This week’s jaunt down Yonge Street was almost uneventful, as Bec and I talked about some major theological quandries. The weather was just amazing – not too hot or humid. It must have been some lucky break, since Monday was sandwiched between two sweltering days.
I brought my camera along that day, although I was debating whether or not to do so. I’m glad I did, since two major events were going on that day: Gay Pride Week was starting and the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival was on. I almost got a good shot of a yellow vintage Metro Toronto Police cruiser which was parked as part of the cop’s PR thing with the Church St. community.
Paul, however, didn’t want me bringing my camera around, but I did anyways, since there was bound to be good photo ops – for the Jazz fest, at least. I’d better talk to Greg Paul (the boss at Sanctuary) again about photo essays on the Sandwich run.
Most of the guys we met were doing ok. Mondays suck not just for the office workers, apparently. Panning was poor, but the weather was better, they said. I didn’t get to taste the juice this time – purple stuff – it looked really sweetly strong. (Steve’s mom and brother had packed all the lunches when we got there and early, too, so we didn’t get to see what was in the lunch bags.)
Well, City Hall was a little more interesting. The four of us met Gary, a nice, affable fellow, who is big into end-times theology (he even carries around a Scofield study Bible). He was really blessed with the sandwich, because it “hit the spot”!
Earlier, Naomi and I met Earling, who waxed eloquently on the economics of downtown living. He had numbers and calculations coming out like no tomorrow. I quipped that maybe he should be an economist. He probably talked for 20 minutes, although I did press him for some details – sorry Naomi, if you were falling asleep. Even if listening to his numbers spew like Niagara Falls is like enjoying a dreary, monotonous lecture at 8:30am, he was another person confirming the difficulties and problems in Toronto’s housing situation.
Toronto is very expensive – especially downtown. How do people like Earling find affordable housing near where they can get work – if they can get work? The Globe and Mail had several articles on the lack of affordable housing, and the Toronto Star recently ran a series on the future of Toronto. It has become a crisis for people like Earling who need to live downtown, but cannot earn a level of wages for him to live there. It’s simply SOL for the guys caught in this catch-22.
Well, then I ran into Gerald and Anupam, a good friend from first year. They couldn’t get tix for the Dave Brubeck Quartet, so we talked outside the tent as the concert started inside, fruitlessly trying to peer over the heads of tall people. After Gerald and I snapped several frames, we sauntered over to Rockit, where Bec’s boyfriend Mark was playing at the jazz jam night. Although I didn’t stay for too long, those musicians were quite something – they were just over the top. I’ll be back next Monday to stay a little longer.
Slices of downtown life
Dan: “So.. you catching any of this jazz?” (mentioning towards the Jazz guide)
Earling: “No man, don’t got enough money.”
There is lots wrong with Toronto’s housng situation and it doesn’t get any better.