06.06.2007: every few minutes the cars slide by, slowly in the single lane that's been left for them, the drivers staring in a mix of amazement and confusion - who are these people having a picnic in the middle of the road? if only they knew they might be able to save themselves, and the rest of the world. it's streets are for people, sitting on blankets, thick enough to protect us from the concrete, and playing giant scrabble that stretches over three lanes of tarmac (i think our team won, but it's not the winning that counts). this isn't quite 'reclaim the streets', the TTC has already done the hard work by tearing up the road and leaving bollards everywhere, but it's about as fun and has the bonus of avoiding hassle from the cops. a dude in a long black coat and cool hat saunters over and asks me if i'd like to share a cup of tea, and with a grin and a wink he warns me it's spiked. so we pass around a cup of tea laced with amaretto, perfectly sweet and warming on this chilly summer evening. these are the nicest bunch of people you'll find in the middle of any road anywhere. after the games everyone settles down on the carpets and blankets to listen to some acoustic songs as the sun sets. drinking more tea, the sky over ossington in viscious pinks, bruising to purple and then dark blue, the colours trickle and melt into the horizon. singing "get out of the box" to the passing SUVs, ignoring the odd cop car (looking like a tube of toothpaste with their new design). sharing bread and cheese, grapes and cookies, humous dip. and when it's dark enough a makeshift movie screen is erected and we watched a few short films (including benny zenga's awesome 'skiboys'). we would have stayed for pee-wee's big adventure, but it was already late when it started and we had no idea how we were getting home. we walked up to little italy, all cute with it's green, white and red lights in the trees, and caught the streetcar east. it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. this morning the weather is perfect so i finally got to cycle to work, and it's totally made my day. it wasn't even that complicated. in a city where it's an almost revolutionary act to cycle i thought it'd be a lot harder, but i worked out a route avoiding the main (and lethal) roads that even goes through mt.pleasent cemetary. and now i've noticed i can take the belt line trail nearly all the way home. truly awesome. go go blockades go! support the troops! and fuck the FCC: Today, the Federal Constitutional Court confirmed the complete ban of demonstrations against the G8. The alliance "Sternmarsch" (march starting from several locations towards one place) is not going to register further events. A speaker said: "We don't consider ourselves responsible for the course of events in actions and demonstrations. The democratic path has been closed for us". democracy can wait. and if you can't protest the only other option is what? ..to riot? 05.06.2007: it wasn't even a minute from when i woke up and it started to pour down. 7:01am, i thought, fuck it i'm going back to sleep. so much for my great plans to cycle to work every day. and so much for my plan to sleep, it wasn't many more minutes until the gardeners turned up with their mower and chainsaw to tidy up our garden. and you should have seen the mess they left it in. mud everywhere, torn up rough patches. our living room smelling of diesel. of course it stopped raining, so had i actually got up at 7am i'd have been able to cycle to work. well, at least i thought that until i got to yonge and eglinton, late again because the TTC is still running slowly for no apparent reason, and it was tipping it down. so now i'm sitting at my desk with wet trousers and a mild swimmy feeling in my head. i managed to dry the rest of me under the dryer in the toilet. so yes, google streetview is quite the toy. i mean, google earth was impressive, but this takes the biscuit. there's just too much in
06.06.2007: every few minutes the cars slide by, slowly in the single lane that's been left for them, the drivers staring in a mix of amazement and confusion - who are these people having a picnic in the middle of the road? if only they knew they might be able to save themselves, and the rest of the world. it's streets are for people, sitting on blankets, thick enough to protect us from the concrete, and playing giant scrabble that stretches over three lanes of tarmac (i think our team won, but it's not the winning that counts). this isn't quite 'reclaim the streets', the TTC has already done the hard work by tearing up the road and leaving bollards everywhere, but it's about as fun and has the bonus of avoiding hassle from the cops. a dude in a long black coat and cool hat saunters over and asks me if i'd like to share a cup of tea, and with a grin and a wink he warns me it's spiked. so we pass around a cup of tea laced with amaretto, perfectly sweet and warming on this chilly summer evening. these are the nicest bunch of people you'll find in the middle of any road anywhere. after the games everyone settles down on the carpets and blankets to listen to some acoustic songs as the sun sets. drinking more tea, the sky over ossington in viscious pinks, bruising to purple and then dark blue, the colours trickle and melt into the horizon. singing "get out of the box" to the passing SUVs, ignoring the odd cop car (looking like a tube of toothpaste with their new design). sharing bread and cheese, grapes and cookies, humous dip. and when it's dark enough a makeshift movie screen is erected and we watched a few short films (including benny zenga's awesome 'skiboys'). we would have stayed for pee-wee's big adventure, but it was already late when it started and we had no idea how we were getting home. we walked up to little italy, all cute with it's green, white and red lights in the trees, and caught the streetcar east. it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. this morning the weather is perfect so i finally got to cycle to work, and it's totally made my day. it wasn't even that complicated. in a city where it's an almost revolutionary act to cycle i thought it'd be a lot harder, but i worked out a route avoiding the main (and lethal) roads that even goes through mt.pleasent cemetary. and now i've noticed i can take the belt line trail nearly all the way home. truly awesome. go go blockades go! support the troops! and fuck the FCC:
Today, the Federal Constitutional Court confirmed the complete ban of demonstrations against the G8. The alliance "Sternmarsch" (march starting from several locations towards one place) is not going to register further events. A speaker said: "We don't consider ourselves responsible for the course of events in actions and demonstrations. The democratic path has been closed for us".
democracy can wait. and if you can't protest the only other option is what? ..to riot?
05.06.2007: it wasn't even a minute from when i woke up and it started to pour down. 7:01am, i thought, fuck it i'm going back to sleep. so much for my great plans to cycle to work every day. and so much for my plan to sleep, it wasn't many more minutes until the gardeners turned up with their mower and chainsaw to tidy up our garden. and you should have seen the mess they left it in. mud everywhere, torn up rough patches. our living room smelling of diesel. of course it stopped raining, so had i actually got up at 7am i'd have been able to cycle to work. well, at least i thought that until i got to yonge and eglinton, late again because the TTC is still running slowly for no apparent reason, and it was tipping it down. so now i'm sitting at my desk with wet trousers and a mild swimmy feeling in my head. i managed to dry the rest of me under the dryer in the toilet. so yes, google streetview is quite the toy. i mean, google earth was impressive, but this takes the biscuit. there's just too much in