The Byward Market

I went to the Byward Market in Ottawa this weekend and had a fantastic time! There is something special about the Byward Market...it's not as bohemian or pretentious as Kensington, not as crowded as St. Lawrence and much more 'homey' than the Queen Victoria in Melbourne. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I was able to snap a picture of these cute little painted pumpkins.

Schadenfreude

There's this huge pimp-looking guy that rides a stupid electric bike to work each morning. It's dumb. It's half motorcycle, half scooter...it's just ridiculous. He always cuts me off and never signals. He rarely obeys the rules of the road. It's very frustrating.

Today, he decided that instead of riding on the road, he was going to ride on the sidewalk. Keep in mind that this guy was probably going at least around 20km/hr - this is dangerous to have on the sidewalk!

About a minute into his ride, a police officer popped out from around the corner of the building and stopped this guy. I didn't see what happened, but this guy totally got his ass handed to him and I hope -HOPE- he got a ticket. Stupid guy.

Schadenfreude really makes me smile sometimes.

Rustle rustle

In Toronto you don't fall asleep to the sound of crickets; you fall asleep to the sound of old Chinese women rustling through your recycling bin, looking for bottles to return to the Beer Store. I hear they make good cash.

Slow rides

I realized last night that biking can be very enjoyable and relaxing when you're not zooming around trying to get somewhere quickly. I tend to try and get places fastfastfast when I'm on my bike, but if I take my time and enjoy the ride I can see a lot more and don't get all sweaty and gross at the end of it. Imagine that.

Fate, conincidence...whatever

Call it whatever you want - "fate", "coincidence" or "walking the blueprint of life" - but when you run into someone in a place you'd never think to see them, it always makes my stomach vibrate. Earlier this week I ran into an old friend in my building at work. As it turns out, she is on a temp assignment for the entire month just six floors below me. This has happened once before with another friend that was in the building for a week. It totally floors me.

If I hadn't left work five minutes late and chatted with my co-worker for two minutes in the lobby, I never would have walked by her and we could have gone the whole month not knowing that we were working so closely together. Think of all the wasted lunch dates and after-work drinks!

This happens all the time, it seems. You run into someone you haven't seen in ages who just happens to be at that exact same spot at the exact same time. Impressive for a city so huge. Even more impressive when it's in another part of the country or overseas.

I don't know what it means or why it happens, but I do know that it makes me giddy whenever it does. And hey, now I have a lunch partner for the month, which makes me even happier!

Friendly and creative homeless people

There are a ton of homeless people in the city, and the creative, quirky and friendly ones always make me smile. A guy outside my workplace last night had a sign that said “Obama wants change…so do I!”; the man that I see various places around town dressed in red, holding a sign under his bushy beard that says “The sleigh broke down”; the guy that sits outside of Lee’s Palace who I tried to give a granola bar to once and he refused – he was lactose intolerant and the bar was coated in chocolate. There were two guys in my old neighbourhood that loved reading so I always gave them my old books. They would joke around with me and brag about how fast they finished the latest Dan Brown or Mark Billingham I gave them. There’s a man who holds the door for people at Tim Horton’s who always comments on my rosy cheeks and says I have a beautiful glow.
I wouldn’t necessarily call these people optimists, but it’s always nice to see people who are so down and out be polite, friendly and have a sense of humour.