Danforth Festival Of Fools

It had been several years since we'd last checked out the Taste Of The Danforth, in which Greektown is closed between Pape and Broadview for pedestrian traffic only and the strip's restauranteurs offer reasonably-priced samples of everything from Japanese to Carribean to Italian and of course, Greek. The invitation to sample calamari, quail, shrimp, and whatever else we could shove into our mouths with our free hands was too tempting to pass up, as was the opportunity to take the boys on the streetcar for the first time and turn them loose amongst their fellow citizens.

The boys seemed to enjoy their first encounter with the TTC (it'll be the only time they'll ever feel that way, given my experience over the last 20 years) until they got restless--streetcars are many things, and "fast" isn't one of them. We arrived to a flood of people, wandering both sides of the street with no semblence of order like they stepped out of a George Romero zombie film. Mere minutes into our stroll, the first of many clueless idiots tripped over Nathaniel's stroller--nearly toppling him to the ground--and stumbled off with not so much as an apology or to check to see if he was all right.

Bashed and elbowed all the way, in retrospect, the double-stroller would be have been a wiser bet--it'd clear crowds more easily and keep the boys firmly planted into their seats, as they started to grow impatient and nearly worked themselves free on more than one occassion.

The food didn't disappoint, though, with lamb and chicken meat pies being the biggest hit with the boys--squid, not so much...







The complimentary balloons from It's My Party almost survived the entire journey, until some other idiot's lit cigarette burst Nathaniel's within seconds of arriving at the streetcar stop. Had Batman been paying attention, he could've taught the culprit a thing or two about public courtesy...which was clearly in short supply that afternoon...




On the way back, Carter's enthusiastic singing made for an entertaining ride home. A nearby passenger recognized his rendition of "La Cucaracha", and even hummed along. As we know from movies, any experience that ends with a group singalong couldn't have been all that bad...