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Firstly, my apologies for my phantom presence since Halloween. There are a number of family issues which continue to take up my time. And I am sure that I am not alone in being in a general funk since last Tuesday night. I take solace in that I am a Canadian so I won't suffer directly under "President Trump". Though, I worry much for my American friends. That said, some "leadership" contenders for the Conservative Party in Canada now want to embrace the so called "Trump Revolution". Foremost in this basket of wanna-be deplorables is the aptly named MP Kellie Leitch. Already, she is calling for a roll back of environmental protections and, of coarse, the termination of the yet to be implemented carbon tax. She throws around the word, "elites", quite liberally too - meaning anyone who does not agree with her. Like all Conservatives here, Leitch fawns over Republican leaders and mimics their rhetoric. I remember the national cringing when a freshly minted PM Stephen Harper burst out with, "God bless Canada!", some ten (10) years ago. They're all akin to Less Nessman of WKRP fame and his, "Godless.... tornadoes". Oh how I await the forth coming boasts about Leitch's grab-ass exploits in the ladies changing room. I have a country to save. And speaking of regrettable populist leadership and there failed dreams. Streetcars continue to ply the streets of Toronto in spite of Mr. Ford's best efforts. Though he did manage to remove the new bike lanes on the intersecting Jarvis Street above. Here we see westbound TTC streetcar 4172 on the Dundas Line (Route 505) in the Garden District. Beside it, the final remnants of the old Garden Inn on the north east corner. Soon it will be replaced with a forty-five (45) story condo tower - another one. This section of Dundas Street had a number of 'pay as you play' type hotels both large and small. The Filmores in the background is still such a place. Though, I should not be too judgemental, after all I have never actually stayed at the Filmores Hotel and Gentleman's Club. I took this photo back in August. It was a hot, heavy and well, a very noisy day. The whole area was shaking with the rattle of jack hammers and backhoes. And by evening there was the grey, dusty quiet of empty streets but no relief from the heat. People scurried from the district to less dirty sections of the city. This made for a difficult march of blocks to find just one carton of milk. Many buildings here are being torn down, small businesses have left. A survey of the fronts lining Dundas reveals windows boarded up, rusty locked door and weeds. Weeds, weather and waist intruding into spaces where people used to come and go for coffee and a newspaper. One old door still had a broken 1960's vintage 7-UP cross bar handle. No doubt, the next time I visit the area, the fronts will be gone and I'll be guided through by a narrow plywood conduit. The walls of which collecting staples like a sea vessel collects barnicles. It is difficult to feel bad about the Garden Inn, it was never an attractive building. It's skeletal remains hint at how unimaginative a block it was on the corner of Dundas and Jarvis. Like its cardboard cousins, I half imagine it being torn apart by the giant steampunk cats which prowl the city. You hear them at night getting into fights as cats do. Their eyes glowing red like the coal they consume as so much kibble. After the battles, and after there are no more cars to pounce, they find amusement in the gnawing of abandoned and not so abandoned buildings. They also find much needed vitamins and minerals to renew their clockwork. Cheers!

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