Mostly lemon based

Category: General

  • Packed up…

    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…

  • All good things come to an end

    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.

  • And they let you out without someone to watch you why?

    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).

  • Dancing on Highway 401

    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. (more…)

  • this is not what this post is about…

    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.

  • Bad kate…

    *Saw this and wanted it*

  • Big, wet and pretty…

    Niagara falls, obviously. The falls are big, quite definately; and wet, yes, definately some kind of wet theme going on there. And pretty, very very pretty.

    My mum loves waterfalls, and so do I – although I’m less prone to leaping in them (probably for the best in this case, especially given the not entirely warm 4 degrees C it was in Niagara). So I got there, and I oohed, and aahed and mostly just stood watching the water tumble and fall, each droplet eating away at the falls, taking them further back up the river. Like millions and millions of tiny grains each rubbing away at the surface of the falls.

    They are stunning.

    One of the benefits of going very-off season is that it’s pretty much a given that not many people will be there. In total, there were probably in the low hundreds of visitors; so I got to wander around and stare at things, and generally be thoughtful and engaged in the beauty of the falling water. Rather than being shoved and nudged and trying to avoid large numbers of children.

    Sadly though, it wasn’t exactly sunny. Not bitterly cold, nor peeing with rain, but not greatly sunny. Still, there are the obligatory photos in my flickr thingie; and *I* had a good time.

    I visited Wales off season, and it was shut. Much the same was true of Niagara, most of the tours, most of the gift-emporiums, most of the eateries were shut. Eventually I found a Subway that was open and taking cards (handy, as their cashpoints didn’t want to give me money)… I also spent a while enjoying the solitude of the unlocked but very closed Maid of the Mist ‘market’.

    The only, very slight disappointment is that I was unable to get a wax lion, smooshed face or otherwise, from the falls. Most distressing.

  • Spending more cash an’ introspection

    So, today I had a bit of a chilled out day – I’ve been doing an awful lot of walking – not being very sure of Subway and Streetcar routes, and the small nature of the centre of Toronto, and an absence of me needing to be anywhere, mean that quite often I’ve just walked it…

    …Today I used the Subway more; I mooched around cafes, book shops, china town, and uh, yeah, spent some money I shouldn’t have. See, I’ve wanted a copy of infiltration magazine’s Access All Areas. And I noticed that they said it’s for sale at ‘This Ain’t The Rosedale Library’. Of course, if I’d’ve noticed that it was for sale *before* I found it the first time, that’d’ve helped.

    So, I headed over there today – and while I was there took the time to check out Church street. I’m impressively bad at the whole gay thing – I found a mostly-inhabited-by-gay-men cafe; a mostly-inhabited-by-gay-men coffee shop, and a shop selling clothes… for… you guessed it, gay men. I need someone to lead me round and go *there*, ‘cos I don’t look at things before I walk in, at least, not that carefully. I need to actually look *before* I walk in the door and go… oops. That’s not to say I didn’t find some cool places, but yeah, felt a bit of a pilchard wandering into definately bloke-filled places.

    Anyway, I’ve started to reliably be able to find places. Only big places, I know, but places. I can kinda find myself a street and turn around and get from where I am to where I want to be; which is quite nice. It is – to be fair – rather simpler than navigating London with it’s mishmash of random streets…

    But it’s still quite nice to go ‘oh, I need to go to X’ and be able to get there without fishing out a map. Which is odd, because what I bought today was a map – but that’s ‘cos I’m heading to Niagara tomorrow. In a rented Ford Focus (or similar). In a country where they use a different unit of measurement for speed and distance and DRIVE ON THE OTHER FRACKING SIDE OF THE ROAD. Heh.

    It’ll be fine.

    I’m not nervous.

    Okay, I am nervous, but it’ll still be fine. Yeah.

    Somehow, today I’ve been a lot more thoughtful about the whole moving here thing – partly I guess ‘cos I took a wander through the Hospital District (although unlike Chinatown, Church and Wellesley, and the Entertainment District, it’s street signs don’t get a dinky ‘Sick District’ or ‘Lurgee District’ or even plain old ‘Hospital District’… I wonder why? ) – and started to wonder about working here. Living here. The bigger bits and the smaller bits.

    Long streams of disjointed thoughts – leaving the UK – moving to a place where I barely understand how to buy stamps, let alone how to pay taxes. How do you get a licence plate for your car? How do you register with a doctor? How does recycling work for people at home? How do you find a decent auto shop? What are your rights as a consumer. Do I go with plan A and get a permi resident’s visa, or come over on a working visa and then apply? Can I really deal with throwing away or selling ‘most everything I own that isn’t a book, dvd or CD? Will I be able to leave my mum behind?

    The why, the why, because now I know I love the country, and I can feel comfortable here, and I remain unhappy about what’s happening in the UK socially and politically. The Why now needs more flesh on it’s bones, needs to grow into a fully functioning reason. Because the bigness of it all hasn’t escaped me, and looking around today the bigness of it all settled around me and pooled like tar; sticking to every surface and grounding me. The bigness and darkness of it all filled the spaces around me and demanded of me the whys, the hows, the questions that I’ve answered lightheartedly to everyone else, but which have occupied my thoughts at a deeper level internally. Well, now I want those answers to be fully formed, a shield of shining clarity; I want to know not only why, but how – how am I going to achieve what I want to achieve?

