Intense skiing meets airbag body suit.

We say cut Arda Zakarian a little slack as the poor CP24 warrior is thrown into her early Sunday assignment of covering the sale of the Nike Airmax “The 6” shoe. It is said to be inspired by Toronto. (Unlimber the baloney meter please). Anyway, the woman had to find her excited shoe subject and interview him. The exchange went like this.

Arda: Is it okay if we ask you what it’s like to hold the shoe right now?

Shoe guy: It’s like I’m adding another shoe to my collection. That’s pretty much it. It’s like a hobby.

Arda: Are you going to wear these shoes?

Shoe guy: Probably at least once.

What else? Apparently some people stood outside all night at Livestock for this. Hey that’s news.

The forecast of a warmer winter hasn’t changed the festive feeling along Bessborough Drive where these wonderful trees reveal the smaller and larger challenges of decoraitng with lights. The three familiar light blue trees are in front of No.148 and the handsome giant fir with lights is the work of artists at No. 146. Good work all. This said, we’re not sure how much snow will fall on these trees this year. For Canadians living in southern Ontario to Atlantic Canada there is an El Nino effect in play which may make it considerably milder than the past two winters.

Bayview Ave was busy this Saturday and many shoppers used the holiday free valet parking and enjoyed it.

Santa and his reindeer were on hand as the Mt. Pleasant Village BIA had a great day for the Santa’s Village event. Many people tweeted at #MPVSantasVillage.

As reported by the CBC  and others, that old bugaboo the  Culture of Fear is back to explain what’s wrong at the Toronto and District School. There are surely more accurate and complete ways to describe what is wrong at the TDSB. Who was there? What were they doing? But the report, authored by the Premier’s political pal Barbara Hall, doesn’t make public what went on at the board. Did trustees act like they owned the board? Did Donna Quan carry a gun? Did she need one?  This effort should be called a Fear of Facts. As is frequently the case with such politically-inspired reports, the government doesn’t really want to say much except that it has things in hand.

 

Early Saturday afternoon saw things pretty much at  a snail’s pace on Jarvis Street north of Shuter St. as workmen lifted what appeared to a huge air conditioning platform onto the roof of a new building. Traffic north was squeezed into a single lane furthest away from the suspended load while southbound vehicles were detoured west at Dundas.

A Friday morning collapse of a concrete block wall during demolition of the Art Shoppe caused a few minutes of distress and happily, missed hurting a pedestrian. We posted an earlier flash on this story from Councilor Matlow. Now this picture has emerged on Twitter thanks to Melissa Goldstein @erraticheretic (nice handle). Steve Diguer ‏@stevediguer tweeted “Whoa! This could have killed someone.” Other similar reactions are at any search of Art Shoppe.

There will A Festival of Lessons and Carols for Christmas at Leaside United Church this Sunday, December 6, 2015 beginning at 7 p.m. The musical program will feature the Chancel Choir and the C Flats Jazz Group as well  as Sharon Beckstead, Music Director. It sounds like a lovely event and there will be an offering in support of the Out of  the Cold initiative of the church.  Leaside United is at 822 Millwood Road

NORTHLEA UNITED CHURCH

Also this weekend, Northlea United Church at 125 Brentcliffe is kicking off a program of Christmas music events starting Sunday, December 6, 2015. The first one is Jazz to the World on Sunday at 4.30. To see the full program  go here.

Toronto Jews are preparing for Chanukah, which begins Sunday. Scott Rappoport has this to say about the potato pancake which is a staple of the Jewish holiday meal.

The speech from the throne is here courtesy of the CBC. It is said to contain nothing particularly new but recalls again the soaring language of Mr. Trudeau during the election campaign. One wonders however if Governor General David Johnston, who was appointed by the previous government, rolled his eyes at the government’s pledge to be “smart and caring on a scale as never before.”