Tag: scarborough

it’s spring, I think …

two mourning doves
These two doos were sat on side fence for ages; long enough for me to get through Catherine’s tax return, and get quite far into mine. They’ve flown off now.

urban critter

A big raccoon just walked along the back wall of our garden.

Yeah, I know, I really should stop being amazed by city wildlife. Maybe when I grow up.

magical thinking in Scarborough

I was thinking about skunks last night as I walked home from the TTC. When I rounded the corner in our street, what should I see but everyone’s favourite stinky animal, scurrying down the street.

Just as well I wasn’t thinking about grizzlies.

lion theft on the boulevard

kenmark_lion.jpg
Somebody stole our lions! We had two — admittedly rather scabby — concrete lions outside our house, and this morning they were gone.

It’s not the fact that they were anything to write home about, but they were our lions. We kinda liked them there. Now they are gone, how will people find our house?

lyrical donuts, apologies to Basho

In Old Scarborough,
We have a new donut shop.
A new Scarborough!

Yes, the Coffee Time donut shop just north of us on Eglinton East opened today. I usually rage and fulminate over the opening of yet another fast food store, but this one has a bit of history.

A couple of years back, the building was there, but clearly had never been used. There were new, but dusty work surfaces, and unused chairs stacked up inside. There was a city work permit stuck to the window which would indicate that it had been built in 2000. Here is how it looked last summer:

abandoned coffee time
(please ignore weird pinhole dreamscape)

Late last year, the place started to get vandalized, with a few broken windows. These were quickly repaired, and then work started on the drive-thru. For the last couple of weeks, it has looked finished, and last night the lights were on, and people were inside.

I went in this morning, and was one of their first customers. No-one quite knew where everything was, and the till wasn’t charging tax correctly, but I wish them success. I bought a dozen donuts for the office, and they were good.

Update, 2017: The store lasted a little under a year, then was boarded up. While it occasionally had some nice murals on it, it was never used again. It was finally demolished in early 2017 as part of the Eglinton Crosstown construction.