- It's entirely possible to spend an indecent amount of money on chocolate and feel guilty for only about one minute.
- It's equally possible to spend an indecent amount of money on cake and feel very annoyed with yourself when it turns out that the cake isn't even very good.
- Having a room on the 22nd floor has serious disadvantages. Especially when the elevators are not working....
- Generally speaking it's not a very good idea to walk long distances in the heat when your are wearing a skirt. (Unless your legs are so skinny that your thighs don't touch, that is.) (Hint: I am not skinny at the moment.) (Though that might change if the elevators at the hotel are not working on a regular basis.)
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Things I've Learnt This Week
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Week 1: The Weekend of the G20 Summit
As you know, last weekend the G20 took place in Toronto. In Downtown Toronto. With the western end of the security fence right next to my hotel. I kid you not.
As my room faces east, I had a clear, unobstructed view of The Fence down Wellington Street:
And a clear, unobstructed view of all the cops stationed at that part of The Fence:
Thus, through Saturday afternoon and evening (when I had finally managed to get back to the hotel), a mere look out of the window told me when it was time to switch on the TV (note that by then The Fence was closed):
When they started to close off all streets facing north, like this ...
... I got a bit (uh-hm) worried and started packing my rucksack, just in case the hotel had to be evacuated. I already saw myself wandering through the streets of Toronto at night, on the run from a mob of rioters. (Hey, I’m an author! And authors tend to have over-active imaginations. Sometimes this can be a bit of a disadvantage ...)
For me, what was most surprising about the whole weekend was how little Toronto as a whole was prepared for the violence that erupted. On Saturday one of the protest marches attracted a bunch of people whose sole intention was to wreck havock, and they trashed several shops (most of them on Queen Street) and torched four police cars (despite the presence of 19,000 cops in Downtown Toronto). When this happened the city was a in a state of shock (as well as in a state of complete lockdown; public transport in the downtown core came to a standstill), and from the news coverage you might have thought that the whole of Toronto was going up in flames.
Street view of the Fence during the week before the summit
As my room faces east, I had a clear, unobstructed view of The Fence down Wellington Street:
And a clear, unobstructed view of all the cops stationed at that part of The Fence:
Thus, through Saturday afternoon and evening (when I had finally managed to get back to the hotel), a mere look out of the window told me when it was time to switch on the TV (note that by then The Fence was closed):
When they started to close off all streets facing north, like this ...
... I got a bit (uh-hm) worried and started packing my rucksack, just in case the hotel had to be evacuated. I already saw myself wandering through the streets of Toronto at night, on the run from a mob of rioters. (Hey, I’m an author! And authors tend to have over-active imaginations. Sometimes this can be a bit of a disadvantage ...)
For me, what was most surprising about the whole weekend was how little Toronto as a whole was prepared for the violence that erupted. On Saturday one of the protest marches attracted a bunch of people whose sole intention was to wreck havock, and they trashed several shops (most of them on Queen Street) and torched four police cars (despite the presence of 19,000 cops in Downtown Toronto). When this happened the city was a in a state of shock (as well as in a state of complete lockdown; public transport in the downtown core came to a standstill), and from the news coverage you might have thought that the whole of Toronto was going up in flames.
Though numerous, protest marches in Toronto seem to be typically rather peaceful, and everybody expected the same for the G20 protests, which, I guess, was a bit naive. But then I live near a city which has seen its fair number of violent protests and in which water cannons roll down the streets whenever there is to be a protest that might get out of hand.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
First Week in Toronto
My first week in Toronto offered a lot of excitment: fire (possibly) (I'm pretty sure I smelt fire when I ran down the stairs in the hotel), an earthquake (a tiny little one), a severe thunderstorm (with flooding) and riots (more about that in the next post). And here are some of the things I discovered during Week 1:
Funny little creatures frolicking across the green, green grass
Old and new side by side:
Lovely pictures on buildings:
Beautiful decorations in a street full of pretty shops:
One large market hall, stuffed to the brim with people:
A birdie bath:
A church (which, strangely enough, doesn't smell like European churches - none of the churches in Toronto smells like a European church, not even the Catholic one!) (most disconcerting to walk into a church and to realise that it doesn't smell right)
A very nice shopping center (these are not real birds!) (but aren't they pretty?):
More nice houses:
REFLECTIONS!!!!! (I am quite taken with them):
More beautiful decorations (is that supposed to be a squirrel or a beaver?):
Oh, oh, look: reflections ahead!
But first: sunshiny prettiness:
And now the reflections:
Pretty houses:
Other pretty houses
Giant creepy-crawlies climbing about a house:
Gargoyles on the tower of the Town Hall:
Some TV trucks (picture taken especially for Matze):
And here's the sight from my window:
Funny little creatures frolicking across the green, green grass
Old and new side by side:
Lovely pictures on buildings:
Beautiful decorations in a street full of pretty shops:
One large market hall, stuffed to the brim with people:
A birdie bath:
A church (which, strangely enough, doesn't smell like European churches - none of the churches in Toronto smells like a European church, not even the Catholic one!) (most disconcerting to walk into a church and to realise that it doesn't smell right)
A very nice shopping center (these are not real birds!) (but aren't they pretty?):
More nice houses:
REFLECTIONS!!!!! (I am quite taken with them):
More beautiful decorations (is that supposed to be a squirrel or a beaver?):
Oh, oh, look: reflections ahead!
But first: sunshiny prettiness:
And now the reflections:
Pretty houses:
Other pretty houses
Giant creepy-crawlies climbing about a house:
Gargoyles on the tower of the Town Hall:
Some TV trucks (picture taken especially for Matze):
And here's the sight from my window:
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