 mins. late, around 11.15.  Not bad....

I wasn't meeting Julian & Andrea 'til 5.30, and i hoped to go to the cinema in the afternoon, to see "Coriolanus."  So the first thing i did was to get a local paper and wander up to The Wolf & Firkin (my fave Toronto pub) to read the movie listings (and have a pint).  Alas, it was no longer playing :o(  No other films really took my fancy, so i decided to go for a ramble.  For one thing, i wanted to make sure i could find the pub, The Elephant & Castle, where i'd be meeting J & A later -- i'd never been to it before.

It was a great day for walking, too: 11 degrees, sunny, a bit of a cool wind.  As i wandered around, i realised i needed to pee.  Fortunately, there's a pub near City Hall i've been to before called The Duke Of Richmond, so i stopped in there (and of course had another pint...). It's okay, not a favourite pub but it's all right.  (Contrary to popular belief, i have not been to every pub in downtown Toronto, although it may be close!) And then ambled off along King Street towards where i thought The Elephant & Castle was.  Not only did i find it, i also found The Princess Of Wales Theatre, where "War Horse" was playing, just a block or so away.  And i took its picture:

So, now that i had my bearings, i decided to have some lunch.  But where?

After some further rambling, i came across a place that i'd been to before but forgotten about: The Friar & Firkin.  (The Firkin pubs are a chain [www.firkinpubs.com], i wish there was one in Stratford.)   Their food is very good and i was most pleased with their ham 'n' cheese macaroni.

Anyway, back to my holiday diary.  After my lunch at The Friar & Firkin (here's the view looking south from their patio):



i still had a couple of hours to kill before meeting up with Julian & Andrea, and so i spent the time roving the streets, thoroughly enjoying myself and seeing sights the average tourist misses.

And then to The Elephant & Castle for dinner.  It's another chain of pubs, there's one in London, Ontario and at least two in downtown Toronto.  I never go there normally (because they don't sell my brand of beer!) but that didn't matter by then because i'd already had, what, four beers and had switched to virgin Caesars.  Frankly, i wasn't too impressed by the food, either: i had shepherd's pie with salad.  I make better shepherd's pie myself, the gravy was obviously made from powder and the salad was just bland.  Oh, well....


And then to the Princess Of Wales for one of the most brilliant pieces of theatre i've ever seen.  (I'm not a regular theatre-goer, mind you -- it's a bit pricey for those of us at the lower end of the income scale.) Singer Melanie Doane, whom you may have heard of, was in it, providing the fiddle, accordion and vocals, and the songs were written by John Tams, once of The Albion Band, one of my all-time favourite English folk groups. The war horses are made of wood. They're puppets!  The brilliance of the production is that you become as emotionally involved as if they were real.  Hell, they are real.  When Topthorn (the other main horse besides Joey) dies from exhaustion, well, i'm weeping buckets now just remembering....And i had tears running down my face at the end, i was overwhelmed with emotion.  Here's the trailer from the London production:



When it came to an end, as all good things must, it was straight back to J & A's house (where i was staying the night), where i finally met their cat Didjit (so-called because she has an extra digit on each foot).  Apparently she doesn't like strangers but she warmed up to me immediately.  We chatted a while, they lent me a DVD, a documentary called "Making War Horse" and so to bed, well after midnight....

Woke up Thursday morning feeling fine and perky in spite of the, for me, late night. (I'm usually in bed by 9 o'clock.)

Julian had an early meeting and Andrea was sound asleep when i left around 9.30.  I decided to do some more "sightseeing."  Apparently, National Geographic once named the Queen Street line as one of the most fascinating streetcar rides in the world, and i decided to give it a try (instead of spending the morning walking).  I bought a day pass for the transit system. I took the subway to Queen Street an hopped on the street car.  The line crosses the entire city from east to west (15.4 miles!) and i headed east, through parts of town i'd never seen before.  But there was no way i had the time to complete the trip -- i also wanted to visit my old neighbourhood before i headed off to meet Paul & Imogen. So i disembarked from the streetcar, headed north to the subway, and thence to the part of town where i used to live. Spent maybe an hour at my old pub, The Duke Of Kent, then went to meet the gang for lunch.

