Use My Walk

Saturday was noticeably cooler than the heat wave earlier in the week. But the bright sunshine kept things cheery and comfortable for a leisurely stroll. After a brief visit to the library at Shaw St., I made my way down College St. through Little Italy. The Royal was hosting the Toronto Food Film Festival. Apparently, Toronto has the most film festivals in the world, though most are local and not internationally known like TIFF. It seems that this one was more than just watching movies; later on, I saw several groups with the festival's pamphlet waiting outside various restaurants.

Once in Chinatown, I did some groceries and stopped at Swatow for shrimp wonton noodle soup and Vietnamese treats at Nguyen Huong Sandwiches. They are still going strong, but who can tell. Over the past year, there have been unexpected closures of venerable, decades-old stores in the area. But new ones, mostly eateries, continue to spring up. I'd bet that the stretch of Spadina between College and Dundas, not to mention just further south and spilling east and west along Dundas, has the highest density of restaurants anywhere in the city. Yet Chinatown doesn't have the night-time cachet of Little Italy or Queen St. West.

There were plenty of tourists in adjacent Kensington Market as I made my way home. After a quick nap, I got ready to listen to some Chopin at Gallery 345. But though the owner still posted on social media about tonight's show, it has been moved to Sunday. I was initially irritated with having made an unnecessary trip to the venue, yet it turned out to be a blessing. Later on around 9:30 pm at home, I was experiencing some intestinal issues. This would have occurred at the three-quarter mark if the concert had gone on. Thinking about the close proximity of the washroom to the stage area, I laughed at the situation. It would have made a perfect scene in some Hollywood gross-out comedy. Well, my stomach problem scuttled any nascent plans to head out to The Garrison's 10th Anniversary or Nuit Blanche.