Tag Archives: photos

Feb 08 2024
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Daily Post, Interior

The flip-flop guy, through the door

Wednesday 7th February 2024, 5.00pm (day 4,549)

Spyhole shot, 7/2/24

Sat in my room after work, a strange flapping noise started in the corridor outside. It must have lasted ten minutes, coming and going in volume, before my curiosity was piqued enough to have a look and see what was causing it. Turned out it was a gentleman just walking up and down the corridor in his flip-flops. Clearly someone who needed to get his step count up — yet couldn’t be bothered to go outside. Anyway, the thought then crossed my mind about trying to get this shot through the spyhole in my door: a technical challenge that means, at least, I haven’t ended up with yet another shot of Torontonian buildings. The other alternative was a cheap brown squirrel pic, so let’s run with this one.

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Feb 07 2024
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Queen’s Park

Tuesday 6th February 2024, 10.05am (day 4,548)

Queen's Park, 6/2/24

You realise I haven’t actually done much while I’ve been here in Toronto, right? I mean, in a non-work sense. The various urban scenes from the city reflect this, all taken within walking distance of both my hotel and the building at the University of Toronto where I have been working. It’s quite an attractive city, if a bit generic, which is why so many movies are filmed here as its streets can substitute quite adequately for those of New York. The weather continues very pleasant.  

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Feb 06 2024
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Daily Post, Landscape

Looking west from the CN Tower

Monday 5th February 2024, 2.30pm (day 4,547)

CN Tower view, 5/2/24

Time to return to the CN Tower, still the tallest ‘free-standing structure’ outside Asia, and as I did successfully get up it this time, the highest I have ever been above ground in a building. The Skypod observation deck is still 330 feet further above the main deck, from where I took this picture, so this is about 1,130 feet, looking west along the shore of Lake Ontario, the distant towers are in the suburb of Mississauga I think. The CN is basically a glorified bar-café-restaurant, but it does have a damn good view. It’s the tallest thing around by such a margin that everything else just looks tiny.

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Feb 06 2024
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Daily Post, Family Member, Portrait

Self-portrait with injuries

Sunday 4th February 2024, 10.30am (day 4,546)

I was going to go out of Toronto for the day but last night I managed to slip on a wet floor and bash my head against something that was harder than it: the evidence is not graphic on this photo (I’ll spare you the gore) but it was evident enough. I will live but there was no way I felt like spending two hours each way on a bus. Instead I hung around and recuperated. So there will be no ex-Toronto moments on this trip: 12 days straight through, in which I won’t even have got on a vehicle of any kind, unless elevators count.

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Feb 04 2024
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Art and architecture, Daily Post, Urban scene

Mural on Jarvis Street

Saturday 3rd February 2024, 1.40pm (day 4,545)

Jarvis Street mural, 3/2/24

One thing I noticed when I was last in Toronto was that the city has some very good — and very large — murals. This one is on the corner of Jarvis and Carlton Streets. Yes, the telephone wires are a little annoying but this was my best effort at capturing it.

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Feb 03 2024
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Dundas Square

Friday 2nd February 2024, 6.25pm (day 4,544)

Dundas Square, 2/2/24

Toronto seems one of the most civilised places I have ever been, but if it has a seedy underbelly, Dundas Square is probably it. Just these two blocks: nothing too vulgar, you know, like those USAnians do. 

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Feb 02 2024
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

The CN Tower, attempt 1 (aborted)

Thursday 1st February 2024, 1.40pm (day 4,543)

CN Tower in cloud, 1/2/24

Not as exciting a photo as was planned for the day, and certainly a less extensive panorama, but the reasons for this can be gathered by inspection of the top of the picture. The observation decks of the CN Tower (still the tallest building in the world outside of Asia) were swathed in cloud, making the jaunt to the top, if not pointless, then rather less of an attraction than it might have been. But the woman on the gate did advise me that I could just reschedule my timed ticket for another day — which was very civilised of her (some major tourist attractions would have just said ‘tough shit, sucker, lump it’). So I shall return on Monday. And if it’s cloudy then?…. it will be what it will be.

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Feb 01 2024
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Daily Post, Sport, Urban scene

Ice track, College Park

Wednesday 31st January 2024, 2.55pm (day 4,542)

Ice track, 31/1/24

It’s not that cold here, in fact local contacts are talking about it being ‘very nice’: which is their interpretation of rather grey, still weather and a temperature of about 2-3ºC. Fair enough I suppose — a fornight ago it was apparently below -20º with wind-chill. This ice track is artificially maintained; it just goes round and round in a circle, it would seem more fun to me if they ran it through the city streets like an alternative bus lane.

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Jan 31 2024
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Daily Post, Interior

In Café la Gaffe

Tuesday 30th January 2024, 9.50pm (day 4,541)

In Café la Gaffe, 30/1/24

This is not particularly Toronto-specific. There are at least three, and probably more, blatant electrical wires running across the shot in various directions. There are all sorts of reflections intruding and the head resides above what appears to be a fusebox. Nevertheless this is certainly my most interesting shot of the day, it feels to me like a collage. (The food in this place had similar characteristics — that is, random and possibly incompatible things nevertheless pushed together into the same space — but that’s another story.)

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Jan 30 2024
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Daily Post, Landscape

Base for the next 11 days

Monday 29th January 2024, 2.00pm (day 4,540)

Monochrome Toronto, 28/1/24

Unable to secure my preferred window seat I was reduced this afternoon to craning the camera past the head of my neighbour (with her permission I would add), kicking in a long zoom and hoping for the best. The colour balance was destroyed, but in black and white I just about get away with it. If you count my couple of hours of stopover in 2017, which nevertheless produced a shot similar to this — the blog’s third visit to Toronto.

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