Paradise Lost

So I woke up to the news this morning. This is what I heard.
1)Newsflash. Someone was shot at Parliament & Shuter. So close to my place, I'm surprised I didn't hear the gun go off.
2)Toronto drivers are pissed about the DVP/Gardiner being closed for the Becel Ride for the Heart. This will impact on people getting to the Blue Jays game. Boo hoo.
3)There is a double layer of digusting smog over the city today. See #2 and think about this for a moment.

This city is a freakshow!!

Speaking of bikes and smog (but not guns, luckily....!), I have a story to tell you. Last week I took some time off work. Chris and I spent 4 days in Bancroft which is my heaven on earth, forced relaxation, blissful chillout zone. Came back Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday had to head up to York University for an information session about grad school. Since I was on vacation and it was a beautiful day (and I was still blissed out from the weekend in Bancroft), I decided to ride my bike to the nearest subway station (Queen), bring it with me, and ride from the end of the subway line (Downsview) to York...about a 20 minute ride. I love doing this to avoid the dreadful bus ride, and just to annoy the drivers on those North York streets. Problem is, there are many HUGE trucks in the area that tend to knock my socks off, so it's often me who gets annoyed, and jumpy. Anyway, all goes well, I arrive at York in one piece, I attend the info session. In the back of my mind I realize that I have to get back to the subway pretty quickly after the session ends because I know there's a cutoff for when I'm allowed to bring my bike with me on the trains (due to rush hour) but I'm just not sure what time that cutoff is. I put it out of my mind. The session goes overtime, to 3:10 or so. I visit the washroom, chat with someone I know, then hop on my bike (incidentally, which is chained to a railing because the Social Work building at York has no bike racks) and bust back to the station. Well, a little too late I'm afraid. I arrived at 3:45, and the cutoff, I was politely informed is 3:30. Of course, everybody hates cyclists, so I couldn't get them to bend the rules for me. I guess being sweaty and stinky with helmet head didn't help with the charm factor. So, I geared myself up for a long, stinky, noisy ride alllllll the way back downtown. The ride itself was fine, it was the traffic, construction, lack of food in my tummy, headache etc that I found challenging. Needless to say, I lost my bliss somewhere along the way...BUT I SURVIVED!!!! And the whole experience evoked memories of the triathlon I completed in August 2005.







For those who care, this is a map of my route:




It was 23km, which to some may seem short and to others very loooooong!! For me, it was an accomplishment. And I lived to tell the tale. Lucky you :)

Random Acts of Bike-ness

So, last night I met my friend Chris Harrison for dinner at Fresh (Queen & Crawford). After dinner, as I was getting geared up to ride home on my fancy new KHS Flite 200, I realized that I'd forgotten my bike lights and it was already dark. For those who have spent any time with me the past few months, you'd know that this is par for the course. I've been forgetting and losing things left, right and centre. More on that in a future post.

Last night though, my friend Chris joked that I should stick close to a cyclist with lights, and just as he said it, we saw one coming our way, so I said a quick good-bye, hopped on and hurried to catch up with her. Not long after, we both had to stop at a red light. When it turned green, I started up a bit more quickly than her, so she gave me a sideways look as if to say "go ahead".....and I said out loud to her "actually, i forgot my lights at home so i thought I'd let you lead"....we both laughed and picked up some speed as we headed east along Queen Street. Then we came to a crowded section around Queen and Euclid where there was a bit of a gridlock and we had to ride through a small space left between two poorly positioned cars. It was a bit tricky to navigate, so I rung my cool yellow bell to alert all the crazy drivers to watch out for us. That's when she shouted back to me that we made a good pair because she didn't have a bell on her bike! It was funny. By the time we pulled up to the red light at Bathurst we were very chummy, and she asked me for directions to where she was going. She turned off Queen a few blocks later and I was left to ride the rest of the way home alone, musing about this random act of bike-ness with a fellow cyclist. One of the things I love about living in Toronto.

Newsflash (re: my MSW application)

For those who haven't already heard, I was accepted to both University of Toronto and York University to do my Masters of Social Work starting in September.

Wahooooooo!

I accepted the offer from York, for several reasons, one of which is that they offered me a significant financial package which takes some of the stress away from my decision to take a leave from work and do this degree full-time for one academic year (Sept 07 to April 08).

Stay tuned for more exciting information re: my academic endeavours!