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”. 

Doors Open Toronto

Once a year, Toronto hosts an event called “Doors Open Toronto”, in which buildings that might not normally be open to the public open their doors so people can go see what goes on. Also, museums and attractions that normally charge for entry make the day free. It gives the public a chance to explore sites in the city they might not normally get to see. 

RClub Toronto

The pouring rain in the morning, provided me an excuse to stay home and watch the NASCAR race that was on, without feeling guilty since Regis wanted to take in this event, but when the rain let up, we headed out to find a few events to take in. 

In looking through the hundreds of open doors offered, I wanted to visit a car club that looked really interesting, so we went there first. It was a bit of a mystery, as the website was very vague about what it cost to join while making it sound very intriguing; all very suspicious. The club featured a collection of exotic cars including Porsches, Ferraris and Alfa Romeos that apparently can be “used” by club members, a driving simulator room, a car wash station, and a work area with a lift. We took TTC and managed to find the club without a problem and it really was a pretty cool spot, but the promotional literature being handed out still did not give costs. 

A stack of cars

Although it was getting late we discovered that we could stop at the Toronto Camera Club for a tour of their building on the way home. Being interested in photography for many years I found this building especially interesting. They had their darkroom open, two photo galleries and a great collection of historic cameras. One collection of black and white phots I found especially interesting as it featured old derelict cars and street art; I could have taken the photographs. Another collection featured beautiful colour phots of some of Toronto’s many ethnic festivals, and we were surprised to see a photo of a girl in the St. Patrick’s Day parade who we saw when we watched the parade. I purchased a print by one of the club members which I really liked to hang on the condo wall. 

Toronto Camera Club

We only got to two open doors on Saturday, but on Sunday while I went to a Coffee & Cars “meet-up”, Regis spent the day exploring a few more, including St. Regis Collage and other open doors in our neighbourhood.

Oh, BTW, a Google search later revealed that the annual membership for RClub started at $9,000.00 and went to $14,000.00; I do not think I will be joining . . . . .

We Saw this girl . . .

A Very Old Camera - now we use our phones . . . .

Bits of exotica . . .

I spent the day at the International Auto Show here in Toronto, and enjoyed taking photos of some of the beautiful vehicles there. I took lots of pictures, but all I am giving you here in the blog are some of my detail shots of little bits of some of the cars. I like to look at the cars and find interesting areas and parts of the cars to photograph. Some of these vehicles I am sure you will be able to identify, but some, I suspect no one will know where the bits came from. 

Garden Car Update

Well it turned out that Google does not always know the answer . . . .

When we could not find the Kensington Market Garden Car, I came home and asked Google about it and I was told that a new car was going to be installed in a few days. So when my daughter was visiting and wanted to go shopping in the area, I decided to go take pictures of the “New” garden car. But the corner it is supposed to sit on was still empty, so this time we did the smart thing and went into a local shop and asked about the car.

Turns out that they remove the flower and plant filled car very year because it impedes snow removal and they do not put another one in until spring. You know . . . that makes sense, since nothing is going to grow in the soil the car is filled with until spring anyway. Take it away when winter is threatening and put a nice “new” old car there on the corner in the spring. I guess still another trip to Kensington Market will be scheduled for next spring. Perhaps that is not such a bad strategy at all; it did get me to turn one visit into three. 

So instead of pictures of the Kensington Market car, I turned my attention to the really spectacular street art in the neighbourhood. As you walk through the busy streets in the Market you see vibrant street art decorating buildings and back alleys. Here are some of the best examples.

Loitering, idling or parking is not allowed but looks like painting is

This one was actually sponsored by the city

I like how the pipes, drains and windows are incorporated into the art

This was actually inside a restaurant

This entire building was decorated in this design

Hangin' with the Italians

Unfortunately a Top-Up Day

My little 1982 Alfa Romeo Spider had a great day today. She got to tour some of the beautiful Ontario back roads with 25 other pure-bred Italians. Of course, I am taking about Italian Alfa Romeo automobiles, but I will admit, I did notice a few Italians drivers behind the wheels of some of these beautiful Italian vehicles. 

I brought my sports car to Toronto with me in the hope of joining some of the interesting events I had been reading about on the Toronto Alfa Romeo Club Facebook page. It took me a while locate and connect with the club, but I finally joined the club, and got an invitation to their final outing of the year, The 8the annual “Fall Colours Drive”.

