Canada Day Meanderings
Before I begin to write to-day about what fun I had on Canada Day, I want to belatedly wish stevefoxx a happy 24th birthday and extend to him my hopes for his continued happiness, good health, and personal and professional success in his next year of life. You are a very good friend and a thoroughly decent person at heart, Steve, and I am extremely fortunate to be among those you know and care for. I apologise for being a day late in expressing my gratitude for your friendship on this special occasion. Next year I should plan further ahead so that I can send my written birthday greetings to you with the proper timing that you deserve.
Now on the subject of punctuality, I got up around 9:30 AM yesterday intending to get to the public Canada Day celebration at Queen's Park in time to watch the twenty-one gun salute at noon. Unfortunately, my father's coincidentally occupying the shower when I had intended to use it, plus too much dithering in front of our computer whilst I waited for him to exit, put the kibosh on my plan. Instead I ended up arriving approximately at 1:30, and I wasn't there for very long before I decided that, besides the twenty-one gun salute, there wasn't anything of enough interest to me that I would want to stay to see the celebration's finale. Now this isn't to say that the festivities at Queen's Park were utterly devoid of appeal for me: erected in front of the Parliament Building was a large stage where I stood with a small crowd for one and a half hours, watching first a Serbian, then a Mexican, and finally a Punjabi group perform lively ethnic songs and dances. Each one was in its own way interesting to watch, and the various music to which they danced was fun to listen to, but I couldn't stay long, exposed as I was to the brilliant sunshine on the front lawn of the legislature, and most of the other attractions were geared toward children, e.g. inflatable carnival rides. Soon after the Punjabi dance troupe walked off the stage I went to catch a Queen streetcar to Sunnyside Beach.
As I made my way south along Yonge, I almost decided to attempt to embark on an extremely stupid venture that would have involved me swimming across the eastern channel of Toronto Harbour. You see, I wanted to see a fireworks display later that evening, and I knew Ontario Place would probably host the most spectacular of all the relatively small public displays that would be put on in Toronto. From my experiences of watching Ontario Place's Victoria Day fireworks I knew also that Hanlan's Point on the Toronto Islands would be the best cheap venue from which to view the show. But taking the ferry to and from the islands costs $6.00, and I didn't have enough cash to pay that fare. I can, however, swim, and assuming that I could make it across the eastern harbour channel to Ward's Island, I could walk from there to Hanlan's Point and then take the free return ferry trip to the city. But thank goodness, common sense eventually dissuaded me from taking that likely lethal risk. As I approached Queen Street, I thought about how frigid the lakewater probably still was, how contaminated with pollution and bacteria it could be, how much boat traffic there might be in the channel, and how foolish it would be to swim it without any partner. The coup de grace for the notion was dealt when I remembered I didn't want to get my wallet's contents wet, and by that time I was already where I needed to be to catch the streetcar.
I got off the streetcar at Roncesvalles and walked across the footbridge over the Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard to Sunnyside Beach. In the distance, coming from the beach, I could hear the strains of a very familiar fiddle tune that picked up my pace, but not enough to see where it was coming from before it stopped. Soon after I stepped off the bridge, I found myself wading through an unexpected tide of humanity that had swamped the entire beach. Most of them were facing a big concert stage off to the west, where I recognised the members of Leahy, the band who were fiddling just a moment before and who are one of my favourites, just finishing their performance with a lively stepdance. I was disappointed for having just missed them play, but I was glad to have discovered that the Sunnyside Canada Day picnic I'd seen advertised the day before was more than what I'd expected. The teeming multitudes there were, in general, noticeably whiter and more working class than the people I saw at Queen's Park, and the number of cowboy hats being worn there was freakish for a Toronto crowd. (I soon found out the reason: the picnic was sponsored in part by a local country music radio station.) Having just come from the multicultural Canada Day festival at Queen's Park, being surrounded by people like these and listening to a Canadian band sing country music in affected southern accents somewhat bewildered me, but I still enjoyed myself. The crowd was lively, the view of the lake was lovely, and plenty of good-looking, shirtless men could be ogled without them noticing. ;) Next year I think I'll skip Queen's Park for the party at Sunnyside.
Since I still wanted to watch fireworks even though I couldn't get a good vantage point to see the Ontario Place show, in the early evening I got back on the Queen streetcar to go east, to the Woodbine Beaches on Ashbridges Bay. I'd known for years that the city puts on a Canada Day fireworks display over the waters of Ashbridges Bay, but until yesterday I hadn't bothered with the trip down to the shore to watch it; I regret now that I hadn't gone to see it in those past years. It wasn't nearly the magnificent spectacle that I'm sure Ontario Place mounted, but it was still an awesome sight to behold, especially with how close the explosions were to those of us who watched from right on the water's edge. And despite the prohibition of firing personal fireworks on the beach, there were dozens of them being lit all around me from sunset until the big public fireworks display starting shooting at 9:45. Small as they were, the great variety and number of them being set off, filling the air with their whistles, bangs, hisses, and crackles, were enough in themselves to make the trip to the beach worthwhile. It was a satisfying end to a holiday that was surprisingly fulfilling for one spent alone (nudge, nudge).
