One Year Served!

Hello everyone! It seems so strange to say it's been a year this week since we arrived in Toronto. It really has flown and the forthcoming year looks pretty well mapped out already.

The past month has passed fairly calmly. We have had some snow but it hasn't lingered and although we've had extremely low temperatures at times we've also had ridiculously mild weather which would be so much more enjoyable if it heralded crocuses and daffodils but sadly it doesn't. The 'green' spaces will remain bare for a good few weeks yet.

We've been to see a few more films, all of which we really enjoyed: War Horse (I want to know how they made it!), Albert Nobbs (so moving, Glenn Close was brilliant) and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (totally absorbing). We've also been to a National Theatre Live broadcast at the local cinema of Comedy of Errors with Lenny Henry. It was very funny and I fully expected to walk out on to the Embankment afterwards - but no. 
I have just finished a 6 week art course on drawing and using mixed media - great fun and hard work! I might do the longer course next. 
Newcomers' activities continue and a I've joined a new group for Photography; we meet and share photos and ideas and go to little exhibitions. We also watched a fascinating and touching film about Bill Cunningham, an eccentric New York photographer, who is totally dedicated to taking photos of street fashion. He's an elderly man now, still working, but shows a great humanity in this film, the kind of person you'd like to sit and chat with. You can find it on Youtube.

The offending and offensive pigeons

 Wednesday, 8th February was an extraordinary day for me: I'd arranged to meet a young Toronto Newcomers' member downtown. On my way to meet her I stopped by a church to take a photo of the Roy Thompson Hall and was instantly surrounded by about 40 pigeons! They're not my favourite creature so I grabbed my bag, waving my arm to scatter them as I left but one of them flew right into my face, walloping my glasses with its wing. I got away and stood looking back while picking feathers out of my hair - thinking I was on 'Candid Camera' or something. The pigeons had immediately reassembled at that spot on the pavement. I guessed that there must be some 'animal lover' who feeds them regularly just at that spot and they thought I'd come to feed them! Perhaps they recognised Big Ben on my patriotic bag and felt at home! I felt so silly but I composed myself and strode off. 

 

Roy Thompson Concert Hall

I'd agreed to go to a tv recording with this young woman, it was a daytime magazine programme called 'Steven and Chris', (along the lines of 'Colin and Justin' back home). I'd never seen it but thought it would be fun and maybe interesting. We had to be clapping and smiling all the time! We also had to whoop enthusiastically at the slightest thing - typical North American nonsense. Being excessively cheerful was exhausting. I was really hoping I hadn't come out on screen - this really represented all my worst nightmares (apart from the one where you're running down the road naked (Not really)). The anxiety levels kept climbing as first, I saw the studio, then dodged past the make-up girls waiting to give you a 'touch-up', then was told to sit in the front row! I was almost in meltdown. I had expected to be in the shadows at the back but it was all so brightly lit we wouldn't be missed wherever we sat. We also had to stand and clap at times so I felt really uncomfortable being the tallest person around! Actually, the items were quite interesting but fairly useless to me: choosing upholstery for cat owners, making madeleines, storage tips for condo living and fashion (for young, skinny people). It took about 2 and a half hours and I felt like an observer from another planet! The finished programme was broadcast on Valentine's Day, so I recorded it and eventually plucked up the courage to watch it. Unfortunately, I was quite visible especially with a mouthful of madeleine and a goofy expression! It didn't help that I was sitting next to a pretty blonde that the camera loved!

Following this I had to get to the Gallery for my art course so I went straight to the members' lounge, flopped into an armchair and had a restful lunch and read. So by the time I got home at 6pm I was absolutely pooped!! It really was a day of the ridiculous to the sublime. The course covered practising drawing techniques, looking at artefacts and drawings in the gallery and making our own sketches from them and also using mixed media to produce a finished piece. We've had a whirlwind tour of stencilling, printing from lino cuts, wax resist, using chalk pastels, plus many other ways of image making. All thoroughly enjoyable. The tutor also laid on an extra session in the Gallery's Print and Drawing Centre where we sketched our own versions of works by Rembrandt, Freud, Munch, Henry Moore and some Canadian artists. 

 
Views of Yorkville: a wealthy downtown area. These houses here remind me of home!

