Kates Journal

So, I’ve been whining at my friends about going home, I think it’s 2 parts wanting to stay in Canada and 1 part not wanting to go back to my ‘room’ in hospital accomodation with my house still as un-sorted as the day I left. We’re now at what, 6 weeks? And I’m still not getting anything from my fracking solicitors.

How hard is it to e-mail? To ring? Apparently it’s impossible.

*sighs*

So I packed up this morning – I’m terrified that I’m over the weight limit for my case. In the end I’ve packed basically ‘as many books as I can’ into my hand-luggage. That plus my laptop will make my hand luggage pretty heavy, but what can I do?

I picked up some Scooties yesterday (if that’s how you spell it Trey) – I’ve wanted some for ages, and finally got them… It all adds up though – paintings, clothes, books – my suitcase is *full*. Well, no, it could expand a teeny bit, but basically, it’s full. I worry about shite like this – and on the way over it was 16.7 kg; I’ve got 3.3kg to play with, but 560g of that is Gatorade, and then 3 paintings… and some clothes… and presents… and books. Oh god.

Still, it doesn’t *feel* that much heavier.

Anyway, I’m gonna have this cup of tea and then head out to see Mississauga. The taxi comes at 1630…

So, 2 more days; well; one and 3/4ths and then I’m back in the UK. Although I’m looking forward to working, I miss the nursing aspect of my life, the whole ‘going back to the UK’ thing doesn’t fill me with joy. Friends, yes; I’ve missed them; but I’ve felt more at home here in 2 weeks than I have in London in a month. I know I’m gonna miss Toronto like crazy. Poot.

Anyway, I spent today mostly chilling out; I did a lot of subwaying – took some photos until someone from the TTC caught me. Apparently they’re not keen on people taking photos of the TTC :-)

Then I pootled round the east end of Toronto, a bit of Cabbagetown, a bit further out; before eventually heading to The Beguiling to get a copy of the Scott Pilgrim books, which were recommended to me buy the guy at This Ain’t The Rosedale Library. Anyhow, after a bit of wandering I made it there; and they had the books – including an autographed copy of the 3rd edition. So they’re now in my bag. I’m actually more concerned about my baggage allowance to get them back. I’m sure it’ll be okay. I’m good at feining “light” with my rucksack. One of the advantages of being butch ;-)

Anyway, one of the other things to come out of today (apart from being told off by a TTC worker… did I mention that already?) is the thought process about getting rid of stuff before moving here. It has become apparent to me just how right Kate was, and how much more I can afford to ditch. A lot more. I still want to bring my car and bike/s over, but so many of my belongings can be ditched. So many.

So, yeah, lots more to clear out.

I hope that this house has gone through, my solicitors have not contacted me, not replied to e-mail, and my mum didn’t mention recieving anything from them. So I’m a bit concerned. I shall ring them as soon as I’m back in the UK  – and I’ll be mentioning to them that I’m a trifle unimpressed with their down website and their failure to respond to e-mail.

Anyway, let’s get down to todays photos… Like I said, most of them are from the subway; despite spending probably an hour and a bit wandering around Cabbagetown, which is gorgeous, I just failed to be stuck by inspiration. Or inspiration that’s worth showing anyway. So… yeah. I didn’t really get as far into cabbagetown as I wanted before deciding to head off on my other quest, so… well, you’ve got to have something to come back for.

I spent money again today.

I have been looking at it the wrong way, incidentally. When I worked with film I normally had a couple of rolls of 36 (often worked out at 38) exposure film with me. It would be ASA200 or 400, and that was my lot. If I was desparate I would buy another roll; but really? generally, that was my lot.

If it was too bright for my AE-1’s 1/1000th Sec exposure then that was the end of it. If I couldn’t close down the apature and shorten the exposure enough for the film that was in then it wasn’t happening. So here I am, I’ve got a Dimage 5; not exactly new, but certainly adequate. It’s got a range of 35-210mm equivalent (I think, off the top of my head) – which is a wider range than I ever had with my AE-1 + Lenses – ‘cept when I had John’s 17 and 14mm’s on loan. And I can get 100 photos out of the 2800mAh batteries.

So I should think: (a) I’m lots better off than I was with the AE-1. With this I can flick to Black and White, I can take at least as many pics as I normally would’ve with the AE-1. (b) I don’t have to piss about changing lenses, and (c) Remember: A better camera does not a better photographer make.

So, no more drooling over the Digital Rebel XTi. Or the XT, or quite frankly the plain old Digital Rebel.

