The Queen Streetcar

            Since Thursday’s bike breakdown had put a damper on my plans to go to St. Lawrence Market, I decided to make up for that with an early start on Friday. I left home at around 10:30 and rode east on Queen. I noticed that there were buses but no streetcars. While writing about this I just looked it up and was unpleasantly surprised to learn that there will be no streetcars on Queen Street all this summer. In all my years of living in Toronto, before I started only travelling by bicycle, I think that the Queen streetcar has been my most frequent means of transport. Taking the streetcars off Queen is like moving Toronto away from Lake Ontario. This is the first time in history that the streetcars have been removed from Queen. The reason is a multitude of construction projects along the line but the streetcars will be back in September.

            It’s particularly inconvenient for cyclists to have to deal with buses on Queen Street because, while a rider can scoot past streetcars on their right once the doors close, the buses crowd up the right lane, forcing cyclists to pass them in the centre lane. On top of that the Queen Street buses travel in pairs, so if I manage to pass one then I am still behind another.

            I managed to pass and stay quite a bit ahead of my twin nemeses, but then I had to stop at the bank machine and they caught up and passed me again. At Yonge Street I went south so I wouldn’t have to deal with them all the way to Jarvis.

            When I arrived at St Lawrence Market there was a large gathering of elderly tourists listening to a history lesson about the market. By the time I’d finished locking my bike the white haired group were just starting to amble in and they seemed to be particularly slow in their rubbernecking amazement at the wondrous sights that overwhelmed their failing vision as they made their way inside.

            After buying some stuff for my daughter, I walked around to see if anything has changed. I have always stopped at Sausage King to buy hot pepperoni sticks but the store has gone gourmet and doesn’t have the little snacks anymore.

            I bought some old cheddar at one of the cheese stores.

            The seafood section smells very fishy, but so does the meat section next to it because the seafood smell spreads like a gas attack. It would be a matter of concern I guess if the meat gave off a strong odour.

            My next mission was to make up for the fact that I’d only managed to buy two pairs of socks on the previous day. I rode up to College and Brock, then went north to Chesley and to the back of the Dufferin Mall. Walmart had two pairs of Kodiak Pathfinder Classic socks for $11.97, but at the other end of the aisle they had four pairs of the exact kind for the same price. I wonder how many people fall for that one. With summer in mind I also purchased a pack of ten lighter socks for $10.00. I don’t think I’ve ever bought so many pairs of socks at one time in my life.

            Since I was nearby, I rolled over to the No Frills at Dundas and Lansdowne. I bought grapes and tomatoes. They had some good deals on sirloin steak and on pork ribs, sour cream, yogourt and orange juice. I also got some scotch bonnet sauce and mouthwash.

            When I got home I put what I'd bought for Astrid in an already addressed shipping box. I’d purchased it from the post office a few months before but discovered that it was too small for the roti that I’d wanted to send to her. This box held everything I’d bought for her except for four items. I taped the package up and rode to the post office. It turns out that when one is sending parcels it is almost as cheap to use express than it is to go with regular mail. They charge less tax on express and so what would have cost me $15.00 through the normal mail turned out to be only $15.63 by express.