Grilltime on Laird adds packaged specialties

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Korean short ribs. Yum.
Andy Elder has added a nice angle to his choice-meat shop Grilltime at 62 Laird Drive opposite the Telus building. Visitors will now find additional refrigerator cases with some favorite marinated delights. Among the most popular, we’re saying, is the de-boned chicken marinated in the package. They aren’t too readily available in our neighborhood but Andy has them at a very good price. Another mouth-watering packaged meat is the marinated Korean short ribs. They broil up in just minutes and The Bulldog will be going back for seconds. Just as an aside, Grilltime is approaching a five-year anniversary at the Laird location. It’s easily found sitting between the Starbucks and Kenrae Rd. Grilltime is open Tuesday to Friday 10 to 7, Saturday and Sunday 11 to 6. (416) 467-4745.

Work speeding ahead at Millwood and Rumsey

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Towns of Rumsey

Things are speeding ahead at the little development at the corner of Millwood and Rumsey Rds to build five town homes. Homeowners nearby should be pleased that the long forlorn property is finally going to look like it belongs in their neighborhood. The project is owned by South Hills Homes which took over from Castleton Homes as things began to get tough for the latter firm. There have been rumblings that the widely respected Castleton was having trouble. Until very recently, Castleton Homes had literally dozens of projects going in Leaside. It’s owner, home-town lad Tony Paglialunga, was quite literally king of home-building in Leaside. Many will be saddened by the difficulties his firm has faced.

Couple feared lost on New Zealand vacation

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Connor Hayes and JoannaLam

Friends in Canada and police in New Zealand fear that a young couple from Ottawa have been lost after their rental van was swept off the road by a landslide in a rugged part of the country’s South Island. Today more parts of the wrecked van were washed ashore more than 50 km from where it left the road, the New Zealand Herald reported. Joanna Lam, 24, and her boyfriend Connor Hayes, 25, have not been seen since Sept. 10 while they were travelling on the island. Police have already found the van’s real wheels and chassis at the bottom of a gorge, but haven’t located the body or engine of the vehicle. The fuel pump was found 7 km north of the mouth of the Haast River, the Herald reported. Early Wednesday morning, New Zealand time, 16 volunteers and police officers set out to scour the river and below the gorge. There are two boats in the river and a helicopter is searching from the air. Friends in Ottawa became concerned when Ms. Lam failed to appear for work in Ottawa at a job she had recently obtained

Porter Airlines says service returning to normal

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Porter Airlines says its booking and reservation service is coming back online after the collapse of the system’s nerve centre in Minneapolis caused dozens of flight delays and cancellations on Tuesday. The outage affected the airline’s website and call centre as well as passenger check-in. 

Confusion in charge at Porter Airlines

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Confusion seems to be in charge at Porter Airlines tonight as the company has had to cancel dozens of flights in and out of Billy Bishop airport. The cause appears to be a computer collapse of some type in Minneapolis. The unusual geography of this breakdown is unexplained by the airline but it appears that other carriers may be effected. There may be a mutual booking system service supplied by the same company but that has not been confirmed. Passengers seem to be utterly on their own as far as re-booking, refunds or any other functional service to help them move on. Most are heading home, to hotels or to Pearson Airport for a night trying to find alternative transport. The breakdown has stranded Porter flights originating in destination cities is all over central Canada and nearby parts of the U.S. They are unable to load and take off. It is not clear whether ground control and air traffic control facilities are operational. Officials say they don’t know how long it will take to fix the issue. Pearson officials say flights at their airport have not been affected.

City nixes condo sign 5 times the legal size

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Bulldog April 17, 2013

In his monthly letter to constituents Josh Matlow (Ward 22) describes how the large sign we photographed last April became no more. It’s cool mistress promised an “evolution in modern condo living”  (Stop snickering, it means lady). For $199,000 sometime, if approved, and built, you would be evolutionized on the exciting Eglinton LRT.  What a thrill. Or, maybe you would rather live over a candy store. In any case, Mr. Matlow’s chagrin is understandable and he is on a private war against condo signs promising the world, especially when the buildings haven’t been approved. This sign went down after the Toronto Sign Variance Committee met to discuss what is called a first party sign proposal for the monumental message at 2221 Yonge St  just south of Eglinton Ave. Approval was sought for the sign, a full 524 square metres in size. The maximum is 100 square metres. So it had to come down.

Canada Post tries out Delivered Tonight in GTA

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CP has ambitious idea that it can create a successful business by delivering goods from independent online sites the same day. It will run a trial project in the GTA of unstated length to see if it can.  Delivered Tonight 

Rink Two wants to hear why you’re excited!

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The opening day of “Rink Two” is set for Saturday, October 5, 2013 and the management of the Leaside Arena want to hear from you.  The Facebook page says “Tell us why you are excited about the new rink…” Winner to be announced October 4th @ 12pm! Please share this with friends, teammates and neighbors and “like us” to get all the latest news.

“Clown” is giving English town the creeps

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Northampton clown

The Belfast Telegraph newspaper is reporting that a creepy and so-far anonymous clown has been terrifying residents of Northampton by standing around on street corners and staring at passers-by. It says the clown bears a striking resemblance to Pennywise from the 1990 film It, which was adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name. The clown made his first appearance on Friday 13th.  However sinister he may seem, the clown has a Facebook page and is “liked” by 70,388 for whatever value this number may have. According to the Northampton Herald and Post the clown has appeared in several locations and on each occasion has worn the same white face makeup, red wig, all-in-one suit and oversized bowtie. Belfast Telegraph   Clown’s Facebook

Hi neighbour! Need a Hells Angels mug or shirt?

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It’s just every BIA’s living nightmare come true — a Hells Angels “shop” down the street as an added incentive to attract tourists and such like. Of course the OPP Anti-Biker Enforcement Unit thinks the shop is a really a Hells Angels club house. It is located on Carlaw Ave. in Leslieville, just a short distance from the HA clubhouse that was raided and closed a few years ago. Nonetheless, the shop appears to be legal and Paula Fletcher (Ward 14) acknowledges that. But she says the neighbors will be keeping a close eye on activities there.  The Hells Angels are widely considered to be involved in organized crime. The shop is called 81 (the eighth and first letters of the alphabet are H and A) and sells T-shirts, mugs and other similar paraphernalia.   

Costa Concordia uprighting “a perfect operation”

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Costa Concordia sits upright in the Italian night

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At approximately 4 a.m. on Giglio Island the engineers checked their measurements and sure enough, the Costa Concordia was sitting at 90 degrees to the sea floor. It is still submerged but that is the next manoeuvre in this amazing feat of physics. This picture is courtesy of the Telegraph newspaper which tells the story in rolling tweets. The left side of  the ship, as seen here, is mud-caked and damaged. Editors compared the image to something that looks like a “before and after the makeover” picture.