The South Bayview Bulldog

The bad luck house at 250 Sutherland Drive which burned Sunday morning, and then was demolished the same day, sold for $850,000 in March of 2010. This was some $150,000 above the listed price. Above left, is the house as it was sold, centre, the morning of the fire and right, the empty lot taken Tuesday, January 26, 2011.

Transit riders in the Czech city of Brn0 rebelled against the new Porsche designed streetcars (lower left). The day the trams went into service, riders began to complain about the face-to-face seating (upper left). Riders had too sit to close together and practically rub knees across a narrow aisle, they complained,. So great was the furore that authorities reconfigured the cars with traditional front-facing seats (upper right). This was an unintended win-win. Riders liked the seats and the transit operator found an extra 12 spaces for strap-hangers to stand. Lower right, the new Toronto subway cars are much wider and seem to have a combination of across the aisle and front facing seats. Incidentally, still no word on when those subway cars go into service.

Health Canada has issued a recall alert for two models of foldable strollers that apparently put parents at risk of losing a fingertip. The stroller manufacturer, New Zealand’s phil&teds, issued a recall of the strollers, sold online and in stores in Canada. Some 7,000 models of the sport V2 (left) and classic v1 have been sold. No injuries are reported.

Fire has destroyed the home at 250 Sutherland (left). Firefighting efforts coated 248 next door (right) in a sheets of ice. No. 250 is on the west side of Sutherland just north of Lea. The home was vacant and was undergoing major renovation for a family which intended to move in presumably this year, according to the builder. He hinted that the fire might have been arson. The only known source of flame was the furnace but the furnace room was apparently undamaged. The fire was noticed by neighbors about 6 a.m. Sunday, January 23, 2011. A man who lives across the street said his children woke him and they watched together as the flames whipped through the house. “It moved very quickly, he said. No one was injured. More pictures linked off the headline or at left

The 21st Anniversary Leaside Flames Select Tournament will run from Friday, February 11 to Sunday, February 13 this year. The Leaside Hockey Association will conduct its silent auction fundraiser in conjunction with the tournament. Drew Homewood has asked local business and others to donate gift baskets, merchandise or services to support the auction and the hockey association. Drew may be contacted at (416) 456-5114 or drewhomwood@rogers.com

If you can’t last in politics, try radio. Or so it seems as George Smitherman follows John Tory into talk-show hostel 1010. He will fill-in at least once a week for Tory but Smitherman sources indicate there may be more. Courtesy the Planet Guys