The South Bayview Bulldog

Many on social media think they can see signs of ill health in Vladimir Putin. It’s certainly not conclusive but the 70-year-old autocrat is seen in posts below which can be interpreted as signs of some anxiety or infirmity.

Toronto will launch a “major spring pothole repair blitz” this weekend. Weather permitting, City crews will be busy on expressways, major roads and neighbourhood streets. Some 40 crews totalling about 100 orange-jackets will work a 12-hour shift from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday to repair as many potholes as possible.

Dancing on the beach/Colin Mcconnell

These flexible canines are dancing on the beach. Comments to this post by photographer Colin Mcconnell are fun. One wag captioned it “OMG Garlic Breath”. FB

Work is scheduled to begin in May on maintenance to the CP Rail bridge over Eglinton east of Leslie Street.

Shamsa Al Balush

Rachel Gilmore

Avery Cormier

Faces, faces. And this post begins with Shamsa Al Balush, the woman who survived a nasty shove onto subway tracks last Sunday. “I’m terrified,” Shamsa told CP24. “The way I felt, the way I was pushed, is just crazy.” We couldn’t agree more. Then there’s Global News gal Rachel Gilmore who employs YouTube’s newly-adopted app with phone-shaped images called Shorts. It’s an anti-TikTok thing. Rachel says you may be further ahead to rent than buy but many comments seem to doubt that. Lastly, we see plucky teenager Avery Cormier who chased a burglar out of her mom’s home with a pair of kitchen knives. Then she had the wits to turn on a camera that recorded the guy’s truck. He’s in jail.

Someone in Ontario is waking up $60 million richer. There was a single jackpot-winning ticket sold in Tuesday’s Lotto Max draw. The draw also included 10 Maxmillions of $1 million each, and three of them were claimed, all sold in Ontario as well.

Netflix ponders “ad tier”

The loss of members to competing services like Disney has prompted Netflix to say it is thinking about adding a so-called “ad tier” to the offering. An ad tier is seen in CBC streaming where a viewer can watch the GEM service with or without ads.

Ontario to change real estate bidding rules

The Ontario government is introducing new real estate regulations that would allow home sellers to share bids on their property and disclose the details of competing offers. As the system stands now, individuals looking to put an offer on a home do so blindly, without knowing how much their competitors are offering above the asking price. The new regulation will give sellers the option to “opt for an open offer process.” CTV

Light coating

But slippery

A light coating of wet snow is a common mid-April occurrence. The week is warming up as we move along. These scenes are in Moore Park.

A woman has had a narrow escape from death when she was pushed onto the tracks at the Bloor-Yonge subway station. Another woman is sought for what appears to be a deranged decision to commit this act. Her picture is in this report from Carl Hantske.

Canadian “trap thumb” signal helps rescue woman in Tennessee

A woman in Tennessee has escaped kidnapping by using a hand signal popularized on TikTok by the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Witnesses told deputies the woman ran into a convenience store and gave a signal with her hand by crossing her thumb over her palm and repeatedly covering her thumb with her four other fingers.

Air travel more like a tramp steamer

There is chaos at Pearson airport Monday (and actually quite often). The problem this day is an unknown “computer network issue” according to Sunwing. We hate it when that happens.

So happy to be back/Morgan Livingstone

The Beaches Lions Club Easter Parade returned live and in person to Queen St E Sunday and the sight of so many kids and adults having fun has thrilled the City. It’s been two years since the parade took place. The route ran along Queen from Monroe Park Ave. in the east and travelled west to Woodbine Ave., lasting about two hours. Writing in the Sun, Veronica Henri said that organizers did not have the same amount of time to prepare as they would have had pre-pandemic. “Still, the event was successful with 50 floats, numerous marching bands, and local clubs, with participants showing everything from gymnastics to kickboxing and ballet dancers. It ended with the main attraction, the Easter Bunny”. Pictures abound on Twitter.

Standing tall

Star of the parade

Here comes the band

Do you like my ears

York Lions Steel Band

Captivated kids/Toronto Star

Leaside Heritage Preservation Society board members with Rob Oliphant: l to r Patrick Rocca, Ann Brown, Mr Oliphant, Susan Parr and Ted DeWelles/LHPS

Dos and Don’ts at Sunnybrook Dog Park

Ruffle me good/Colin Mcconnell

Join friends at The Pub

Who do you think deserves the honour?

Members and friends of the Leaside Heritage Preservation Society met on April 10 at the Leaside Pub to celebrate life in this happy corner of the world. Of special note was the newly-created Leaside Heritage Lager from Amsterdam Brewery. Then at the upper right is a signboard with the many dos and don’ts for visitors to Sunnybrook Dog Park.  It’s getting a lot of ridicule on Twitter. But we know why every single one of them was written, don’t we? And in the end, it’s all about us. Below that are reminders about the great turkey dinner available today and tomorrow at The Pub and a nudge to get busy finding candidates for the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame. At the lower left is Leslieville master nature lensman Colin Mcconnell’s recent shot of a very ruffled night hooter. Or as they say in Quebec, couche-tard.

Korry’s Clothiers to Gentleman will close the doors at 569 Danforth Ave for good after 70 years of business. The son of the founder is Shawn Korman. “It’s been a great ride but it’s time to say farewell,” he told City News. He said that following the death of his father, Saul, last year, he started casually looking at retirement. But the realities of on-and-off closures during the pandemic forced him to expedite those plans.

Russia has warned the US that continued arms shipment to Ukraine will have “unpredictable consequences”. This occurred before President Biden ordered even more deliveries to the embattled land and that has led to a belief that the US thinks Vladimir Putin is making desperate threats because his options are so limited. Also in this CNN interview segment, news that the US now feels the Ukraine-Russia fight could last until next year.

Canada wants to ship gas and oil but it has no pipeline

Canada will ship gas and oil to Europe to help wean our NATO allies off Russian fuel. But it would have been a lot easier if there were a pipeline.

Work resumes on pipeline from Norway to Poland

And here’s a pipeline that is being built. It runs from oil and gas-rich Norway to Poland. The Poles would love to have an alternative to Russian fuel.