Joy of Writing - Story Six - Mystery

The library was closing in 15 minutes, so I decided to quickly pick out a book to take home with me. I was sort of leaning towards a good mystery story. I spent a few minutes  looking through the mysteries but could not find anything that really interested me, so I wandered around some other aisles, to see if I could find anything I might like to read. 

The romance section was crowded with teenagers giggling about the titles, but I really did not expect to find anything there. 

I spent a few minutes in the non-fiction area but then noticed a table with a display of local authors. There I found a book on local history that I thought might be interesting, but then noticed the author’s name. OMG, I went to school with her, she was such a lame student. 

Time was running out when I noticed that there was a cookbook section and a quick search revealed a book on “Mysterious cooking” featuring recipes that appeared in famous mystery stories. Perfect, I could be eating what Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot ate. This was a great choice, I picked the book up and carried it to the check out computer. 

I scanned the back cover on the automated check-out system and got a message that the book was not in the library. Obviously a mistake, so I went to the actual librarian, who also got the same message. Looking confused, she went to her computer and typed the title in. 

“Well this is a mystery, I’m sorry, I don’t know what is wrong. The computer says this book is signed out by some unknown patron who doesn’t even seem to be in the system as having a library card. I’ll have to do it by hand since this book is obviously actually here.”

Perfect, I did say I wanted a good mystery.

Winter In Toronto

This is my third winter in Toronto and 2023, 2024 were not really that wintery, in 2023 there was hardly any snow at all and last year we got only one bad snowfall. But it appears that Toronto was just lulling me into a false sense of calm, because this year the city really got a winter! The snowstorm on January 25th dumped enough snow to break records for not only the single day’s snowfall but also for the entire winter. And we still have a few days left in the season. 

Now I am not new to winter; I grew up in Moncton New Brunswick and we regularly got snowdrifts of over 6 feet, and I recall digging snow tunnels through them that lasted for weeks. One year when we lived on a farm outside of Moncton we got so much snow in one storm that they were unable to plow our long driveway with a regular truck, and we had to wait days until a farmer down the road came with a new-fangled thing called a snow-blower on the front of his large tractor, and even with this he had to dig into the drift, back out and let the snow collapse and run at it again. So although I did know how to deal with lots of snow, years living in Nova Scotia I got used to snow that fell, froze, melted and then repeated, never really amounting to much. 

But as I get older, I have discovered that I do not really like winter; I have definitely become a summer, hot weather person, so the move to a 9th floor Toronto condo where snow became someone else’s problem, and, I could just ignore it and stay inside while I waited for spring to arrive once more. I do not own a snow shovel, all 10 of them in various sizes and configurations were left behind in Nova Scotia. My car does not have snow tires, because it is a little convertible that sleeps all winter in the warm underground garage and does not emerge from hibernation until all traces of salt are washed away by spring rain. 

But of course I can’t completely ignore winter, as I do have to go out for groceries and wine, so I have winter boots and warm clothes, and if you dress appropriately winter can be weathered.

Now with the heavy snowfall of the latest winter storm, I watched from the comfortable warmth of my condo as the roof next door got piled with snow and even my balcony developed drifts of the white stuff. Of course the newscasts were making a big thing of how bad the conditions were, so when the snowstorm stopped the next morning and the city’s crews had started cleaning up, I found I wanted to go out and see just what Toronto was like after a serious hit of Winter, so I dressed warmly, put on my L.L. Bean Slush boots and decided to go for a short walk to have a look about. 

Well, that short walk turned into a long 8 km hike through the city. I found I was really enjoying walking and experiencing the city as it dug itself out from the 60 Cm of snow. As I walked the streets I glanced around and saw things differently covered in snow. Long Icicles hung from building, and everything looked cleaner covered in a blanket of white.  I ended up walking not only my neighbourhood, but right down to the Waterfront. 

I discovered some streets were cleared nicely but others were a complete mess and had not been plowed yet, and sidewalks were every possible configuration. If there was a responsible business on the sidewalk it was likely shovelled, and sprinkled with ice-melt so was completely clear, Neighbourhood sidewalks in front of ordinary houses were a mix of careful cleaning to minimal pathways and on occasion when I came upon deserted or abandoned building I was required to walk through deep snow, actually breaking ground to create a new pathway for others to follow. 

