Toronto Life chooses to go where few TL editors have gone — Thorncliffe Park. No really. It’s a well-intentioned profile complete with cute hashtags of well-known tenant leader Abbas Kolia. Mr. Kolia is a strong spokesmen for his members. He has, as he says, tangled with politicians (most notably former Councillor John Parker) about just where tenant responsibility for conditions should begin and end. It is a personal thing. The “comments” section of this story is worth a read in that regard. It is certainly a good insight into this important figure in Thorncliffe Park for his fellow Leasiders across the CP rails who may want to know more about their neighbors to the immediate east. Toronto Life
Mayor in early visit to apartment on Pharmacy
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Mayor Tory visited the 15-story apartment building on Pharmacy Ave. which is still without permanent power this morning. There is, apparently, a temporary generator providing some electricity but it appears things are quite cold. The mayor tweeted this picture which is moving and says many things. Residents were dispersed among the homes of friends and warming centres overnight as efforts continued to restore power to the building. It all started with a fire in the electrical room of the large building. about 12.30 p.m. Tuesday
MAN DIES IN SHACK FIRE
A man has died in a fire in a makeshift shelter on undeveloped land near McCowan Road and Nugget Ave. Police think the man was sheltering against the cold when the fire started.
It all worked out for the adventurous Elizabeth
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| Here we are in Germany |
The 23-year-old woman who picked up and went round the world with a man who she hardly knew says it all worked out okay. She is Elizabeth Gallagher and her ticket to this expensive tour was her name. As you may recall, she had to have the same legal name as the woman for whom the tickets had been purchased. The man is Jordan Axani, 28. He had broken up with the first Elizabeth and needed a replacement to keep from travelling alone The girl who made the trip, Elizabeth Quinn Gallagher, Cole Harbour, N.S., said she began to feel confident about things when she met Axani’s parents, before the trip began. “You can tell what someone’s going to be like based on where they come from, so it was really nice to meet his parents,” she told CTV Toronto on Tuesday. The pair of strangers left Toronto for New York City on Dec. 21, spent three weeks visiting destinations including Paris, Milan and Hong Kong, before they flew back to Toronto on Jan. 8. “It sort of brought out this brother-sister dynamic between us,” Axani told CTV Toronto on Tuesday. “When you spend three weeks with somebody, travelling around, you get to know anybody pretty well. I feel like I’ve known you for years after this,” he said to Gallagher. Prague was Gallagher’s favourite city on the trip, while Axani said he loved Hong Kong. They spent part of the trip together, but did some sight-seeing on their own. They said they were approached by people in almost every city who recognized them and knew their story. They also got invitations over social media from people who lived in the cities they visited. “We met some amazing people and it really made the trip,” Gallagher said, mentioning other tourists, tour guides and residents of the cities they visited. Axani said he thinks they’ll remain friends and will keep in touch, but there’s “no romance here.”
Man stopped with 94 iPhones strapped to body
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So embarrassing. But it’s what happens when you strap 94 iPhones to your body and try to take them from Hong Kong into China. They cost about 80 percent more on the mainland than in the island territory.This kind of stuff must make the Chinese crazy. Chinese customs officials caught this fellow on Sunday. After finding nothing suspicious in his two plastic shopping bags, officials asked the man to pass through a metal detector — and the alarm went off. Photos released by customs authorities show dozens of neatly shrink-wrapped shiny iPhones strapped around the man’s chest, abdomen, crotch and thighs with duct tape.
Local Eatery Pub at 180 Laird is now hiring
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Deadline for Macphail award is Thursday, Jan. 29
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Nominations for the Agnes Macphail Award close in barely two weeks on Thursday, January 29, 2015. If you have someone in mind, time to get busy. Previous post
J. Pepper exhibition at Leaside Library in January
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East York’s Jack Pepper painted local scenes during the 50s and 60s. A dozen or so of these charming works are hanging at the Leaside Public Library 165 McRae Drive through the end of January. Thanks goes out to Elaine Snider, an East York Foundation board member, for facilitating this exhibition.
Trace Manes Park outdoor skating rinks are open
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Leaside’s open air seasonal rink at Trace Manes Park is open and ready to use in this is snappy cold weather we’re having. Geoff Kettel reports that both the hockey and pleasure rinks are ready for use and send thanks to Gary Rollerson and the volunteers who flood the ice Then, says Kettel, they pray for continued cold weather. These guys know how to pray, apparently.
Denials Amanda Lang tried to block RBC story
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The linked story, written with a juicy flair, takes readers back to April, 2013 when the CBC was about to break the story of how the Royal Bank of Canada was in the process of about laying off permanent Canadian employees and replace them over time with foreign workers. The follow-up revelation comes today, 18-months after the events, from a blogger named Sean Craig that the influential Lang fought tooth and nail to kill the story. Way down in this yarn is a mention of a man at RBC who at the time it is said was friendly with Ms Lang. CBC denies any attempt to kill the story and reminds the world that it ran “on all platform” as intended by the news organization. Canadaland
Darn those illegally parked electric stoves
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Sometimes even an all-out “new normal” campaign to make traffic go away just doesn’t do the job. Take these pesky electric stoves all over Bayview Ave at the height of rush hour Monday evening. The stoves were being delivered to the Kelvingrove apartments by two rather harassed and hard working guys. There may have been an easier way to get them into the units. Who are we to judge. PKE24 made it his business however. We don’t know just how that worked out. We stay clear of PKE24. He’s a hard-working guy of a different sort.
Chevy Bolt unveiled at Detroit Auto Show Monday
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This video of this morning’s events reveal first the 2016 Volt, then the 2016 EV Bolt. Stay with it.
Nopants Subway Ride has no known purpose
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Listen, it makes as much sense as a lot of things to ride the subway on a Sunday in January without your pants on. This is a custom started by Improv Everywhere in New York a few years ago. This picture was tweeted by Spencer Wynn on our own TTC (Trouser Tease Convention). The no pants event appears to be the second Sunday in January if you want to mark your calendar. Or not.