  • Snuggling up by the fireplace…

    So, today I did Kensington Market and the CN Tower – and am feeling more at home. Why? Well, getting to know the place, starting to be marginally less lost when I’m wandering around – and actually landing up where I expect to be when I’m wandering without having to consult a map….

    That helps loads; looking the right way before I cross the road, that’s also good – and starting to understand when to cross the road (and that people actually seem to have to stop here). Actually, that’s an interesting thing; like Alaska – the road layouts are vastly simpler here. Which I guess is handy, because their road signs, again like AK are much more verbose. The UK signs are much more symbol based – like the whole of Europe. Here, signs tell you stuff in words; it’s quite odd.

    But I’m starting to get used to it all. Yellow traffic lights? That’s fine too. Tell you what is odd. I keep hearing Elastica. I’d not heard *any* elastica for years before I came here; then I burned a CD to bring with me. And then I get here, and Jason puts it on, it’s played on the Radio one day and I walk into a bookshop (yes, I should *not* have gone in there) and *they* are playing elastica. It’s freaky.

    It’s quite nice though; makes it feel more like home. Although I did wander down the road singing ‘Car Song’. I also tried out Tim Horton’s today; that was fun. The experience was made slightly more challenging by the fact that the woman taking my order was ?swiss (certainly northern european) and struggling to understand even the Canadians, who she was presumably fairly used to. The woman helping her, she was of indian descent – and had a fairly strong indian accent… and yeah, I had no idea what there would be options wise on my order. We got through it though :-)

    And yeah, ’twas nice. Anyway, I headed on to the CN Tower.
    So, the CN Tower. Expensive, great view… no-where to sit. I wanted to just sit there and soak in the view, eventually I found a perch up in the Sky Pod, but I really wanted somewhere I could just sit and read my book – with that view being absorbed by osmosis. Of course, I could have sat in the Cafe, but I kinda felt they’d had enough of my cash…

    Afterward I sat in a Second Cup (see, watch me learn to be more Canadian); and read one of the books I picked up at “This Ain’t the Rosedale Library” – Code White (which I’d link to, but it’s a short run book and I can’t find a link to it without trying harder than I’d like). It’s a book written from the perspective of a queer femme manic-depressive in a locked mental health ward. It’s really very compelling to read; especially if, like me, you find mental health – or more loss or damage to your mental health incredibly interesting. I could never work on a mental health ward, but I do find it so interesting. Anyway, then I headed back to the expensive bookstore to buy books and things… Yes, between that and some of the other stores I visited today I think I’ve spent far too much, but I’ve also got most of my friends presents.

    Of course, there’s more pics added to the photoset, another 20 today.

  • Toronto’s Islands

    Today I spent nearly all of the day on the Toronto Islands. My god it’s so pretty there. Do I keep saying it’s pretty? Well it is pretty. So, let’s start with the morning… I ran a bit late this morning and so made a fairly quick trip to get to the train… which just to demonstrate that my opinion of toronto’s public transport was somewhat biased toward the positive side was late… It’s still CLEAN though :-)

    Anyway, having got into Toronto I headed down to the waterfront with my Second Cup pumpkin spice latte (how could I miss that on the menu?!). Before heading down and missing the Ferry out to the islands. It was such a gorgeous day though, I couldn’t miss the chance to go out onto the islands today; so I wandered off, bought some post cards and then headed back catching the next ferry a mere hour later… And headed out to the islands. To be honest I had little idea what to expect – and was stunned by what was there.

    It is just *gorgeous*. Completely separate from Toronto and completely different. It is beautiful… So I walked…and walked…and walked. I did the whole of the island from Ward’s Island ferry to Hanlan’s Point Ferry, and then back on the other side of the island. Along the way I took… photos. Yes, of course. Sorry. There’s quite a few…

    The other weirder thing that happened, as I was taking a photo of the spit of land from the boardwalk I met a guy from Toronto Island’s Fire Dept – who invited me into the fire dept on my way *back* from my loop of the island. So I headed off, down the island. It was about the point I passed the oh-so-closed refreshment place which I think is at Avenue of the Islands that I started to regret not eating lunch or bringing anything to drink. The water-fountains are off this time of year too… But pretty quickly I was back to looking at the scenery and had forgotten my hunger. Eventually I made it back to the fire-station, but sadly blokie bloke was busy with work – so I chatted to one of the other firemen (‘he said there was some strange English girl who was going to drop in’) for a bit before deciding I should probably head toward the ferry… not least because my feet were *killing* me.

    So I made it back to the ferry and headed back across the water to Toronto, arriving at the station to find something which can probably be described as moderate chaos; there was a signal failure at Mimico (sound familiar?!) but fortunately, although the train before mine hadn’t left even when mine did; mine still left on time. Raaar. And now I’m knackered, and my knees hurt.