On Thursday at 11:30 I went to wait in
front of Bike Pirates half an hour before opening because I wanted to beat the
rush. There were a couple of kids bikes sitting unlocked in front of the shop,
so I assumed they were donations. A funny looking old guy that hangs around
Queen Street selling tokens and cigarettes and who I think might be Latin
American with Aboriginal genes stopped to look at them. He took the little
bicycle that was made to resemble a motorcycle and explained that it was for
his 6 year old daughter who lives at Weston Road. He seemed very happy with his
find as, bent over, he wheeled it away.
A
tall, middle-aged guy with a Slavic accent came along, apologized for
interrupting my reading, but explained that this was his first time and
wondered if they sell carriers at Bike Pirates. I told him they do and that he
might be able to get one second hand that he could pay for with a donation.
Den
opened up a little early. I set up at stand #3. As I suspected, I needed to
true my back wheel. I had a hell of a time getting my wheel off, though I don’t
know why. It usually just slips right out. The new volunteer that helped was
having problems with it too.
Den
helped me true the wheel but he did most of the work himself. That seems to be
true with all the volunteers as truing may be one of the hardest bike repairs
to teach. He did something new this time though, besides checking the rim from
side to side. He put the underneath the wheel and found that it’s not
completely round. He said that the procedure for fixing that problem is more
time consuming and my rim isn’t bad enough to bother.
I
put the put the tube and tire back on my rim and the whole thing back on my
bike. Then I asked Den if the back brakes were okay. He said the left brake arm
wasn’t moving very well, so I oiled it and we tightened the cable. We got it
working but he told me that the left spring seems weak and if I have any more
problems I should maybe replace the brake.
Den
commented that I had nice lugs. I replied that his wife Dawn had said the same
thing. I think they both might be a couple of lug nuts.
Den,
who I think might be in his late 60s or early 70s, recounted to me how he got
assaulted recently after clipping a driver’s mirror. He didn’t damage it but
the driver got out of his vehicle and pushed Den down. He landed on his hip and
wound up black and blue in that area as well as pretty sore in a few other
places. He called the cops and they came. He says they were nice and took down
all the info but he doesn’t think they will do anything so he’s talking to a
lawyer about charging the guy with assault on his own.
Late
that afternoon I took a bike ride. I wore shorts for the first time this year
but the problem is that the only pair that don’t have holes in the ass have
holes in both front pockets, so I had to put all my money in my backpack.
Eastbound velo traffic was back to normal this time, meaning there were very
few riders after Greek Town. I noticed on Wednesday that a couple of the riders
going further east were riding Bike Share cycles. I also found out online that
Bike Share velos are free for 30 minutes on Wednesday, so maybe that’s why
there was more traffic.
I
was about to go north on Victoria Park when suddenly I felt a grinding as I
pedaled. I stopped at the northeast corner and saw that my back wheel had gone
off balance and was rubbing against the left side of the frame. Fortunately I
always carry the socket wrench that Nick Cushing gave me last year and the two
sockets that I need most. I switched to the 15 to loosen the nuts, but first I
flipped the bike upside down. I guess it’s possible that earlier at Bike
Pirates I didn’t put the wheel back on securely enough. I always find it easier
to do it when the bike is upside down by propping both feet against the seat
tube and pulling back on the wheel. Even then it took at least ten minutes because
the gears push the wheel to the non-drive side and so I have to lean it towards
the gears before tightening it and then when I apply the wrench it tends to
settle in the centre.
I
rode up to Dawes Road, then turned right and went down Maybourne Avenue. I
stopped at the first Starbucks at 842 Danforth to use the washroom, but at the
back there seemed to be a toilet emergency going on. The manager was extremely
apologetic but told me that both washrooms were temporarily out of service.
I
noticed that my back brakes had gotten unbalanced again, but I carry a wrench
for that too. I balanced it but I remembered that I’d had the same problem last
year and that the wrench didn’t help for more than a few minutes because the
wheel moves sideways. I know we found a solution at Bike Pirates but I forget
what it was.
I
rode six blocks west to the next Starbucks at 604 Danforth, went inside and
asked for the washroom code but the guy behind the counter told me that the
numbers would be written at the bottom of my receipt when I make a purchase.
Then he repeated in simpler language that the washroom is for customers only. I
said, “That’s not very neighbourly. I’m a long way from home on my bicycle and
I need to use the washroom!” He just responded that this was from the
management and he has no control, but if I’d like to take the manager’s card I
could make a complaint. I walked away and went down the street to Simone’s
Caribbean restaurant at 596 Danforth and I got the same answer: “Sorry, it’s
for customers only.” I called back as I left, “Understand that this means you
will never have me as a customer!” A little further down was Il Fornello, a
large sit-down pizza place at 576 Danforth. The waitress told me right away
directed me to the washroom.
There
are no public washrooms anywhere along the Danforth. It seems to me that if you
run a business that offers a service to the public it is simply good business
to let people use the washroom whether they are paying at that time or not.
