The South Bayview Bulldog

Marathon runners were not deterred by a rainy start to the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon on Sunday. An estimated 24,000 hardy souls participated in the marathon, half marathon and 5k endurance runs. A New Zealand woman, Mary Davies was the winner of the women’s event. In the men’s marathon, the winner was Betona Waerga of Ethiopia. The remarkable 101-year-old Fauja Singh (inset) finished in the 5k run. He said he intends to keep running until he can’t. Good attitude.   A Canadian woman, Krista DuChene finished third in the women’s division. The bank-sponsored marathon raises money for some 170 charities and gives $20,000 for first place finishers, $12,000 for second and $10,000 for third.

Now you can add to the many businesses whose name is similar to  Starbucks a dog care center calling itself Starbarks. It’s in Illinois and the logo adopted by Starbarks has prompted a lawsuit from the coffee company. In April, just a month after Starbarks grand opening, it received a cease and desist letter from Starbucks, demanding the owners alter all similar aspects of their business – name, logo and color – or face legal action. In a somewhat feeble response the owner said, “We have a dog business – I think it’s a catchy name because for our place, it means the stars are the dogs – that’s all I meant by it.”

Assistant curate Julie Meakin (left) and rummage sale director Maxine Henry are seen at the annual Christ Church Deer Park rummage sale which took place Saturday at the church, Yonge and Heath Streets. The sale is nearly 60 years old and this year saw a great turnout for the many rooms full of  winter clothing, coats, sweaters, linens, kitchenware and costume jewellery.  The sale was once again greatly in the debt of the many volunteer parishioners who help run the sale. 

The annual Ghoulish Giveaway event has found a lot of Happy Halloween families today. Left, a family gets free photo. Right, these two kids are stocked up with hot dogs, cotton candy and a balloon sculpture., Wow. The sponsors are Tremblett’s, Real Estate Broker Charlene Kalia and the Royal Bank.  

Shuttle Endeavor is a huge attraction as it  is towed by a Toyota Tundra truck over the Los Angeles freeway to complete its first day on its trip to the California Science Center for display.

A sharply colder night and chilly Saturday will see a South Bayview weekend of rummage sales and pre-Halloween events. Sunday, when it will be clear and a bit warmer, as many as 25,000 marathon runners will throng through the downtown streets starting at 8 am from the intersection of University Avenue and Armoury Street. Don’t try driving downtown on Sunday.  Runners in the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon and half run will head east and west in an elaborate series of routes Click map to see routes. On the South Bayview homefront, there will be rummage sales Saturday at Manor Road United, Leaside United, Christ Church Deer Park and countless others. At Tremblett’s Valu Mart at 1500 Bayview, there’s the Ghoulish Giveaway event with family pictures, barbecue and other fun. It goes from 11 am. to 2 pm.  Have a great weekend. Click map to go to site.

When work crews found water leaking into the new tunnel of the Midtown Power Corridor on Wednesday they were tangling with one of Toronto’s many  usually unseen and often underground rivers and creeks. In this case, it was the venerable Yellow Creek which stretches from Yonge Street through the beautiful Avoca Ravine and crosses Mt Pleasant just about where the tunnelling is going on.  Mt. Pleasant Road was closed overnight and Toronto Fire Services helped pump out the tunnel. According to Toronto Fire Services district chief Paul Halls, crews had tunneled about 48 metres underground when they ran into trouble. About three-quarters of the way down, minor water leaks were detected. However, technicians were able to inject concrete into the tunnel walls to stop the leak. They continued digging, but ran into a major leak further down, which they were unable to plug with concrete. The Toronto Fire Service was then called to the scene to begin filling the tunnel with water — a technique used to reduce pressure and prevent a collapse. Once the water rises to the level of the leak, pressure coming in from the leak subsides and the tunnel walls typically stabilize.d  The Yellow Creek is on an important nature walk through what is known as the  Park Drive Reservation. It has been closed to the public since 1973. and was used  to access the network of roads in the Don valley prior to construction of the Don Valley Parkway and the extension to Bayview Ave.  The picture is courtesy of  rudy.ca and shows the Yellow Creek at it’s most picturesque. and non-threatening.  City of Toronto, CTV, Rudy.ca

A man using what’s being described as a butter knife robbed the Royal Bank branch near Wynford Dr. and Eglinton Ave E on Tuesday, September 25, 2012.  He held the knife to the back of a bank employee while instructing a teller to fill a plastic bag with cash. There is a good security camera shot of the man and police are thinking that someone will recognize him. Can you help catch the Butter Knife Bandit?