Imogen had chosen a relatively new place virtually next door to The Wolf & Firkin called The Queen & Beaver (stupid name!).  To my dismay, it wasn't pub-like at all, more like the lounge of an upscale hotel.  And they didn't sell my favourite beer, grr. I was the first to arrive but i was soon joined by Anne, an old friend and a woman i've had a crush on for maybe thirty years. (Very undignified in a man of my age, i know, especially as i've pretty much given up on relationships, but my, she has both brains and beauty which means she's approximately 100% wonderful.  Don't tell Astrid i said that!)

Next in was another old friend, Dave, then Paul & Imogen, and the company and the banter was tremendous.  But the food, er ....  Imogen loves the place for the food and the ambiance, but my very ordinary BLT with (really boring) freshly-made potato chips cost $17! With all due apple-polly-oggies to Imogen, it was too upscale for a simple bloke like wot i am, a man of simple tastes.  And after lunch i got thrown off the patio for smoking! Sorry, but isn't that what patios are for...?

There's really very little left to tell about my Toronto adventure.  After lunch i went over to the HMV store, bought the new CDs by Florence & The Machine and Judy Collins,  then wandered down to the lake and it's so beautiful there, i love all that water. 

And then i just wandered around some more, had a couple more beers in pubs, although i don't recall the names of the places, they weren't anywhere i'd been to before, then off to the train station in plenty of time and had some streetmeat (spicy sausage on a bun) from one of the vendors outside the station and was home by nine o'clock.

I love Toronto, i should go more often, but it's so damned expensive....

All of my photos from my visit are now up on my flickr page. It's http://www.flickr.com/photos/34806425@N02/sets/72157629866313199/show/

Holidays, Part 2 (Sunday)

Quotation of the day -- Ray Davies: Holiday, oh what a lovely day today, i'm oh so glad they sent me away to have this little holiday.

Sunday dawned cool and dank, but that was okay, i wasn't kipping in the park, i stayed at Terry and Ann's, and i couldn't have asked for better accomodation.  Terry had recorded a couple of Saturday's football matches on the DVR, and he and i watched Wigan (my team) play Everton (it was 1-1) and then Arsenal (his team) defeat Manchester United, in a game that was very exciting indeed. 

But then it was time to say my farewells, and off i wandered into the rain -- and went downtown and bought a new camera.  The old one was "NWR" (not worth repairing) (they told me at the shop) and so i bought a cheap one (rank amateur that i am) that is in fact much better than the old, expensive one.  10.1 megapixels, as opposed to 3.2, and with a 4 gigabyte HD card (as opposed to the six or seven 64 megabyte cards i had for the other one).  Oh, look, there's a picture of it just over there to the right --------->

But it was a crappy day for taking photographs, pouring with rain by this time and so i went for lunch at, oh, guess where?  The Wolf & Firkin.....

On Saturday, at the Wolf, i had mentioned to Julian & Andrea that one possibility for Sunday was a visit to the cinema (for the first time in a decade).  (I'm an avid movie-watcher, but not an enthusiastic cinema-goer.  The cinemas in Stratford rarely show anything other than moronic movies with a target audience of moronic teenagers.)  Anyway, they unaninoi, aman, unanymously they both said that the one to see was "The Adjustment Bureau" (Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Terence Stamp) and so, man of action that i am, i did, not really knowing what to expect, and i loved it.  Thanks, J & A!


(Even though this is still in the theatres and thus quite a few months away from a DVD release, i found a torrent download for it and am leeching  even as we speak.  I want to see it again!)








After the film (did i mention that i loved it?) what did i do?  It was still raining, so i walked a bit, through The Eaton Centre (i hate shopping malls except as shelter, don't know if i've ever mentioned that) and out again to a pub called The Duke Of Richmond, another nice little boozer i often visit when i'm in the big city.  And it was there, in their smoking section (i.e., outside) that i took my one and only Toronto photograph for this visit.

And there it is.  Well, i did say that i was a rank amateur LOL.

But then it was time to dash off for the train station, pausing only for some street meat (spicy sausage on a bun) i caught the train with minutes to spare.

So that's that.  My semi-annual trip to Toronto in a nutshell or two.

p.s., when i arrived home at Spriggs Towers, i watched "Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion" of course, but also played with the camera a bit.  And here's my dear Cate, preparing to attack my case of beer:

Holidays!

Quotation Of The Day: Billie Holiday: Don`t threaten me with love, baby. Let`s just go walking in the rain.