Everyone that comes in is a potential future customer unless the business makes
them feel unwelcome, in which case any subsequent business from that person is
jeopardized by that business’s lack of a sense of community.
Here is an
example: One winter night I was walking a friend to the subway on Bloor Street
West in Korea Town before getting on my bike to ride home. I suddenly felt the
need to use the washroom so I left my bike with my friend and went into the
Yummy Korean Restaurant. The staff was welcoming even though all I wanted to do
was use the washroom and when I left they actually thanked me as if I’d just
been their guest for a meal. Because of that welcome, when a friend of mine had
her birthday a few months later I specifically chose the welcoming Yummy Korean
Restaurant as the place to buy her dinner. My other friend came along and
bought himself a meal and he liked it so much that he kept going back. This is
an example of how being friendly to the neighbourhood resulted in a later
profit of well over $100 for a business in one night, which created a chain
reaction of profit that continues to this day. I wonder if any restaurant or
coffee shop can show me proof that they’ve actually lost money on that scale
from letting non-customers use their washroom. I doubt it very much. It’s good
business for a business to be a good neighbour.
And
so if you are on the Danforth and want to go to Starbucks, choose the one at
842 Danforth over the one at 604 Danforth because 842 is a better neighbour.
For the same reason, do not go to Simone’s Caribbean Restaurant for a meal,
because they have no sense of community. Choose a friendlier place like Il
Fornello instead.
I
continued west until just before St George on Bloor when I suddenly heard a
scraping sound against my bike chain. I stopped, took my velo off the bike lane
and saw that one of my drive-side spokes had snapped and it was sticking out
through the others and impeding their movement. I moved my bike to the right of
the hot dog stand and propped it against the high brick wall that protects the
York Club from Bloor Street. I couldn’t just unhook the spoke and pull it out
without taking the wheel off because it was hooked behind the gear wheel so I
spent about 20 minutes trying to break the spoke off so I could ride freely.
Finally I just wrapped the spoke around the axel and rode home. My wheel was
wobbling worse than it had been when I went into Bike Pirates at noon and my
brakes were still unbalanced, so everything I’d done to fix my velo earlier had
been a waste of time.
I
was pissed off when I got home because of the combination of so many things
having gone wrong with my bike, plus having been refused a washroom by two
businesses in a row. I was also, because of all those problems, home an hour
later than usual. I had to start dinner right away. There was a chicken in the
fridge that had to be roasted that night because this was the last “before”
date of the “best before” date, even though that meant eating dinner later than
usual. I had to be extra careful while cutting up the bird because I was so
pissed off that I could imagine becoming careless and cutting myself.
Dinner
wasn’t as late as I thought it would be. I cooked five mini potatoes and
steamed some cauliflower and those items were ready on time. I ate them while the
chicken was still roasting and started watching the final teleplay before the
May 1965 cancellation of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The chicken was done at the
halfway point so I ate the two wings.
The
teleplay was about a trigger-happy cop named Johnny that got honourably
discharged from a city police force after he’d shot and killed an obviously
unarmed elderly wino in an alleyway. He and his girlfriend Sandy move to a
small town where he gets a job as an unarmed deputy working for a sheriff who
thinks guns are trouble and unnecessary in his town. Sandy gets employment
slinging hash at the local diner. This story is called “Off Season” because the
small town is in cottage country and so in the off season the cottages are
empty of people but still full of valuables and so Johnny’s job is to make sure
they are protected. The main danger of any problem is usually from young people
of drinking age that might spontaneously feel like breaking into a cottage and
having a party. So part of Johnny’s patrol is to check out the local bars to
see if any potential troublemakers are fuelling up for mischief. One night he
is approached by Milt, the guy that used to have Johnny’s job. Milt introduces
himself, but not in a friendly way and tells Johnny to ask the sheriff sometime
why he got fired. The next night the sheriff invites Johnny and Sandy for
dinner at his place with him and his wife Irma and so Johnny asks the sheriff
about Milt. He is told that Milt was let go because he was caught using the
cottages for fun and frolic with some of the local women. Johnny starts seeing
Milt hanging around the diner where Sandy works. He sees her being friendly and
laughing and joking with Milt and starts to become blindly jealous. He looks
for the gun he’d brought with him when he left the city but looks like Sandy
removed it from his suitcase. He finds it under an easy chair cushion in
Sandy’s hotel room but he decides to leave it there. Because of Johnny’s
jealous behaviour, Sandy feels less like being around him. When he hears one
night from the hotel clerk that Sandy has gone out to a movie he is certain
that she is with Milt. He goes on patrol and hears sounds in one of the
cottages. He goes in through the window and finds Milt with a woman. Milt has a
gun but they struggle and Johnny gets the gun. He shoots and kills both Milt
and the woman but the woman turns out to be the sheriff’s wife.
This
teleplay was directed by William Friedkin, who went on to do “The Exorcist” and
“The French Connection”.
Johnny
was played by John Gavin, who became president of the screen actors guild and
later was the US ambassador to Mexico for a few years.
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