Distractions, reflections

Simon and I live downtown, and have usually driven (way) uptown to visit Greg. Our preferred mode of transportation is bicycle, so good weather presented an opportunity for a tour. I’m less ambitious in my distances than Simon, and suggested reduced pedaling by riding the TTC. We started the journey from Queen Street East up to Pape Station — after I changed two flat tires. The gauge on the new bicycle pump reads differently!

I chose my vintage 1983 touring bike with cycling shoes and toe clips for this trip. Simon has a really nice Cannondale touring bike, but doesn’t like to park it outside. He chose to ride his father’s old bike, and thought flip flops were sufficient for pedaling in the summer heat .

From Pape Station, we rode up to the Kennedy station, and changed to the Scarborough LRT. Bikes are not that unusual on the subway, outside of rush hour.

The LRT routing jogs north before turning due east, so Midland station is closest to Unionville. This is where our ride seriously started.

Mike Stern is one of my favourite musicians. I’ve previously seen him perform at the 55 Bar, in the Village in NYC, and he’s been a regular attraction at previous Toronto Jazz Festivals. Antonio is an aspiring guitarist, and our schedules only permitted us to see Steps Ahead at Iridium on the night that Mike wasn’t playing. Since I was spending a lot of time in town, I made a point of scheduling an evening when Mike is at 55 Bar. This evening was a trio with Lionel Cordew on drums and Tom Kennedy on bass.

Bar 55 is long and narrow. We enjoyed a front row view of the musicians, so Antonio did as most guitarist do — watching fingers fly. After the set, Antonio bought a CD and had Mike sign it.

When there’s a large selection of restaurant to choose from, I’ll tend towards the more obscure. Vegetarian Korean food is pretty obscure in most cities, but in New York City, there’s Hangawi in Koreatown. Marianne was game for the adventure, and took in an afternoon train from New Jersey. We chose the set meal. The soup came with skewers in it.

The appetizers included a dumpling, a stuffed apple, and lotus root.

Korean pancakes came with an assortment of shaved vegetables and pickles, with a dipping sauce on the side.

Main dishes included mushroom, rice and kimchi (of course).

Times Square is a tourist mecca for visitors to New York City. Most people see it from the ground level. Working with a client in one of the skyscrapers privileged us a different perspective. Above Broadway at 44th Street, here’s the view southwest. Across the Hudson River, the towers of Jersey City don’t look so far away.

Looking directly south, the towers around the theater district diminish, with the next cluster of peaks downtown in the financial district.

Looking down on streets in the lower 40’s, we were trying to figure out the machinery on some rooftops.

The view southeast shows some of the billboards that make Times Square famous.

Being part of a virtual team means that even if everyone is scheduled for the same meeting in New York City, we don’t travel together. We come in on different flights, and stay in different hotels. When we’re organized, we can at least try to schedule dinner together. On this trip, my hotel was a little northwest of Times Square. Stepping out of the hotel, looking south on 8th Avenue doesn’t give the theatre district vibe.

Looking north up 8th Avenue doesn’t provide many sights either. The destination restaurant was a straight walk across 49th Street, so I turned right.

A hidden indicator of the theatre district is the Actor’s Chapel, on the north side of 49th Street, just east of 8th Avenue.

A short walk over, looking south down 7th Avenue shows the skyscrapers of the Great White Way (not yet lit up in daylight!)

Our home is in downtown Toronto, where there’s still wildlife. There was a wailing just outside our bedroom window, and we spotted a baby raccoon without its mother nearby. The nest was under the eaves of the porch roof in the house two doors down.

The baby wailed and wailed. Neighbours and passers-by stopped to find out about the noise. It seems as though the mother might have wandered off, and the baby was hungry. Some neighbours threw up fruits and vegetables onto the roof, but the baby raccoon didn’t seem to want those.

In Riverside (or South Riverdale), we live near one of Toronto’s Chinatowns. As with most Chinatowns, parking a car is annoying. It’s close enough to home for a walk, but bicycling is better: two wheels are speedier, and bike racks mean that that I can carry more than with two arms. The ride westbound takes me past the Queen-Saulter Library. When the boys were young, Diana spent a lot of time in the Queen-Saulter Parent-Child Centre behind the library.

At the northwest corner of Queen Street East at Broadview Avenue is the New Broadview House Hotel. The strip club on the ground floor marks the neighbourhood as ungentrified, although rumours of a renovation into boutique hotel sometimes appear.

On the southeast corner of Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue is a caribbean restaurant, The Real Jerk. The bright colours make it a landmark, and disguise the prior history of the building as former branch of the Royal Bank.

The 504 King streetcar comes from downtown, follows Queen Street East for a few blocks, and then turns north onto Broadview Avenue.

The Cai Yuan store at the southeast corner of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street always has large displays of fresh fruit outside facing north, and vegetables and packaged goods facing west.

On the south side of the Gerrard Street, as the next building east, is a branch of Trinity Supermarket. This building was renovated a few years ago, and I shop here often.

While the Lowkong society visit to the cemetery monument draws a large group that needs to plan for rain or shine, our more immediate family would schedule in pouring rain. On this Sunday, the weather turned out to be wonderful.

We set the time, and people gradually showed up. Waiting provided a good time to catch up on news with cousins and uncles.

Active social lives means that at least someone will be tired from a late Saturday night.

The cemetery is well-kept, presenting an opportunity to enjoy sitting on the grass.

Every spring, the LowKong society schedules a day to visit the cemetery, to pay respect to our ancestors. The meeting at Pine Hills Cemetery was set, for either rain or shine. On this day, everyone was huddled under umbrellas in the rain.

After a few speeches, the roasted meats, baked goods and fresh fruit was served as a picnic lunch.

It’s a tradition to have at least a little snack to honour ancestors. It’s not quite so relaxed when everyone is under umbrellas.

We went home for a few hours, and then for the regular evening banquet. Dinner, in the usual restaurant, was more predictable.

In my current day job, I probably spend the majority of the days at home at my desk. When I do client interviews, I try to schedule two to three days in one place, and stay in a nearby hotel. It’s a rare occasion when I do a day trip, boarding a plane in the morning, and returning that evening. The flight from Toronto to New York is scheduled at 95 minutes, so making two customer calls in one day is feasible. I’ve never been in the Chelsea neighbourhood before, but precise directions to a taxi driver dropped me off at 8th Avenue and 11th Street. Looking south, the buildings seem to be a few stories high, with a few skyscapers thrown in.

Greg called me on my mobile phone, and we met up. As a good sales person, he knows the preferences of his clients. Our first call was on an executive who isn’t a fan of bagels, but really likes donuts. Thus, we stopped by Donut Haven to pick up a fresh assortment.

We went on the customer call, and then headed northbound on the fastest mode of transportation: the New York City subway. Greg’s home is in Providence, RI, so he says he doesn’t really know the subway lines. By a strange coincidence, all of his clients and the office are all on the E line, so he doesn’t gets lost.