Yes, i'm on holidays, a five-day mini-vacation and the primary reason is this man here, to the right.  My friend Paul, whom i've know for about thirty-five years, celebrated his 65th birthday on Saturday, and i went up to Toronto for the beano (that photo, btw, was taken two years ago, when we went to see Oysterband at Hugh's Room). (Photograph © Eric Thom.)

But this post is going to be a diary of my weekend, so first things first.  Saturday was a beautiful day, mild (for April) and sunny.  My train arrived at Union Station bang on time (well done, Via Rail!) -- i had arranged to meet Julian & Andrea for lunch at The Wolf & Firkin pub in Elm Street (possibly my favourite Toronto boozer, known affectionately as The Pterodactyl & Firkin LOL, i never fail to pop in at least once on my Toronto visits), but i had my camera with me and wandered around a bit, hoping to take some photographs -- cityscapes, as Toronto really is a beautiful city -- but discovered that the %#!*% camera (which i'd been having trouble with for a while) was as dead as a doornail.  No it wasn't the batteries, they were new.  It was yet another example of technology failing.  Like i haven't had enough of that this year.

With my photographic aspirations in shreds, i wandered in to the HMV superstore on Yonge Street.

Twenty years ago, my trips to Toronto, i would always include about $300 in my budget, with which to buy obscure albums i was unable to get in Stratford.  The Internet changed all that, though.  Obscure albums i can't buy in Stratford, are now easily obtainable online.  This has made my visits to the big city immeasurably cheaper, but i usually drop in to HMV anyway, just to see what's what and what's new.  And i bought this:



 For $6.00.  Yes, i know, don't say it.  But i have dual-weaknesses for Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino.  Ahem!  Sometimes one needs some light relief from all those Bergman films....

So then headed for The Pterodactyl and had an excellent lunch with ....  It's funny, or perhaps not.  I moved away from Toronto about 26 years ago.  So many friends from the old neighbourhood have fallen by the wayside, those who remain are the bestest people and i love them dearly.  Anyway, i mentioned that i was thinking of going to the cinema on Sunday, and Julian & Andrea recommended "The Adjustment Bureau."  More about that later.  26 years of geographic separation and i feel closer to those two than ever.

After lunch, i walked, and walked, and walked, taking in old neighbourhoods and all of the freaks who were promenading (and Toronto, like any other city of 6,000,000, has its full complement of weirdos and freaks).  The traffic was heavy, Carlton Street was virtually a parking lot when i stopped in at a pub called The Spotted Dick to slake my thirst.  After a couple of pints there it was time to head north, to Yonge & Eglinton (where i used to live) and to Terry & Ann's house (where i was staying for the night). And from there to Paul's birthday bash.

Oh, my, what a super party it was, too.  I'm not an avid party-goer, as you can imagine, considering my incipient Asperger's and so on, but a splendid time was guaranteed for all.  The company was excellent -- i saw people i hadn't seen in 10 / 15 / 20 years (and was astonished to notice that so many of them had dyed their hair grey LOL), the food was brilliant and the drink flowed and the conversations were scintillating.  (I expect you'll be surprised to learn that i didn't drink too much, i was enjoying the social intercourse far too much -- although, as always at these occasions, some people overdid it, but who am i to criticise, i have been know to overdo it myself.) (Not this time, though.)

Also, oh deary me, Anne E. was there.  I had a crush on her 20 years ago and i took one look at her and realised that i still do.  And i told her so (thanks to either the courage or stupidity brought on by a couple of late-evening whiskies). My, she looked good. Sigh.  Or perhaps i should say "Urk!"  Crushes are most undignified in a man of my age.  Well, i haven't been able to think of much besides Anne since my return, but, realistically, nothing's going to happen.  (Although we did exchange e-mail addresses....)

And that was Saturday.  The party broke up relatively early (we geriatrics need our sleep, you know), and i'll write about my Sunday in due course.

Toronto, The Celestial City

I have just returned from two days in Toronto, i went to see Oysterband (www.oysterband.co.uk) at Hugh's Room and they were superb.  The last time i was in Toronto was two years ago, when i went to see, er, Oysterband, at Hugh's Room.  I think that they were more enjoyable this time. Here's the group, in a picture taken by my friend Eric:

I used to live there, of course, and it's a beautiful city -- what New York would be like if New York were run by the Swiss, as someone (Peter Ustinov?) once said.  I took a few photos and they're up on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34806425@N02/sets/72157623852955868/