Now on the subject of punctuality, I got up around 9:30 AM yesterday intending to get to the public Canada Day celebration at Queen's Park in time to watch the twenty-one gun salute at noon. Unfortunately, my father's coincidentally occupying the shower when I had intended to use it, plus too much dithering in front of our computer whilst I waited for him to exit, put the kibosh on my plan. Instead I ended up arriving approximately at 1:30, and I wasn't there for very long before I decided that, besides the twenty-one gun salute, there wasn't anything of enough interest to me that I would want to stay to see the celebration's finale. Now this isn't to say that the festivities at Queen's Park were utterly devoid of appeal for me: erected in front of the Parliament Building was a large stage where I stood with a small crowd for one and a half hours, watching first a Serbian, then a Mexican, and finally a Punjabi group perform lively ethnic songs and dances. Each one was in its own way interesting to watch, and the various music to which they danced was fun to listen to, but I couldn't stay long, exposed as I was to the brilliant sunshine on the front lawn of the legislature, and most of the other attractions were geared toward children, e.g. inflatable carnival rides. Soon after the Punjabi dance troupe walked off the stage I went to catch a Queen streetcar to Sunnyside Beach.
As I made my way south along Yonge, I almost decided to attempt to embark on an extremely stupid venture that would have involved me swimming across the eastern channel of Toronto Harbour. You see, I wanted to see a fireworks display later that evening, and I knew Ontario Place would probably host the most spectacular of all the relatively small public displays that would be put on in Toronto. From my experiences of watching Ontario Place's Victoria Day fireworks I knew also that Hanlan's Point on the Toronto Islands would be the best cheap venue from which to view the show. But taking the ferry to and from the islands costs $6.00, and I didn't have enough cash to pay that fare. I can, however, swim, and assuming that I could make it across the eastern harbour channel to Ward's Island, I could walk from there to Hanlan's Point and then take the free return ferry trip to the city. But thank goodness, common sense eventually dissuaded me from taking that likely lethal risk. As I approached Queen Street, I thought about how frigid the lakewater probably still was, how contaminated with pollution and bacteria it could be, how much boat traffic there might be in the channel, and how foolish it would be to swim it without any partner. The coup de grace for the notion was dealt when I remembered I didn't want to get my wallet's contents wet, and by that time I was already where I needed to be to catch the streetcar.
I got off the streetcar at Roncesvalles and walked across the footbridge over the Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard to Sunnyside Beach. In the distance, coming from the beach, I could hear the strains of a very familiar fiddle tune that picked up my pace, but not enough to see where it was coming from before it stopped. Soon after I stepped off the bridge, I found myself wading through an unexpected tide of humanity that had swamped the entire beach. Most of them were facing a big concert stage off to the west, where I recognised the members of Leahy, the band who were fiddling just a moment before and who are one of my favourites, just finishing their performance with a lively stepdance. I was disappointed for having just missed them play, but I was glad to have discovered that the Sunnyside Canada Day picnic I'd seen advertised the day before was more than what I'd expected. The teeming multitudes there were, in general, noticeably whiter and more working class than the people I saw at Queen's Park, and the number of cowboy hats being worn there was freakish for a Toronto crowd. (I soon found out the reason: the picnic was sponsored in part by a local country music radio station.) Having just come from the multicultural Canada Day festival at Queen's Park, being surrounded by people like these and listening to a Canadian band sing country music in affected southern accents somewhat bewildered me, but I still enjoyed myself. The crowd was lively, the view of the lake was lovely, and plenty of good-looking, shirtless men could be ogled without them noticing. ;) Next year I think I'll skip Queen's Park for the party at Sunnyside.
Since I still wanted to watch fireworks even though I couldn't get a good vantage point to see the Ontario Place show, in the early evening I got back on the Queen streetcar to go east, to the Woodbine Beaches on Ashbridges Bay. I'd known for years that the city puts on a Canada Day fireworks display over the waters of Ashbridges Bay, but until yesterday I hadn't bothered with the trip down to the shore to watch it; I regret now that I hadn't gone to see it in those past years. It wasn't nearly the magnificent spectacle that I'm sure Ontario Place mounted, but it was still an awesome sight to behold, especially with how close the explosions were to those of us who watched from right on the water's edge. And despite the prohibition of firing personal fireworks on the beach, there were dozens of them being lit all around me from sunset until the big public fireworks display starting shooting at 9:45. Small as they were, the great variety and number of them being set off, filling the air with their whistles, bangs, hisses, and crackles, were enough in themselves to make the trip to the beach worthwhile. It was a satisfying end to a holiday that was surprisingly fulfilling for one spent alone (nudge, nudge).