Back in Nova Scotia if it snows, all vehicles have to be removed from the streets to allow cleaning, but here in Toronto, they sell street parking passes and some cars sit incased in ice and snow until everything melts in the spring. I saw whole streets solidly lined with snow covered cars. Their owners must have decided that Public transit was a better option than digging their own cars out. 

When I got to the waterfront I discovered that the lake was completely frozen over and looking from Sugar Beach I wondered what those folks who actually live on the island do when this happens, but a walk down to the ferry terminal showed that somehow they had broken a pathway through the ice and the ferry with struggling through heavy packed ice towards the island probably delivering those needed groceries and wine. Even the subway ride home was different with warnings about sections where trains had been cancelled because in places the subway was not submerged the snow buildup had not been cleared yet so buses were the only option. 

So I did have an interesting walk through Toronto’s  winter, but seriously . . . bring on spring!

Joy of Writing, Story Five - But It's Rose?

The General Motors dealership was just down the road, so instead of getting a drive she walked there to pick up the new Corvette that she had been informed had finally arrived on the last transport. She had special ordered the car months ago with the exact options she wanted and was looking forward to the looks she would get driving around in her fancy new car. 

It took her 20 minutes to get there but she knew that driving that lovely car back would be more than enough reward for the walk. She found herself looking at every car parked on the side of the road as she made her way to the dealership. 

A Mustang . . . no big deal, 

A Cadillac,  . .so what . . . . ,

An Acura, . . . damn imports,

An old blue something  . . . . who cares, I don’t even now what it is. 

She had dissed fifteen cars before she reached the dealership. 

It took her a few minutes to find her salesperson who was chatting up another prospective customer, and she was a bit upset when she wasn’t recognized right away . . . Really, don’t they keep track of their important customers . . . especially the ones buying fancy Corvettes. 

“Yes Lucy, your car is all ready to go, it’s out back all prepped, cleaned, polished, and warmed up, lets go check it out.” The salesperson said proudly.”I’m sure you will be very happy with it.”

They walked through the showroom and around the side of the building to the back lot, where her new red Corvette was supposed to be waiting. She looked left and right and did not see any red cars. There was two Corvettes but none that were red.

“I don’t see my car.” Lucy exclaimed, “Where is it?”

The salesperson pointed over to a large black pickup, “Yea, it’s right there behind the truck.”

Lucy walked over and there was a Corvette there all right . . . a bright pink one.

“What do you mean, that is not the car I ordered!”,  she exclaimed angrily. 

“Yes it is, that is your car, that is what you ordered.“.

“No, I specially ordered a bright red Corvette and that one is definitely pink.”

The Salesperson pulled out an order form and read the order, “Yes, it says right here you ordered the bright rose colour option, and that was a special order so you have to take it. “

“But roses are red;  violets are blue, I thought bright rose was red”. 

Joy Of Writing - Story 4 - The Streetcar

My handy little transit app said that the streetcar was supposed to arrive in six minutes, but I seem to have been waiting for at least 15, so I did not know where it was. The transit system is usually pretty reliable and I use it all the time, but every so often something goes wrong, a medical emergency, an unruly passenger, a mechanical problem or a blocked track; You never know. I was just planning to go explore a new part of the city, so I wasn’t in any real serious time crunch, but really how slow was the Transit system today? 

Then just as I was about to give up and start walking I saw the streetcar coming down the road, so I decided to wait. It arrived at the stop and slowly pulled to a stop beside the shelter. The doors slid open and suddenly it seemed that everyone who was in the car spilled out onto the street; there must be some sort of special event in the neighbourhood as this is not usually a busy stop and I was the only passenger waiting to get on. Being a polite transit user, I waited patiently until everyone exited the car and I was just about to climb into the car when I smelled the most god-awful stench coming from the car. Now I knew why everyone got out and probably why the car’s arrival was so late. Something awful must have happened on that tram.

I stepped back in surprise when the cloud of purple gas oozed out of the doors and slowly spread across the street  and onto the sidewalk.  

Perhaps it really was a better choice to walk today.