The South Bayview Bulldog

The Weather Network is predicting rain for Toronto on Saturday and stormy conditions across the province’s southwest. It says a front will slide into the Great Lakes region ahead of which will be “upper-level energy”. As a result, there will be a widespread storm threat to much of the southern region. It offers the possibility of tornado conditions.

The Tokyo Olympics have opened under stringent pandemic rules and protests of unknown purpose in the Japanese capital. Very odd.

Visiting the Olympic Village

The CBC visits with athletes far from home who take selfies for mom and day with Canada’s red moose mascot.

Indians no more, Cleveland Guardians take the field

Guardians? Well, if you say so.

XYZ Storage, 1 Laird Drive, has purchased the commercial site known as 33 Laird Drive, sources confirm. The property is the location of a long-promised retail development that would have included, among other tenants, an Organic Garage grocery store. But the project has languished since it was first made public six years ago. The Bulldog has reached out to XYZ for comment.

Extended frontage on Laird

The purchase of 33 Laird by XYZ creates a long frontage on the east side of the street stretching from Canvarco Rd. to the railway tracks. It raises reasonable speculation about the possible re-making of the intersection of Millwood Rd. and Laird Drive from a three-way to a four-way intersection.

• Make Millwood and Laird a 4-way corner to access 33 Laird
• Cars will enter and exit 33 Laird at Canvarco, says report
• Some tenants named for development at 33 Laird Drive

Scarborough resident Lucy Kwan, 10, is seen in home security video fleeing from a coyote she and her pet dog Macy encountered near Warden Ave and St. Clair East on Tuesday. She told CTV that she knew it was wrong to run but she panicked. Macy however had an animal instinct that made her turn and confront the coyote. She’s a bit the worse for wear in pet hospital.

• How to avoid conflicts with coyotes

A woman of about 40 has been critically injured in the rear-end collision of this BMW SUV on southbound Highway 400 near Finch Ave early Friday. Toronto Fire Service said she was extracted from the vehicle. Comments on the OPP Tweet from a “crashologist” notes that this collision “demonstrates that minor crush may exist at bumper level while major structural intrusion occurs above”.

A long thread on Facebook reveals interest in the visit of two RCAF F18 jet fighters to Toronto this week. According to aviation journalist Tom Podolec two F18s arrived in Toronto Sunday with one taking off over Midtown Wednesday. Podolec says the planes were on what the RCAF calls “Instrument Flight Rules training”.

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A post shared by Tom Podolec Aviation (@tompodolec)

Police say a man in his 40s was struck and seriously injured at Bayview Ave and Eglinton Ave E. This is the location of the highly-disrupted site of the Leaside LRT stations. The call was posted Wednesday to the Toronto Police Operations Twitter account. The intersection was cleared shortly before 11.30 a.m. 680 News

Police clashed with encampment fighters Wednesday leading to the arrest of several people as they cleared them from Lamport Park at 1155 King St. West. The scene above is from the Twitter video (below) from 680 News showing the battle. The removal is being decried by the NDP which says there are “much better solutions”. Tweets here do not specify just what they would prefer.

A severe thunderstorm watch is in place for the GTA for Tuesday afternoon and into the evening. A warning was briefly issued, but was returned to “watch” status soon after. “Conditions are favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms that may be capable of producing damaging wind gusts and large hail.” The Weather Network predicts that rain could hit midtown around 5:50pm.

This could get interesting — tie down your patio furniture! pic.twitter.com/OjcNcJu1Zm

— SBayview (@SBayview) July 20, 2021

Toronto has launched what it calls the restoration of Alexandra Park on Bathurst St. but advocates for those camping there in the rough call it an attack on the homeless. There are many tweets raging about the right of homeless people to live in public parks.