 

Around the corner is this fire station, dwarfed by a 55 storey hotel /condo 

development

Yorkville's subway is called Bloor Station. It's a very busy interchange station (well, 2 lines cross!). 

British Tourism has gone totally overboard advertising the 'Greatness' of Britain here! Every surface is plastered with patriotic images. They've covered the barriers, walls and staircases!

 

Since we came back in January Eamonn hasn't driven to work as the parking area is now part of the building site. The journey's fine, 2 stops on the subway and a bus ride. The crazy thing is that he was paid expenses for driving to work whereas he's not paid expenses for using the public transport system! Car really is king here.

Actually the subway rush hour here is every bit as uncomfortable as at home if not worse. Because it's a very small system compared to ours it becomes extremely packed and you really can't move. In fact, one day I was travelling home and it was standing rooom only; the train was travelling slowly and kept stopping. The driver came on the speaker and said, (imagine a pleasant Canadian accent): "Hello folks. I know you're all packed in there like sardines but I'd really appreciate it if you could do something for me - please don't rest against the doors - if you can do that I'll bring you all cookies tomorrow!" He made us all smile which was a refreshing change on a Toronto subway train.

This is the rink across the road from us. We Brits always think it's strange that these facilities are provided free but there's no First Aid provision of any sort, not even a disclaimer! The Canadians are very relaxed about some things.

We've had a few walks, including one in Tommy Thompson Park. The park is built on a man-made peninsula, which extends 5 km into Lake Ontario and is over 500 hectares in size. It is constructed from dredged material from the Outer Harbour and surplus fill from development sites within Toronto. We were directed to a female snowy owl by a chap who spotted Eamonn's Chelsea FC gloves; he himself was wearing a Fulham FC hat! He'd arrived here 35 years ago and this was his first sighting of one. This was very exciting for us. Here she is, nicely camouflaged amongst the concrete rubble:

 

I understand if you have trouble spotting her!

 


We also thought we'd seen a beaver but a very nice lady put us right - it was a muskrat.
This beach area is composed of old bricks. I was very taken by their colours and their worn edges. We picked a white one and a red one to bring home. I think they'll make good candle holders! At first I felt a bit guilty but they were only bricks, not fossils, and then we saw a man collecting more usable bricks into a sack! Perhaps he had a garden wall to finish. There is quite a mixture of building materials lying around. Some clever character has laced the bricks and reinforcement together to make these sculptures!!

In the cold weather even the dogs need layers!

One Sunday, we went to a ski resort area called 'Blue Mountain' which manages to stay snowy (with the help of snow making machines sometimes) as it's 2 hours north of here but you won't find any mountains, just hills. It's got a toboggan type run, a skating area, shops and restaurants and several ski runs which aren't really long enough for experienced skiers but they're popular nevertheless. I was quite happy watching the young ones (and Eamonn) having fun until he decided to go skating! He ignored all my doomladen warnings and took off. He turned out to be rather good! I managed to post a video clip on Facebook but haven't managed it here. At the time I didn't realise the camera recorded sound too so you can hear me wittering away as he pirouettes (almost). At least he didn't break anything. We drove to a nearby beach which was covered with snow - lovely! Large chunks of Nottawasaga Bay (part of Lake Huron) were partly frozen.



 

Here you can see how early they get their children on the ice!

 








Snow-covered Muskoka chairs. You see these everywhere. The best ones are made of wood and look very elegant outside your cottage by the lake!


 













This is a very important Inuit symbol: Inuksuk has become the main cultural symbol of recognition for the Inuit people and the Canadian North. It is seen as a marker for navigation, it denotes a memorial or sacred space; it can be a warning of danger, as here - open water. It is a sign of friendship, hope, safety, protection and is a welcome sight of greeting. You might remember seeing it being used during the Vancouver Winter Olympics.


Following my description of the First Nations' Summit last time I thought I'd let you read a little from a CTV news item about a recent report that has just been published concerning the children who were taken from their families to residential homes:
 

'The chairman of Canada's truth and reconciliation commission says removing more than 100,000 aboriginal children from their homes and placing them in residential schools was an act of genocide.

