Jovial weather veteran Dave Phillips talks Spring weather on CTV and offers a guarded prediction of pleasant days ahead.
Track walker on his phone hit by train at Wicksteed crossing
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Wicksteed crossing in 2019/Rudy Limeback
The railway crossing on Wicksteed Ave re-opened Sunday night after a supper-hour accident in which a train hit a man walking on the tracks while talking on his phone. He is recovering from serious injuries. The Wicksteed level crossing is among the last in Toronto and is a frequent cause of delay to drivers, pedestrians and the 88 Leaside bus. Of course, a bridge would not have been much help to someone who likes to walk along railway tracks talking on the phone. Wicksteed Ave. level-crossing among the last in Toronto
Fearful outlook unless and until Ontario has herd immunity
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Herd immunity occurs when very few people remain unvaccinated
Fearful predictions of a raging C-19 wave three are being heard locally. One epidemiologist speculating about just how bad it might get is Colin Furness of the University of Toronto. He is quoted by CTV as saying the decision to increase indoor dining occupancy as infections continue to rise amounts to “asking to be clobbered.” “We’re going to have a very difficult April and a very difficult May,” he is quoted as saying.
Herd immunity the goal
The variables are human behavior and as Mr. Furness says on his Twitter account, the nature of vaccination. He points out that getting this form of protection does not mean you can’t be a Covid carrier. In order to slow down the spread of C-19, it will be necessary to vaccinate enough people to achieve so-called herd immunity. That’s a state where only a relative few remain without protection. For C-19, doctors estimate that about 40% to 50% of the human population would need to have antibodies in order to have herd immunity.
GTA hotspots continue to boil
Numbers released Sunday show 1,791 new cases found in the previous 24-hours. The majority were found in the GTA. Toronto reported 495 new cases, Peel 350, York 177 and Durham 106. There were 49,200 tests completed.
New mural on Mt. Pleasant at Belsize to see its first Spring
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Mt. Pleasant mural/Mount Pleasant Village BIA
The new mural on Mt. Pleasant Rd. at Belsize Drive will see its first Spring this year. The mural was finished during the Fall of 2020 when the world was focused on C-19, according to the Mount Pleasant Village BIA which comments on its Facebook page. There are also wonderful detail photos to be seen at Murals By Marg, the website of Margaret Cresswell, Associate of the Ontario College of Art. Call for artists to make mural proposal for Mt. Pleasant BIA
Ontario ticket holder wins Saturday’s $6 million 649 jackpot
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An Ontario ticket holder won Saturday’s $6 million Lotto 649 jackpot. And the draw’s guaranteed $1 million prize went to a lottery player in Quebec. The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Mar. 24 will be an estimated $5 million.
Leaside Garden Society speaker in May will be Tony Spencer
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Tony Spencer
The Leaside Garden Society has announced that its speaker on Thursday, May 13 will be Tony Spencer, Canadian writer, photographer, speaker and planting designer. His subject will be Designing With Grasses. Mr. Spencer is particularly known for his blog, The New Perennialist. The influential blog focuses on Explorations in Naturalistic Planting Design. His work is recognized internationally with Gold and Silver Awards from GardenComm (formerly Garden Writers of America). As planting designer, Mr. Spencer won the 2020 Landscape Design Honor Award from the Perennial Plant Association in the US.
Puckish ringleader
He has become a puckish ringleader for the naturalistic movement in social media channels like Facebook group ‘Dutch Dreams’ and Instagram. Writer by profession, planting designer by passion, Tony is a self-taught gardener and biophiliac who made a deep study of the visionary work of Piet Oudolf, and later came to know and study with the Master himself at Hummelo. He has traveled extensively to gardens and symposiums internationally to keep up with the cutting edge of planting design, all while experimenting on a new series of wild-ish gardens at his beloved cabin in the rolling hills of Mono, Ontario. To attend the May meeting visit www.leasidegardensociety.org or email leaside@gardenontario.org
He finds joy during pandemic tapping trees for maple syrup
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You’ve got to love this story of a Toronto businessman who is spending the pandemic tapping his (and neighbors’ trees) in Caledon to make maple syrup.
Users scramble as Facebook apps all down across the world
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Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were down for a period Friday across the world. The three apps – all of which are part of the Facebook company, and share common technology – stopped working on Friday. Updates here
Conspiracy Pizza says it will open at 856 Eglinton near Laird
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Conspiracy Pizza, the independent restaurant and takeout place caught up in the Adamson BBQ furor, will take the vacant space at 856 Eglinton East near Laird Drive. This address was for many years occupied by Shoeless Joes. Conspiracy Pizza operated in space on Wicksteed Ave. next door to Adamson BBQ but three months ago it declared the space to be “unsafe” after Adamson’s owner Adam Skelly launched a rebellion against C-19 closures. Conspiracy’s owner, Dan Rios, had been purchasing and smoking meats using Adamson smokers since he took full ownership of the pizza firm in 2019.
YRP say seven saved from Simcoe ice-fishing misadventures
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Now down with the fishes/York Regional Police
York Regional Police Marine Unit says it rescued as many as seven people from ice-fishing misadventures on Lake Simcoe early in the week with at least one suffering extreme hypothermia. Other pictures
Girl has broken leg after accident on Cleveland at Cody PS
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Police said late Thursday that the driver of a car in an accident on Cleveland St. outside Cody School stopped and talked briefly to the mother of the child who was hit. But then she left. The late release also said that the driver, a woman, was subsequently identified by police and that the investigation is ongoing. The child, a girl of 7, is recovering from a broken leg.
Self-checkout machinery spotted at 1601 Bayview Shoppers
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1601 Bayview Ave.
It’s a staple at Loblaws and now the retail giant is installing self-checkout machines at its subsidiary, Shoppers Drug Mart. The equipment has been spotted at 1601 Bayview Ave. in the former Bayview Playhouse building.