Ron Sloan racquet shop closed on South Bayview

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Ron Sloan’s Racquet Specialist Shop at 1491 Bayview has closed. Neighbors say the store has been vacant for about ten days and now there are signs up that the little premises where the firm has done business is for lease. It is certainly a notable passing. The sign suggests Ron Sloan has been at this location since 1975. There is no sign indicating where the business might be going. In 2009 Blog TO said “Ron Sloan goes baseline to baseline, er, with the Merchant of Tennis for tennis store supremacy in the South Bayview-Mt. Pleasant corridor. In addition to tennis gear, there’s also a good selection of squash stuff here.” It is to the point because Merchant of Tennis has a smart looking operation and local tennis players are not shy about critiquing the service they get. 

Oh dear! Are men to blame for menopause?

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Charles Darwin

Oh dear. Now it appears, according to busy fertility researchers at McMaster University that “men are to blame” for menopause occurring when it does because in their older years they prefer younger women to older ones. The idea seems to be that older women just give up and will their fertility to shut down. British researchers have called this odd view a load of codswhallop. Menopause, they say,  is something that evolved through millions of years of very short life spans when women in their 30s did not live long enough to look after their later-born offspring. Happily they could assist in the care of children of younger women. The British experts insist that a man’s preference for younger women is a classic example of Darwin’s theory that those who are able to survive (the fittest) are the ones who in fact survive.  Darwin had no time for the popular fear of “dirty old men”. There’s no way of knowing but he may have been one, purely in the scientific sense of course. BBC

Athletic,Wellness complex rising on Mt. Pleasant

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The impressive Branksome Hall Athletic and Wellness Centre is the scene of furious activity. It is rising at the  northwest corner of Elm Ave and Mt Pleasant Rd. The busy foundation site was photographed Friday, June 14, 2013. Julia Drake, Branksome’s Executive Director of Communications and Marketing says the Athletics and Wellness Centre will open in late 2014. It will feature a gymnasium, a high-performance fitness centre, an erg room for rowers, two pools, a yoga studio, a dance studio, meeting space and a large dining hall. Inset we see the dance room and one of the pools. The centre will offer many services and opportunities. It appears that Branksome will administer this centre both for the students and members of the public, under certain conditions.  

Shane is the man at street party time

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It is street party time again across South Bayview and much of Toronto. Here in Moore Park Shane is seen dropping off barricades for the 42nd annual Rose Park Drive party, perhaps one of the oldest in the city. The party goes off Saturday, June 15, 2013. It was started by people like Jack Armstrong and George Zarb (who still lives there)  By the time the sun sets Friday, Shane will have delivered barriers to many area street parties. 

Sears leaving Yorkdale and Square One malls

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Sears Canada is getting itself out of both Yorkdale Shopping Centre and the Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga. The struggling department store is selling leases back to the landlords for $191-million plus options on a third store for $1-million that could raise another $53-million within five years. Sears is under intense pressure from other U.S. based retailers such as Target and Nordstrom. But Sears also continues to be squeezed by the rise of discount and so-called wholesale merchants such as Coscto. As posted here, Costco is making plans to open a third Toronto store in Thorncliffe Park, near South Bayview.  

Badali’s 75th, Scouts car wash this Saturday

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It will be a typically lively weekend on and around South Bayview. This is the Saturday that Badali’s Fruit Market celebrates 75 years on Bayview at the same location. There will be a party on Saturday and it should be fun. Meanwhile, the 132nd Toronto Scouts will run a car wash to raise funds to attend the 2013 Canadian Scout Jamboree in Alberta July 6. Get your car over to Leaside Presbyterian Church, 670 Eglinton Ave. E. (at Hanna Road) for a good wash. A donation of $5 or more gets a car hand-washed, with all proceeds helping send Scouts to the event.

South Bayview notables opposed artificial turf

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City Council has voted 31 to 12 against a motion to declare the back campus grass at the University of Toronto a heritage property. Adam Vaughan (Ward 20 Trinity Spadina) and a number of students and faculty at the university had made a late-in-the-day effort to stop the U of T from converting the field to artificial turf. The plan has been in the works since 2009 and was conceived as a necessary amenity to make it possible to play women’s field hockey there during the Pan American  Games.  The games are slated to be played in Toronto and nearby communities in 2015. Among those opposing the conversion was former Bennington Heights resident Margaret Atwood and prominent U of T history professor Michael Bliss of Leaside. Maclean’s 

Harper video reveals enjoyable mimicking

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A video has been uploaded to YouTube by “Steve Harper” which shows the Prime Minister rehearsing a speech with aides and family members back in 2011. Mr. Harper exhibits his sense of humour with imitations of several previous leaders, including Brian Mulroney, Joe Clark and Preston Manning. CTV calls the video hilarious and notes that some are saying it is a timely reminder that the Prime Minister is personable at a time when his office is involved in the Senate scandal. The video, uploaded to YouTube Wednesday by “Steve Harper,” appears to have been shot on May 3, 2011, the night Harper’s Conservatives won their first majority government, as the PM conducted a sound check at his election night headquarters in Calgary. The normally businesslike Harper stands at the microphone grinning and begins doing impression of previous leaders while his wife Laureen and son Benjamin urge him to just “read the speech.” He ignores their entreaties.