The South Bayview Bulldog

This will be one of the busiest weekends of the years as churches launch all sorts of rummage sales. One of most enjoyable is the Awesome Sale at Leaside United Church. It begins Friday afternoon ( 3 to 7 pm.) and extends to Saturday, October 13, 2012 from 10 am until noon. There will be thousands of pre-sorted quality items in 15 departments including treasures and trinkets, books, linens, toys, furniture, small appliances, housewares and jewellery.

The building owned by Mimi and Phillip at 1540 Bayview has been put up for lease. The decision seems to spell the end of Leaside Cleaners, the business they operated at that location for decades. The premises was gutted by fire about a year ago and for many long months the couple persevered and were determined to re-open. Now however it appears, they will retire from this business and let the well known storefront be used by someone else.  

City staff has laboured long and produced a series of recommendations on holiday retail shopping to be considered on or shortly after Tuesday October 16, 2012 by the City’s Economic Development Committee.  The report calls for a change in the present Toronto legislation to allow shopping on four holidays — Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day  and Thanksgiving Day.  It recommends that stores be closed on New Year’s Day, Family Day,  Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. The staff report containing these conclusions does not seem to make it clear if the closures which would apply to “retail stores” would now also apply to so-called shopping districts like the Eaton Centre. It’s been a source of irritation to retailers that Toronto legislation has been  unfair in this respect. Research done by the City Staff  revealed a wide disparity among Ontario municipalities with respect to openings. It’s notable that 74% of the Ontario communities surveyed permit retail openings on Family Day.  BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan permit opening on any day. 
Read staff report

The Ontario Government has relaxed long-standing rules about the renewal of non-narcotic prescriptions. Such prescriptions may now be authorized by pharmacists without reference to a doctor. Logically, it appears that doctors must still write the prescription. Pharmacists are also now permitted to give flu shots. For most people who take a prescription on a standing basis, this arrangement will mean less waiting at the drugstore while the pharmacy tries to confirm a repeat with the physician. This process sometimes takes as much as 48 hours, although it is usually shorter. Doctors typically charge their patients a fee which is attributed to the expense of having staff deal with pharmacy calls. Globe and Mail

Illusionist David Blaine has spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at New York’s Pier 54 executing an elabroate stunt. Fun to watch perhaps but as commentators have pointed out (and the video gets wrong) Blaine has not been electrocuted. That would be news. The voltage is running through his suit, not him. In fact, writers at the tech webiste BetaBeat point out the Blaine has ripped off early 20th Century inventor Nikola Tesla who did much the same thing without the promotional tool of the Internet of course. BetaBeat