bicyclette

my one true bicycle love was my dahon d8 speed folding bike. ok, it let me down twice with near fatal accidents due to the parts not being tight enough and the bike falling into complete dissarray, but other than that. pure love. it was easy and light and beautiful. it could be stored in my miniature London flat without the constant worry of vandal or more likely theft by eleven year old.

but....

cycling to Leslie Spit on May 24

when i cycle in Toronto, on my piece of crap bike that i've already fallen off on in the minefield that it otherwise known as the streetcar tracks, i feel blissful. there are trees everywhere, the streets are paved and wide, other commuters give you a nod here and there (not an annoying real conversation on the way to work, let's be serious, that's plain hazardous), and there is a blistering inferno of a beautiful sacred sun on your back. 

when I biked to work in London i tried to take back roads for the most part but i always had to endure the six lane roundabouts of Blackfriars Bridge, and the tree free streets lining the Thames. but in Toronto, oh glorious Toronto..... trees galore abound at every turn. downtown is pretty much twenty min max from anyone living in town. okay the taxis are still deadly, but it's a city.

the one terrible detriment of Toronto cycling is the number of poorly paved roads just waiting to give you a little bounce. i would start on Ford here but i hate him and don't think such a wonderous description of my journey to work can handle the taint that is the one fat man mayor. 

i still miss London a lot for various things, but when i'm cycling in the city in the sun of Toronto, i do think how lucky I am. 

Hot Docs

Toronto has a big film scene. TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) is huge with hundreds of thousands swarming the city to see the year's best films and is deeming the second biggest and best film fest after Cannes.

Over the last few weeks another film fest has Toronto buzzing - Hot Docs. Featuring documentaries from around the world, Hot Docs is North America's biggest documentary festival. Hot Docs has re-opened Bloor Cinema for this year's Hot Docs, and will continue to show only documentaries at the 800!!! seat theatre. 

(photo http://pingpongfilm.co.uk/press)

Which is where we saw 'Ping Pong' today. A look at octogenarians representing their countries at an international table tennis tournament in singles and doubles +80 and +85 age categories. The film followed a few competitors in the lead up to the tournament and in the six months that followed. Like any great film, it was emotionally charged and had you immediately connected to the central figures (other than that American woman who was a little die hard for my taste, asking what the 100 year old Aus was doing at the tournament 'she can't even move'!). The film left me contemplating what it really means to be old, the fight between mind and body, and also the general experience of watching a film in a theatre. 

We're incredibly lucky in Toronto to have a theatre dedicated to documentaries alone (apparently there's  one other doc only theatre Worldwide - an 14 seater in Zagreb). Not only do documentaries give life to unique and interesting stories, which typically result in learning something new about a culture, event or idea, but the reality of these stories gives you a much stronger connection to what you're seeing. I feel very lucky to have the collective experience of the movie cinema on my doorstep to be able take advantage of this beautiful idea, without having to succumb to the banality of  reality TV (of which there is also plenty here).