What is a safe neighbourhood these days? Is there even such a thing anymore? What’s a girl gotta do these days just to make it home safely? Suddenly it seems that the criminals in the Greater Toronto Area are becoming a little more brazen.

My girlfriend and her cousin were walking the short distance home after getting off at their bus stop. They decided to cut through the park in the quiet Steeles & Dufferin subdivision. After hearing a rustling of leaves and sensing that someone was behind them on the dimly lit path, my friend found herself having to fend off a man who was trying to grab her purse. With a surge of adrenalin and in a fit of anger, she decided that “no man was going to leave her with the nightmare of having to replace credit cards, ID, cash and a cellphone” and she fought him off, screaming at him and then kicking him “where it counts”. When he quickly discovered that she wasn’t going to let this go without a fight, he gave up and ran off. My friend escaped that mugging, clearly shaken but unharmed (and she still had her purse).

When the police arrived to take her statement, they gave some tips of advice that are very important, especially for women. We’ve heard these tips before, but it never hurts to be reminded especially when something like this happens to someone you know.

1) Never walk through a dimly lit park (even if you’re familiar with the area).
2) Always walk in pairs.
3) Scream like all hell if someone attacks you.

So to the sick bastard out there who probably can’t walk today, THAT is what happens when you try to get in between a girl and her purse! Think about that before you try to pull that on the next unsuspecting girl that walks by!

I took my daughter to The Toronto Zoo’s Annual Boo At The Zoo this morning and was extremely delighted with how much effort the zoo put into making a wonderful day not only for the children for for their parents.

It was an exceptional day with pumpkin carving contests presented by the staff departments, games, ‘boo brew!’ and much, much more. We saw a lot of little ones dressing up, as well as some adults getting into the spirit as well.

This will surely be an event we will try to attend every year.

No Loverboy references here. The last WARM weekend in October and I’m behind my desk. DAMN. Wanted to shoot some photos and zip about outdoors. Would have been nice to hit an outdoor park or street sk8 today too. Oh well. I guess that’s one global warm trend away and at this rate I may have another chance at Spring in November. If Month End goes well and I can get out Wed/Thurs night. By then the threat of rain (not SNOW!) will be averted and the double digit temps will still be with us…

Hope everyone (ELSE) is enjoying the weather and that it holds for CANDY DAY… I’m mean Hallow’een!!!

So do we really need a $63 Million soccer stadium in the middle of exhibition place when we don’t even have any professional leagues? Yeah, read that again. $63 Million. (Less overruns).

It’s gonna be huge right? Nope. Just seats 20,000. Where’s the money coming from you ask? Well $10 Million from your very own taxpayers pocket. But the city doesn’t have the money at the moment so they’re gonna borrow it. So it’ll only cost them $16 Million with interest. Oh ok. I’m glad the finances are out of the way since the federal govt. is also chipping in $27 Million. acK!? How much? The province is paying $8 Million. Better and better. People in the province don’t have water to drink/bathe and have to relocated from their city, and here we are building soccer stadiums for teams that don’t exist.

Outside the stadium we’re gonna have a nice big giant video screen aimed at the Gardiner Expressway. Great more accidents, distractions and traffic buildups.

Oh best part is that MLSE will split any losses 50-50 with the city even though the city is giving the land away to MLSE rent AND tax free. The land is currently worth $10 Million. MLSE is pitching in $20M for the stadium of their own.

So Metroblogging Toronto is now nominated for the 2005 Canadian Blog Awards in the Best Group Blog category. Way to go guys. Let’s try and keep the success rolling.

Join in on the discussion about the awards.

TGIF! For those who are looking for a cheap, cultural and fun night, don’t forget that every Friday night from 4:30pm to 9:30pm is free for all at the Royal Ontario Museum.

I use go quiet often when I was single. Either with good friends, on a date or just on my own.

For families, it is ideal as well as they have sections for kids to explore and play.

My husband and I felt the need to get out of the city for a couple of days. And we chose to make a cheezy, romantic getaway while leaving our daughter with my parents.

And when I mean cheezy… I mean truely, cheezy. Like a big hunk of stinkin’ cheese!

i.e. We went to Niagara falls… and had a heart shapped jaccuzzi right in our hotel room. Totally fun. And while it was the shape and colour of the tub (red) that added to the cheese-factor, it was so relaxing to be able to soak in that 2 person tub three days in a row.

But what the hell was up with that mirror on the ceiling? I can’t believe I slept on a bed with a mirror on the ceiling! That’s so 70’s and 80’s kinkiness if I do say so myself.

The trip to Niagara, though, is definitely a very easy, flexible and inexpensive get-away not too far from the city. Especially in autumn, what with the beautiful splashes of orange, yellow and red surrounding the falls.

We also checked out the new Fallsview casino, spent an hour in the Butteryfly conservatory, and took our time through the wineries on the way back to the city.

When I have a chance, I’ll post some photos.

Thank goodness gas prices are coming down.

My friend was telling me the other day of a really bad scene he saw at one gas station during the horrible hike.

It was very late at night, when prices were at the lowest. He witnessed two people get into a fight. Not just a verbal fight, but a physical fight over who was suppose to be next in line.

I shook my head.

It’s not worth getting violent over. We have enough violence in this city let alone bitch-slapping each other around at the gas station.

Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be writing a sequel to my previous entry regarding door to door sales people. But last night, I got rudely interrupted again, while working in the office.

It’s already annoying enough that my evening is disturbed, especially as I live in an area that does not allow soliciting, but what boggles my mind is how rude these people are becoming!

Last night, the salesman was trying to sell us their gas services. And it only dawned on me that the most aggressive and rude people are those working for these other gas companies.

After politely explaining to him that this is a condominiumized area, and that we all are serviced by the main gas company, he accused me of ‘selling him stories’. Was I? I was pretty sure I was being honest, but even if I was wrong, I told him that this area is protected from any soliciting.

He looked at me and sarcastically said, “Oh yeah… soliciting.”

I couldn’t believe it. Where would the line be drawn here from soliciting or harrassment? I suppose he would have to continually come to my door, but when you get so many different salespeople come and treat you the same way, all from different companies, the total sum certainly does fell like one massive harrassment.

I sometimes try to approach of not answering but he looked like one of our security guards. What I might do is resort to installing an intercom.

At our next board meeting, I will bring this up and request for higher security and more of those NO SOLICITING signs be placed around our area.

In the past, whenever I visited a friend of mine or on the occassional outing after our dragon boat practice, we head down to queen street west and hit a restaurant known as Bacchus Roti.

Wow. Simply delicious. They’ve been mentioned in the paper and seems like they do well as they’ve been in Toronto as a independent, family-owned restaurant for awhile now.

They are a fast food joint that give quality and extremely generous servings. My favourite happens to be the goat curry roti. Price is reasonable.

if you’re in around that area, check it out:

Bacchus Roti Shop
1376 Queen Street West