A line of Alfa Romeos

Now although I can walk or take transit for most things I need here in Toronto, the city is so big that in order to get to places where you can actually drive your car without traffic, stop lights and skyscrapers blocking the views of Ontario’s fall foliage, you need to drive an hour just to leave the cityscapes for the countryside, so we left the downtown and drove north to meet up at a bakery where the parking lot slowly filled with not only Alfa Romeos, but also a group of Porsche enthusiasts who were trying to fit on one last drive of the season. 

Lots of Spiders in attendance

After breakfast and a lot of car talk, the 26 club members fired up their Italian cars and formed a train of Italian vintage workmanship along with a few modern Alfas. The club president lead us through the Ontario countryside so we could enjoy the fall colours as well as the nice twisty roads. The tour lasted about two hours including two stops for photos and breaks, and ended up at a country restaurant for lunch. 

Me and my Spider

The day dawned with sunshine and clear skies, but “Showers” were forecast, and we left with hopes of a good day. Unfortunately the “Showers” arrived and really never left, and was serious rain at times. My little car is not used to being driven in the rain, but she performed admirably; the little-used wipers did actually clear the windshield, and the convertible top kept most of the rain off the passengers. 

The day was cool and wet, but still was very enjoyable, but I am looking forward to springtime and warmer top-down drives next year.

Strollin'

A Toronto Parking Lot

Although Toronto is a city full of cars (I saw a Rolls Royce, an Aston Martin and Porsche all in one parking lot), it is not a city where I'd want a car for general transportation. You just do not need one, the transit system is great and will get you almost anywhere. Toronto's transit system is constantly improving, and every time I visit it seems to work better. In addition, there is UBER and LYFT if you need to get somewhere the transit system does not go. As a result, when we come to Toronto to visit our son and his partner, we prefer to fly in and leave the car at home.

When our son moved to Toronto he discovered a book called “Stroll” about walking in Toronto and I have been using it to find interesting places to explore in the city. On a previous visit I used the book to explore the Toronto waterfront.

Regis (Sarah) found her street

On our first day here I decided to walk down Yonge St. to try to find the new Alfa Romeo dealer to get some swag to wear while having fun in my 82 Spider, and I used the “Stroll” book to make the walk more interesting. It pointed out an interesting old cemetery hidden down an alley at one of the busiest intersections in the city. Although a small cemetary, it was once a very busy spot, and houses over thirty thousand souls. Unfortunately I could not actually get in to explore, but at least I was able to find it. I also visited what the author called “The world's fanciest liquor store”, a converted and restored train station. Had to purchase a bottle of wine, but their selection is so amazing it is always hard to choose only one bottle. We also passed the Staples store which occupies the former home of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car showroom. It looks like a boring “Big Box” store at first until you look closely and notice the ornate gargoyles which have survived the various renovations since 1939. I probably would have walked by all of these interesting buildings without the suggestions from Stroll.

The downside of “Strollin” is that we walked over 15 km, so the next day was spent relaxing and recovering for our next stroll, an evening trip downtown for Nuit Blanche, a nighttime live art show all over the city similar to Nocturne in Halifax.

Waiting for lunch to arrive

Forecast - Dust!

Whats the weather in Maadi?

Egypt is dusty. It hardly ever rains and the thin strip of green that people live on along the Nile is surrounded by desert on both sides, so any wind blows sand and dust from the deserts into the cities. Cairo is literally covered with a layer of dust, and the people who live here have just come to accept living with dust.

When we first visited in 2009, our friends diligently dusted their apartment daily, trying to maintain the dust-free conditions they were used to in Canada; I notice that 9 years later they are not so concerned with dust – it has become normal for them. I was told a story of the first rain they encountered when the arrived in Egypt; they ducked under a tree to get out of the downpour only to discover that the accumulated dust (Turned to mud) on the tree leaves poured down on them, and their clothes never came clean again.

If you walk the sidewalks and streets here, you care constantly kicking up clouds of dust, so sandals result in very dirty feet after a short walk. The Egyptians just accept this and they all wear sandals.

If you park you car on the streets, it loses it's colour in a day or two,

Parked BMW

all turning brown from a layer of dust. You can immediately tell the vehicles left derelict on the street, by the piles of accumulated dust covering the bottom of the tires. Back in cold Canada, you see cars with windshield wipers pulled up off the windscreen to prevent them freezing to the ice; here they are pulled up to prevent then gathering a layer of dust and scratching the glass when turned on.

But then, Egypt is home to one of the oldest civilization on earth, so I suppose we should be looking at the dust not as simple dirt, but the accumulated bits of thousands of years of human development in this part of the world. It isn't dust and dirt blowing around it is the history of Egypt being spread and shared with everyone.

Wife has gone shopping - dusting the car