Juxtaposition

            Tuesday was another hot day.

            I took a bike ride in the late afternoon. At around Bloor and Palmerston there was a quartet busking that consisted of two violinists, an electric keyboard player and an accordionist. As I passed they were playing Pacobel’s Canon. I was clipping along pretty quickly out to Scarborough and I think I would have beaten my best time if I hadn’t gotten caught trailing a couple of busses. As it was I was just thirty seconds under my best for getting to Danforth and Pharmacy.

            I rode up Pharmacy, turned right on Newport, exploring all the southern streets and one dead end northern street that run off it until it ends at Patterson. I went back down Pharmacy to Danforth.

            I stopped at Donlands to take some pictures of a strange juxtaposition of images. One of the “Second Coming” billboards for the movie Deadpool, that shows the antihero in a Christ like pose with his arms extended. This billboard has been placed within a few meters of the Madinah Masjid mosque. I assume it was an accident. I guess it’s not extremely strange because Muslims do believe in the second coming of Christ. Some might consider an image of Deadpool in reference to the second coming somewhat insulting to Jesus though, but then so would a lot of Christians. I think it’s funny.

            It’s usually cooler on the way home because the afternoon wind tends to be from the west.

            I stopped at Freshco to replenish my fruit supply. I almost bought blackberries and raspberries but then I realized they were from the States, like the cherries that were on sale. I got grapes from Mexico and also splurged on a little pack of gooseberries from Columbia, though they were expensive. They turned out to be a bit tart but they were okay.

            I had a chicken leg, a potato and some gravy for dinner while watching Dobie Gillis.

            In the first story Dobie’s father decides to sell the grocery store. He is so sure that he’ll get $35,000 for his business from a big supermarket chain that he starts spending money lavishly on Dobie and his mother. He gets her a mink coat and Dobie a sports car. The offer turns out to be $6,000. He pretends that it’s still $35,000 but his family finds out and they take back all the gifts.

            The second story opens with Dobie getting married to a girl named Jane but after the “I dos” we find out that it’s a wedding by proxy because Dobie’s friend Eddie, the real groom is in South America. Jane is leaving on a boat to meet him that afternoon. After the ceremony Zelda assures Dobie that it’s just a matter of time before she and he get married, then she catches the bouquet it seems by the power of levitation and Dobie realizes that Zelda can do anything and he’s doomed. He thinks though that if he were to disappear for a while then Zelda would eventually find someone else and so he and Maynard stow away in the lifeboat of Jane’s cruise ship. Meanwhile, Zelda decides that if she were to disappear for a while Dobie would miss her and realize that they should be married, so she becomes a last minute passenger on the boat. Unbeknownst to Dobie, Zelda overhears he and Maynard talking and she plots to trick Dobie. Zelda has recently acquired the ability to imitate perfectly anyone's voice and so she pretends outside the lifeboat that two passengers are romancing her. Dobie intervenes and proposes. The captain is about to marry them but Zelda has to confess that she tricked Dobie and the wedding is off, but Dobie tells her that maybe someday it will happen.

            Proxy marriages are only recognized in four US states: Texas, Colorado, Kansas and Montana. Dobie Gillis is supposedly in Ohio. In Canada it’s only considered when the bride or groom are in the military.