The South Bayview Bulldog

The intersection of Bayview and Finch Aves  has re-opened tonight after an all-day blockage caused by a water main break. The 39 Finch bus has resumed its normal routing after the clearance given by city officials about 8.30 p;m. The pictures suggests that rush hour might be a little slow Monday morning. The rupture flooded the Bayview intersection and cut off water to a number of residences.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal has won a gold medal in the women’s moguls, and her sister Chloe has captured silver. It is a special achievement that is being celebrated across Canada as reflected on Twitter and elsewhere tonight. Hanna Kearney of the U.S. finished third. Picture at left shows Justine (left) and Chloe a few days ago when they qualified.  At right, the ecstasy of victory grips the sisters moments after finishing their runs. In fact, Justin and Chloe have a sibling, Maxime, who apparently did not finish in the money. Of course, many people are regretting that Maxime “didn’t bronze.” Earlier Regina’s Mark McMorris took bronze in the men’s slopestyle snowboarding event. The snowboarder was favoured to win gold but was competing just a few weeks after breaking a rib. American Sage Kotsenberg won gold with a first-run score of 93.50. Norway’s Staale Sandbech earned silver with a score of 91.75. Maxence Parrot, from Bromont, Que., was fifth with 87.25, while Montreal’s Sebastian Toutant was ninth with a 58.50. Charles Reid of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was eliminated after finishing 14th in the semifinal. Canada’s women’s hockey team has won its opening game against Switzerland 5-0. They outshot the Swiss 69-14. Rebecca Johnston led the way for Canada with a goal and two assists. Charline Labonte made 14 saves for the shutout. Canada’s next game is on Monday at 7 a.m. against Finland. Canada’s Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir finish 2nd in the ice dance short program in team figure skating. Canada is 2nd overall

Is there another city in the world where the Flag Clown Show prevails on the Eve of the Olympics. Call it a slow news day. The Rainbow flag flies at City Hall to show support for LGBT athletes in a country that is altogether quite prejudiced against the same sex way of life. Much is made of Valdimir Putin’s taste, but his fellow Russians are thoroughly in agreement with the repressive state of things. Too bad. And you may be sure the former KGB crookster gives not a hoot about what Toronto thinks.  Back at City Hall, the strange mayor might have stifled himself but he could not. He is wandering around with a Canadian flag. He wants the Rainbow pennant down. But that’s not going to happen because “procedure was followed” although there is scarce word on what or who enacts procedure. Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34) was a little more closely reasoned. You can take his position for what’s it worth. It’s Canada, and the Canadian team, so the Canadian flag would have been in order. Or perhaps, said Minnan-Wong, the Olympic flag.  The raising of the Rainbow flag, or any others, should have come before council he said. Paula Fletcher (Ward 30) loves the Rainbow flag  outside her window. She has one in  her own office she said. John Parker (Ward 26) sort of danced about how this wasn’t his first interest but he was happy to have support shown for LGBT people. Video at the left is the pilot (beta?) of a new YouTube program called (what else) Ford Nation. We’ll see how long it lasts. Our graphic shows the Maple Leaf flag, Rainbow, Toronto and East York (yeh!) flags.
MAYOR TALKING GIBBERISH AFTER WASHROOM VISIT 
The Toronto Star says Mayor Ford went into the staff washroom of a Vancouver bar, stayed there an hour and when he emerged, he was speaking gibberish. Toronto Star

It is 50 years to the day since the Beatles landed at Kennedy airport to an adoring throng of 10,000 teens. Two days later (Sunday, February 9, 1964) came television and show business history as the group appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. The embedded video is a very high class production from the Wall Street Journal. It unearths a lot of Beatles facts and gives credit to Brian Epstein who made the Beatles sound so good.

A man said to be in his 30s was hit by falling ice at the corner of St. Clair and Yonge at noon hour Friday (February 7, 2014).   Ice and snow on high levels of the office building on the northwest corner of the intersection melted in the sunny weather. The man was treated by EMS and allowed to go on his way. Lucky fellow. The very busy piece of sidewalk on St. Clair Ave W. continued to throng through the business day despite the yellow tape warning pedestrians away from the wall of the building, which houses NewsTalk Radio 1010. Signs every few feet  on the windows of the  Royal Bank branch warned of falling ice. CP24 had a camera positioned in the snow and cabled to its truck, which had the motor running by the curb. The crew was taking a page from the Boy Scouts — be prepared. Can’t tell when a lump is going to bounce outside the yellow tape and take out another citizen.   

Sutherland and Hanna

The sinkhole that took pavement six feet down on Monday (February 3, 2014) at Sutherland Drive and Hanna Road is just about filled and stabilized. Paving should occur between now and Monday, workmen said. The sinkhole appeared as the result of the frigid weather, according to those fixing it. The concrete support for the manhole in the centre of the intersection collapsed, dropping the sewer cover and surrounding pavement too far down for comfort. It wasn’t big enough to swallow a car but it would certainly have put most cars out of commission. TTC re-routed the 88 Leaside bus for a few days. Elsewhere with our weather, the city continues to dig out of the heaviest single fall of snow this winter.  The city has 200 salt trucks, 600 road plows and 300 sidewalk plows in its snow-clearing arsenal. A terrible accident near rural Orangville has killed a nine-year-old boy. He was pulled unconscious from a large snow bank by his mother after she went looking for the lad. He had somehow become buried in the collapse of the snow. Pictures courtesy rudy.ca

Reporters arriving in Russia to cover the Sochi Winter Olympics are sending out pictures of unfinished and largely unlivable hotels. Officials are saying that the hotels are 95% complete but this is what some media are finding. The rubble shown above is piled in the corner of the lobby of one hotel. In another, there is no floor in the lobby but the reception desk has the inset picture of Vladimir Putin there to cheer the guests. One reporter found the Internet connection hanging from the ceiling. Water from the hotel taps is a sinister yellow and everyone has been warned not to even put it on his face. More