A little bit of snow

I'm flying to Mexico City early tomorrow. On Friday I walked all over Toronto, spent a lot of time in bookshops and music shops. I found a classic skid-row diner just off the main street. Lots of suspicious looking men sitting around in a sparsely furnished room, drinking beer and watching TV. I've had more than one meal there over the last couple of days. It rained in the evening so I went to see a movie at a hellish mega-mall type of place in the middle of town. Friday night I didn't get much sleep because I was sharing the dorm with five Canadian guys - all big black boots and red flannel shirts - who had come to the city for some kind of concert. They brought some girls back with them and I feigned sleep... while they, you know... Once everyone had passed out the snoring began and there was no more sleep for me... Fortunately they were just in for one night. I met Kristel and Miguel on Saturday morning. We had a big brunch in Old Toronto, wandered around the farmers' market, and then into town. We passed the Art Gallery of Ontario - the grand reopening of the gallery, celebrated with free entry for the weekend, meant that an enormous queue snaked around the block from the entrance. So instead we walked around some of the more interesting streets to the west of the city, music shops, book shops, etc. At my request we ate dinner at a horrible Canadian chain bar-and-grill (akin to Hog's Breath or something like that I guess). There was a big clock on the wall counting down the seconds until the next hockey game, and the place was designed carefully so that each table had a good view of a TV. The rain picked up in the afternoon and it was pretty inhospitable weather by nightfall - we saw a movie, but were running a bit late so we had to sit in the front row. Had an early night. In the morning we met outside the gallery and decided to wait in the enormous queue anyway... It moved pretty quickly thankfully, and the collection inside the museum was great. A lot of Canadian art, but plenty of important European stuff, etc... The Contemporary levels were interesting - particularly some cartoonish works by Canadian artist Marcel Dzama, who paints with rootbeer (which is awesome in itself). Lunch was at a dim sum place in Chinatown, and then I said goodbye. Meanwhile the annual Santa Claus parade was progressing down Yonge Street and it had started to snow. Sadly the snow didn't last and nothing stuck. Neverthless it was bloody cold. I took myself out to dinner last night in Toronto's gay district. The restaurant turned out to be gayer than I was expecting... All the waiters were dressed as cowboys and the menu was decorated with pictures of drag queens, with lots of fruity cocktails on offer. Their chicken parmesan was alright though. After food I went up to an open-mic comedy night at a bar near the university. It was awful. I was not aware comedy that bad existed. I finished my Guinness and left. Today I had to post a bunch of stuff home, including my cold-weather jacket. So it's been a challenge staying warm today and it won't be a very comfortable walk down to Union Station at 5am tomorrow. Oh well. I'm excited about Mexico. It should be a lot of fun.