Justice Murray Sinclair says the United Nations defines genocide to include the removal of children based on race, then placing them with another race to indoctrinate them. He says Canada has been careful to ensure its residential school policy was not "caught up" in the UN's definition.

"That's why the minister of Indian affairs can say this was not an act of genocide," Sinclair told students at the University of Manitoba Friday. "But the reality is that to take children away and to place them with another group in society for the purpose of racial indoctrination was -- and is -- an act of genocide and it occurs all around the world."

About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children were forced to attend the government schools over much of the last century. The last school closed outside Regina in 1996.

The $60-million Truth and Reconciliation Commission is part of a landmark compensation deal between the federal government, the Crown and residential school survivors. It is about halfway through its mandate and has visited about 500 communities, where it has heard graphic details of rampant sexual and physical abuse.
Canada will have to work hard to undo the damage done by the schools long after the commission has finished its work, Sinclair suggested. Generations of children -- both aboriginal and non-aboriginal -- have been brought up on a curriculum that dismissed aboriginal culture and history as worthless and inferior.

Another consequence is that there is a spiritual void in many aboriginal communities, Sinclair added. Churches that once had strong congregations in aboriginal communities have moved out and elders who could pass on traditional spiritual teachings are no longer living.

"It took 130 years to create this problem. It's probably going to take us 130 years to undo it.”'

Walking around the Queen's Park area I saw this beautiful memorial to the Canadian Forces. A 30 metre granite wall has photographic images of war laser-etched onto its surface. The pictures show Canada's military role in times of war and peace since 1867.

 Part of the inscription reads:


'One by one, they left behind the bright fields of innocence and stepped into the darkness of experience. Their departures were discrete and humble. Some did not return. Their absence is as big as sorrow, as wide as grief...'

Nearby is this touching memorial to Fire Fighters lost in service. The Fire Fighters' Prayer is displayed beside it.






Available here: 
Peanut butter flavoured Cheerios
and 
Cadbury's (now Kraft) chocolate containing pretzels and peanut butter!!

Toronto's City Hall, completed in 1965, was designed by a Finnish architect, Viljo Revell. 

In front of it is this skating rink in Nathan Phillips Square.

 











Becoming North American? A couple of times I have to admit we have driven to the supermarket (next door!) to avoid having to put on so many layers! We can go down to the underground carpark and drive around the block into their underground carpark.

Ontario College of Art and Design
It appears to be standing on pencils!

 












I've been on a Newcomers' visit to an 18th Century house, the last home of William Mackenzie Lyon, the first mayor of Toronto. He came from Scotland, had quite a colourful life and was very involved in politics here. Mackenzie was forced into exile in the US after having led the Rebellion of 1837. He returned to the newly-created Province of Canada in 1850, and died in this house in 1861. Mackenzie House is said to be haunted by him, allegedly seen working his printing press. So few old buildings still stand in Toronto and this one is surrounded by shabby office buildings and scruffy car parks. Once inside though it was very carefully restored and appropriately furnished. The printing press has been reconstructed and we were able to set the type for our names.

How about this??

There's been a dispute here relating to the issue of 'sick days'. This is a strange arrangement where a set number of sick days are allowed each year - whether or not you need them. Most teachers in Ontario can bank 20 sick days a year, up to 200 days over their careers, and then get paid a lump sum averaging about $46,000 when they retire. As far as I understand it teachers are paid for all the sick days they didn't take!!! Some version of this applies to other occupations too! Accumulated teachers' sick days have left the government with a $1.7 billion liability. The government wants to limit teachers to six sick days a year and eliminate their ability to accumulate them and be paid out. Teachers also move up in their pay grid every year for the first 10 years and also when they upgrade their qualifications and the Government wants to freeze all movement within the grid as well.

Scanned from a paper napkin. It reads:
"You seem familiar, yet somehow strange - are you by any chance Canadian?"

The highway exit near us.

Two of our local vistas!

Some of our young friends live in this right hand condo block. In the foreground is the development of another condo and mall development. Eventually they'll have no view!

This weekend our clocks change so we'll only be 4 hours behind you but only for 2 weeks.
It's been lovely to hear from you all whether by Skype, email, Facebook or even Royal Mail! 
With thanks and love,
Mary and Eamonn