Friends and members of Leaside United Church are tweeting and no doubt offering personally their best wishes to and regret at the departure of Rev. Rose Ann Vita. She will leave LUC August 31 after yeoman work in the merging of the congregations of LUC and Presteign-Woodbine United Church Her new duties will be at Emmanuel United Church in Brampton. Thanks and much good luck Reverend. Then a peach of a reminder that this is market day at the East York Civic Centre. Below that, a vintage Hawker Siddely car for rail fans seen in 1997 at Davisville Station. Then, it may be a free plug but we can’t resist a good egg sandwich seen here as tweeted by Chef Mike of @6SideCatering in Thorncliffe Park. Finally, Speak Rover, and then get over to the Park and Bark Dog Show on Saturday, September 16 in the parking lot on Yonge St. just north of Davisville Ave.
Globe and Mail ceases delivery in the Maritime provinces
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The Globe and Mail will cease distributing the printed publication east of the Quebec border, Publisher Phillip Crawley has announced. No more Globe in St. John, Fredericton or Halifax. Nor St.John’s, Nfld. it seems. The Globe and Mail’s long history and eminent ownership places it among newspapers most reasonably capable of survival in the digital age. The Thomson family owns 85 percent of the paper. The decision to stop printing in Halifax “because of the cost” is really a statement about the permanently damaged model for advertising. It is the flight of ads to uncountable free alternatives and particularly of want ads, which have disappeared (along with their readers) to locations as far apart as Kijiji and neighborhood Facebook pages. CBC
Friends raise cash for family burned out on Mortimer Ave.
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East York neighbours and friends of the Matt Campbell family have raised $9,613 of a $10,000 goal on Go Fund Me by Tuesday morning. The family of four was burned out of their semi-detached home at Mortimer and Logan Aves. at 4 a.m. Monday. All escaped safely. Many heart-felt expressions may be seen at the Go Fund Me page. House fire overnight on Mortimer between Logan, Arundel
Goodale huffs and puffs but can he stop border crossers?
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Oregon McDonald’s staff get 3-minute McEclipse break
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Oregon was the place to be this Monday as the full eclipse of the sun by the moon swept across the US beginning about 9.30 a.m. Pacific time. The tiny hamlet of Madras, Oregon welcomed thousands of visitors with all their paraphernalia for the moment. You can see the path of the eclipse in the NBC video below. The excitement of the full eclipse is heard and seen in the CNN video. In most parts of the upper Pacific, McDonald’s gave employees three minutes off (see sign) to watch the eclipse. A kind of McEclipse. Donald and Melania Trump were outside the White House with the necessary eye shades. Brides planned wedding events around the rare event. In Canada, a partial eclipse was visible in Vancouver but Toronto, where skies were to be somewhat darkened, it seemed way too normal.
Visiting, service for Lena Badali set for Tuesday, Wednesday
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Friends of Lena Badali are invited to visit with family at the Humphrey Funeral Home A.W. Miles – Newbigging Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Davisville Avenue) from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, August 22nd. A Mass of Resurrection will be held at St. Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church, 1 MacNaughton Road on Wednesday, August 23. Please contact the Humphrey Funeral Home A.W. Miles – Newbigging Chapel for the time of the service. Obituary
New colour scheme adds wide swath of white to gray cruiser
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Londoners lament “hammer blow” as Big Ben falls silent
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Big Ben has fallen silent for a proposed period of four years while essential work is done to modernize and sustain the British institution. But the public is upset and politicians concerned.
Fun with streetcars at Bathurst and King Monday morning
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Many thanks to Twitter shooters @MolsonIsMyDog and @hashtagvajana for this look at life when streetcars go nuts. This one, a no doubt much-loved 511 Bathurst, went off the tracks at King about 8 a.m. Monday
Celebrity chef docked waiters tips if they made mistakes
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If you follow celebrity chefs you may know the name of Susur Lee, a Hong Kong-born Canadian who has risen to celebrity-dom over a number of years and now runs at least two downtown restaurants with his sons. Now the CBC has a story about how his places made wait staff pay for mistakes like breaking a glass or delivering to the wrong table by forfeiting part of their tips. It is an egregious thing no doubt and worse than that, says CBC, against the law in Ontario. The story is long and at some points makes it sound like Lee was flogging his waiters. He wasn’t. Life in Toronto. CBC
TPS to show new paint scheme for cruisers from Rye school
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Toronto police are expected to reveal the new design for their cruisers Monday, a paint scheme created by Ryerson University’s RTA School of Media. Last year, police misfired with a plan approved by Chief Saunders to paint the cars in shades of gray. No one liked that and it was quickly shelved. Most Toronto police cars are white with blue and red stripes. That design has been around since the mid-80s. Before that, cruisers were in highly-visible chrome yellow. The decision to leave chrome yellow was related to the cost of the paint. Earlier this year, police spokesperson Meaghan Gray told City News that members of the public have said that easy recognition of cruisers is important to them. Here is the new colour scheme.
House fire overnight on Mortimer between Logan, Arundel
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The modest semi-detached home on Mortimer Ave. belonging to a house-proud family was swept by fire early Monday, leaving the family scrambling to make sense of its affairs. Father, mother and children all escaped the 4 a.m. blaze which the owner attributes to a faulty connection along an extension cord to his bar fridge. The home sits on the corner of Logan Ave and from that sidewalk the manicured garden full of children’s toys may be seen. No doubt the semi next door is badly damaged by smoke. This single-alarm fire was called in shortly after 4 a.m.