They’ll get cheaper.

Aaanyway, so, today I kicked round Union station doing buildingy photos, and then headed to St Lawrence, taking lots of terribly unsuccessful people photos. I also found James his Xmas Prezzie. So I hope he likes it. If he doesn’t, I’ll have it. I spent a lot of time talking to the guy I got James’s present off; turns out he’s a photographer, a biker, and we had a lot in common with our political beliefs; so that was fun and entertaining. It’s kinda weird; people do just seem much more friendly and open here. I’m not sure if that’s just the people I’ve met, or whether it’s truly a Canadian Trait, but hey. I love it here, and so I’ll stick with Canadians being friendlier.

Anyway, so after that I headed… hrm, where did I go. Yeah, I went over to Kensington, fancing another ‘people’ shoot – unfortunately my camera batteries died on the way there. More unforunate because dead batteries = no more photos = kate starts to look for other ways to entertain self. Anyway, I met Melissa Ryan who is an artist, who was in the process of laying her work out on the pavement. She was very chatty too… and I really, really like her work. By ‘really really’ I’m referring to the level of really really where I buy three paintings. Three. Bad Kate. Very bad Kate. Well, not *very* bad. But certainly difficult to justify. I can only hope they don’t search my case at the airport; given that the pictures feature ‘Bombgurl’ and ‘Grenadeboy’. I’d've liked to get some of her Dead Girl stuff too, but that was beyond ’splurging’ and also beyond any vague justifications about art for my new house (if, indeed, I’ve got a house); and well into ‘I can’t justify this at all’. Still, I fed the poor starving artist for a few days :-)

So, after a bit of a chat, and an exhange of funds and pictures; and some signing; I headed to the Rainbow Cinema to watch Little Miss Sunshine which was truly excellent, although the cinema was bloody freezing. Possibly due to there only being about 8 of us in there…

And then I headed over and bought Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel – Fun Home. Mostly because it’s an autographed, hard back, for a not unreasonable price. Otherwise I’d've left it…. for some time. As a side issue, this book buying (and err, a DVD) has meant that I’ve actually updated the ‘things I want’ page. Probably for the first time since I split up with Trey, either that or since last Xmas. So, for a while. Raaa. I thought I better, because last year some people actually used it to get me prezzies. I don’t need prezzies. Friends is what I want and need – and I’ve got them. The list, however, is for me, so I can look at it when I want to treat myself… only I never do :-)

Nikki, however, treated me to a Flickr Pro account. She said she was fed up of having to scan through each day’s photographs to get to the current days, because I didn’t have enough sets… So now I’ve got the sets, m’kay? So here, without further ado (but with much thanks to Nikki) is Day 10 (aah, computing types, who start at 0).

I’m not sure what Canadians call motorways, I’m plumping with ‘highway’, I’m sure someone will tell me if I’m wrong. Anyway, the plan for today was dead simple – head up highway 401, then 400, then 11 and hop off at Huntsville. As I hopped into the car, I repeated my mantra of the moment; ‘Drive on the RIGHT’, and pulled out into traffic. Read the rest of this entry »

My art teacher, although he didn’t say it in so many words, certainly implied that I would regret not continuing my art studies; and I do. I find myself frustrated that whilst I have some degree of skill with technical drawing I’m not able to turn out any kind of artistic picture with any degree of skill – and perhaps most of all I regret that by the time I discovered that I love photography and truly enjoy it, I’m so busy that I’ve not got time to learn how to do it properly; although it is on my long list of things to do before I die (preferably).

What brings this on is the discovery of this photoblog. Her shots of London (where I nearly live) and Toronto (where I’ve been wandering around being a tourist for the last week and a half); well; they are just gorgeous, and remind me how far I’ve got to go to be half-decent. Or at least, half as good as I’d like to be. I must get out and learn more. I really must. But that’s not what this post is about. Somehow, despite actually listening to the news for the past week’n'a’bit I missed this. Surely it was reported.

Surely?

How did I miss it? Did something terrible happen on the same day. I *looked* at the United States today; I am that close, and didn’t know. I really must get up with my news reading. It can’t have hit that big, it didn’t make the headlines on the BBC website (at least, if it did it missed my RSS feed); and it didn’t make the CBC headlines that I heard. So… Meh.

I am reminded of that quote, alledged to be Benjamin Franklin:

“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.

And I fear for the United States; for like Britain, it appears to be walking down a path which scares the living shit out of me. Yes.