Shoppers World

            The roots of belief rose from the swamp of associative thinking. Once we decide “god" exists our associative mind will find connections to prove it, whether they exist or not.

On Friday morning I was relieved that my stubbed toe didn’t really bother me very much during yoga. I’m optimistic that soon my elbow won’t hurt anymore either.

            Later in the morning I suddenly realized that I’d forgotten to pay for my July phone service. I guess it’s because I’m no longer paying my rent with cash. Whenever I used to take out my rent money I would also take out my phone money. I went over to Freedom Mobile at around noon to make the payment. It felt hot outside but quite a bit cooler in the apartment.

            Later in the afternoon I took my bike ride and it though it was very warm there was a refreshing breeze and it wasn’t close to unbearable like it has been most of the week.

            At Avenue Road a cyclist crossed Bloor Street against the red light. It just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving because she didn’t look crazy at all. She wasn’t far from where that other woman got killed by a truck a few weeks ago.

            The other riders seemed in a better mood now that the heat wave is gone. On the Bloor Viaduct I came up behind a tall, slim woman with short hair who reminded me of Jamie Lee Curtis. I called out to her that I was passing on her left and so she moved over. I thanked her as I passed and she answered, “No problem!”

            Just after Broadview I rode through a small swarm about as big as a kitchen table of large bugs, some of which collided with my head.

            I rode up Pharmacy to Newport and explored all the streets that ran north up to the Warden Woods and east to Patterson and then went down to Danforth Rd and then to Danforth.

            On the way back I was just a bit west of Victoria Park, across from Shoppers World when someone called my name. I looked and it was George Elliot Clarke. He’s told me that he lived almost in Scarborough and I’d always thought it might be around where I was. I’d even wondered if I’d ever run into him out there. I stopped to chat. He asked how the songwriting is going and I told him that I was translating the songs of Serge Gainsbourg, of whom I know George is a fan. He asked which songs I’ve translated and I told him I was working right bow on “Shubadubalooba".

            He asked if I ever sing my translations of Serge Gainsbourg songs at readings. I answered that I planned to sing at the next Shab-e She'r my translation of a song that Gainsbourg made out of a poem by Gerard de Nerval. I let him know also that Beatriz Hausner will be featuring that night. He said he would try to come.

            I asked if he lived right around where we were and he said he lives on the other side of Shoppers World at Kingswood and Gerrard but he does his shopping at Metro and not the closer Loblaws where the rich people shop. He said there’s a real class divide between the Metro and Loblaws shoppers. I told him that in my neighbourhood of Parkdale it’s the rich people that shop at Metro while poor get their goods at Freshco or No Frills. He informed me that the Shoppers World we were looking at across the street was built in 1960 and was the first strip mall in Canada. I told him that the Metro stores used to all be Dominion stores. He said he hadn’t known that and added that Dominion was owned by Conrad Black, “and so they got us comin and goin!” Later I looked up George's claim about Shopper's World and I discovered that Canada's first strip mall was actually the Northgate shopping centre in Montreal, built in 1949. Shoppers World Danforth is not a strip mall but is one of the first enclosed malls and it was built in 1962. The first enclosed shopping mall in Canada was built in Vancouver in 1950. He's sort of right about Conrad Black though. He and his brother inherited 22.4% of Ravelston Corporation, which owned 61% of Argus Corporation, which owned most of Dominion.

            George went on to Shoppers World and I headed home.

            For dinner I had a chicken breast and a boiled potato with gravy and watched two episodes of Dobie Gillis.

            The first story featured the return of Tuesday Weld as Thalia Meninger for the first time since the end of season one. She is still a greedy go-getter for money and has become a saleswoman. She declares that she still loves Dobie and encourages him to quit college and work for her company. At first he agrees but decides in the end to stay in college. Thalia enrols in the college too but I suspect we will not see her in many subsequent episodes.

            The main theme of the second story was copied from another episode from the first season. Giselle is leaving Dobie to go to Radcliff because it’s next door to Harvard where she can meet millionaires. Dobie needs good marks to go to Harvard so he can be near her. He goes for help from Mr Pomfritt but gets sucked by Mrs Pomfritt into babysitting and while doing so finds the poetry test questions. He gets 100% but later confesses.

            Giselle was played by Diane Sayer and had a bizarre two-tone blonde-on-top and black on the bottom hairstyle that seemed strange for 1961.

            Mrs Pomfritt was played by Joyce Van Patten.

            It was so cool outside that I actually closed all of my windows before bed and slept with a sheet over me.