One week in

The day started bright and hot with local radio issuing weather warnings for a very hot day – temperatures of 32C predicted. By 9:00 it was already 26C and rising.
As I had mentioned I was going to the CN Tower yesterday Clement asked if he could come with me. I was more than happy for him to accompany me and as he was going off for his morning jog (mad fool) and then to get some breakfast we agreed on a 14:00 departure time – should be really cooking by then!
In the meantime I decided to do some washing – of clothes that is (I shower every day, if I need it or not) as I had enough items to actually make up a full load. This was uneventful until I unloaded it – and found the remains of a paper towel (it must have been a paper towel as I know how tissues go when they are washed) distributed somewhat evenly over all my clothes. No matter, I just took them all up to the patio, shook them out (creating a mini-snow storm) and then sat and had a read for half an hour. By then the clothes were dry! It was also time to meet Clement to go to the CNT.

I found Clement laying in the dorm reading and when we said where we were going Masa asked if he could come too – the more the merrier. Masa had already been to the tower at night - so I stole his pictures for comparison purposes. (Well not literally stole as we exchanged pictures with full consent.)

Today was also the start of the Toronto Film Festival which would explain the prevalence of limos cruising around the city. I always wonder why these “celebrities” – or people who are good at “let’s pretend” – need such large vehicles to get around. Ignoring the entourage of nose wipers, arse wipers, hairdressers, manicurists, personal trainers, dieticians, masseurs (body), masseurs (ego), managers, agents, representatives, hangers-on and wasters – as these will all travel in their own fleet – the only conclusion I can come to is that they need the space for their heads and egos. (Talent will easily fit in the ashtray!) It also annoyed me intensely that one of the top stories on the local radio station was that “Paris Hilton had arrived in Toronto.” – so what? Why does a spoilt, rich talentless waster of air, water and resources qualify as a news item? Just think what good could be done if we dissected the waste of space and flesh and donated all the very well cared for vital organs to real human beings who might actually do some good in the world? [Perhaps I can work up a film script or TV show plan – “Celebrity Organ Donation”. At least it will give the Hello/OK buying morons the chance to “really get inside” their favourite waste of resources! What do you think?]

We arrived at the CNT and proceeded to the elevators (I am almost bi-lingual now) which rise at a rate of 22 feet per second (I don’t know what that is in real measurement – I am fully metric now) and takes 58 seconds to get to the observation platform. One has to swallow a few times as the pressure changes on the way up (and down) and it is quite impressive to see the large buildings of the financial district pass away so that one is looking down at the air conditioning units on the roofs.

Once in the observation lounge it is odd to wander about what seems to be a large area (but isn’t really) and look out on the whole city of Toronto. The lookout area is even more impressive as it is open to the air although, as one will see from the photo, it is fully enclosed in a metal mesh to stop idiots from throwing themselves or any other objects over the edge – it would make a hell of a mess when it hit the ground! The wind on a still day like today was surprisingly strong (or perhaps it shouldn’t have been if one thought about how high up one was) and took effort to walk into.
Anyway, photographs were taken of the view and through the glass floor – which is obviously very strong as it can take a whole family of Americans at once!
Needless to say Spank wanted to come out to play, which he did and made friends with Masa & Clement. He had a jump up & down on the glass floor and didn’t seem to be afraid at all. (The picture shows him in silhouette because if one uses flash – as any student of elementary physics will tell you – all one gets is the reflection off the glass and you can’t see the background. The picture of Spank and friends was taken using flash.)
After wandering around everywhere one can go we descended to the inevitable gift shop (aaa-aaah – listen to The Museum of Everything to fully appreciate the joke) containing all manner of things Made in China and vaguely tower shaped or related. (Mounties, bears, wolves, moose, maple syrup, etc.)

After leaving the tower it was decided that food & refreshment was needed so we headed to a little diner on the harbour front Clement was familiar with from his morning jogs. It was really pleasant sitting there drinking coffee & chatting with good people. My guilt at being the lazy Brit – only able to remember rudimentary French & German from school – was eased a little as both Masa & Clement kept asking me for the correct phrasing & pronunciation of English words & phrases. Masa has this wonderful electronic dictionary/translator into which he would ask me to type English words (good job I can spell quite well) and it would bring up not just a translation into Japanese but a thesaurus range of words with similar meanings. It certainly made me feel rather humble that there was a Frenchman a Japanese man and an Englishman (sounds like a cue for a joke) sitting in Canada all communicating in English. I was only too aware that these guys had a mastery of a second language which puts most Brits too shame. This is also why I get very annoyed at ignorant English idiots who take the piss out of “foreigners” pronunciation of English – before one does so ask yourself the simple questions – “how well do you speak their language?” and “how good is your pronunciation of their language?”. If one can honestly answer “perfect” to both questions – then carry on, if not – shut up and keep your ignorance to yourself.
Our conversation was very wide ranging from favourite sports, leisure activities, wars in Iraq, the state of Africa – especially Zimbabwe, motorcycles (Masa was also into Moto Cross), hang-gliding (another of Masa’s) and France’s chances of winning the Rugby World Cup.
When we got back to the hostel we all agreed it had been a good day and thanked each other for their company. We proceeded to exchange email addresses and photographs. Sadly Clement had left his laptop & camera in France – the camera he forgot & the laptop he didn’t think would be useful - “I think I was wrong” he said. Anyway, all is not lost. Fortunately I have some recordable CDs & DVDs with me so I said I would put all our photos on a CD for him to take away. Masa was also very impressed with my laptop and its capabilities. Unfortunately it does not have an XD Card reader on it (my SD Cards are no problem) but the wonder of USB connection solved the problem as I was able to connect his camera and extract all his CNT pictures and then connect my camera to his notebook and do likewise. It is really handy to be able to reset cameras - Masa’s – into English language (yes, I did remember to reset it) and be able to navigate XP in Japanese via icons - my thanks to Microsoft for creating universally recognisable icons!

By this time we were all ready to turn in, so I promised Clement I would burn his CD tomorrow and we all went to bed.
All in all a very enjoyable day – I think this is what it is all about; meeting good people, having good times & seeing new & interesting things. I wonder how much better it will get.