A Grand Day Out

We were away last weekend, so today it was time to do the responsible thing and resume the house-hunt. Two listings for the College Street area came up--a primo location for sure--and since it was a beautiful sunny day, we took a stroll to Little Italy to check 'em out.

Both were, simply, dumps--laughably overpriced and each a House Of Usher in vast need of repair for various reasons (at least one realtor was honest, alerting us on the specs sheet to termite infestation and ancient wiring that wouldn't be insured!). I think my first basement apartment in Scarborough was safer...

More than a tad discouraged, we were able to chuck the domestic dolldrums soon enough with a stroll around the Queen West 'hood to check out the local oddities like the anime shop The Magic Pony, and the latest renderings from Banksys-in-training. I dunno, the more I think about, the more I feel this is all happening too fast with too much at stake and perhaps we should stay here a bit longer. There's so much to offer kids in terms of stimulation, recreation, access to health services...but there'll be other places, I'm sure...

We capped off the day with an evening jaunt to the Yonge/Dundas area for dinner (once again, we weren't able to get into Baton Rouge, where we last dined about two years ago, but not for lack of trying) and to check out Scottish comedian and late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson at Massey Hall. That's me doodling on the table at the new Jack Astors in the "Toronto Life Building", which right now is a massive AMC, a Future Shop, and arid food court. I doodled my favorite subjects, of course: Maggie and Minnie.

One of the waiters liked my sketch of "The Hulk" so much that he darted off to fetch me a green crayon when I found my table didn't have one. Now that's service...

Despite the fact that I know of almost no one--other than myself--who watches his show (he's on right after David Letterman), the venue was packed top to bottom. We scored decent seats on the first balcony, just a few rows back. Ferguson was energetic, topical, and above all, hilarious.

Will our infinks retain any memory of a boisterous, foul-mouthed Scotsman? Hopefully, their little barely-formed ears are still ringing after R.E.M., although I'm not sure a preference for Ferguson or even Billy Connelly over, say, The Wiggles would necessarily be a bad thing, either...