The two left lanes of Hwy. 401 eastbound at Newcastle are now open but one lane is still closed after this monster truck accident. It is a reminder of what a roll of the dice it is to rely on our highways to get anywhere safely  and on time. This one happened about 5.30 a.m. Monday, January 19, 2015. No one was hurt. 

You can find all sorts of trash outside Eglinton Public School at the corner of Eglinton Ave. E. and Mt. Pleasant Rd. Some of it is the stuff that people throw away and nobody pick ups. It isn’t clear whether this mess (top) is on school property or not. But it should go away. Then there is the appeal of good deeds offered by an organization called New Acropolis. They have their rip-a-phone-number poster up on utility poles outside the school where impressionable young minds can find them. A few years ago the New Acropolis pole-poster used to put their posters on South Bayview. Then a few merchants drove them out of town. New Acropolis has been formally designated a cult in France and Belgium. It holds “philosophy” lectures and talks about good works like food collection campaigns, art workshops, cleaning of monuments and disaster rescues. Many parents might consider it a disaster if their kids found their way into a New Acropolis meeting. Previous 

The old Stollerys building which was sold late last year for redevelopment into a condominium was being dismantled today (Sunday, January 18, 2014). The work caught many people by surprise. Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has said she will seek heritage status for the 114 year old building. But developer Sam Mizrahi says he doesn’t think the building deserves preservation. Toronto Star  Previous 

It appears you will be  able to rely on the old bank branch at Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E. for your morning coffee through the summer of 2015. As pretty much everybody knows, the building is on track to become an LRT station. It needs a bit of work but Mount Pleasant (as it will be known) will no doubt be among the most elegant stations along the Eglinton line. Any station with a Palladian window over the front door is a great station. Sunday (January 18, 2015) the coffee shop was looking dark and business was sluggish. Discussion among the patrons and staff was that there might be six or eight months of time left for this Second Cup.  It will soon be ready to start building the LRT stations. Metrolinx says it will have the tunnel burrowed right through from Brentclifffe Rd. to Yonge Street by late 2016. The old bank has come a distance from the turn of the decade (1920) when it graced the up and coming neighbourhood as an Imperial Bank of Canada branch. We see it (inset top) shortly after opening possibly ten years before Northern Secondary School just up the street was built. The lower picture is a bit of a hoot because it was taken after the 1960 merger of the Imperial Bank and the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Look at the size of that sign. Back then they hadn’t yet branded the newly-merged bank as CIBC

There are happy congratulations back and forth Sunday morning as residents of the tiny Saskatchewan town of Warman celebrate the rescue of a young woman from certain death in the icy water of the Saskatchewan River. This lady decided to take an “ice road” short cut at the Clarkboro Ferry Crossing on the river yesterday in her car. It is a practice known to rural areas and probably not such a smart one. But telling country people what to do is not as simple as towing cars off Bayview Ave. The vehicle cracked through the ice at the front end. The woman furiously tried to call 9-1-1. The signal broke up so she rolled down the window and climbed onto the top of the car. She was able to get her cry for help out to the Warman Fire Department. From the look of the pictures, it seems like every single member of the department responded. But how to get the woman off the top of the car? The firefighters set up what the news stories call “rescue equipment” on solid ice a good four feet away from the car with the driver on top. They told her she would have to jump the distance and she did. It was very close. Deputy Chief Russ Austin told the CBC:  “They had the victim jump over four feet of open water to where they had the rescue equipment set up on the ice and they rescued her as she jumped, and from the time her foot left her vehicle on her jump … basically they grabbed her and looked and there was no evidence of the car anymore,” Austin said, adding she was very lucky. Today, fire officials and local residents are saying the woman deserves credit for her own deliverance since she kept her wits. Townsfolk are saying they offered prayers as they saw the trucks heading out to the river. All are joyful for the happy ending. Might be good to stay off the ice like mom and dad said however.  

An Arizona woman has died hours after giving birth to quadruplets she conceived through IVF. Erica Morales, 36,  (inset) never got to hold her newborns before she passed away shortly after having a caesarean. It is not yet known what caused her death but it is believed to be linked to complications during surgery. The infants weigh 2 lbs each and are at the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix for the coming months.  Mrs. Morales and husband Carlos had tried for years to conceive. They were overjoyed when they found out they were expecting not one, but four babies. ITV News 

Nice reflective article in the National Post on a sunny Saturday shows the growth of Toronto since the turn of the century. Former Toronto chief planner Paul Bedford speaks interestingly about a parallel time in the history of Manhattan (the 20s) when the City exploded as builders employed the new skyscraper technology.  @SBayview Twitter has the link or National Post (may require subscription)