flemmings | (no subject)

This is definitely One of Those Fricked-up Winters. Freezing rain for the third time inside a month, and not even halfway through January yet. (Freezing rain was a March hazard under the old dispensation, but now who knows?) Followed by rain-rain all day. Getting to work was nasty for the block and a half I walked before hailing a cab: the trip cost me an hour of my usual rate, but worth it not to break or strain something. Leaving was better if only because the ice was gone, but the rain was torrential and accompanied by thunder and sheet lightning. I avoid being out when there's lightning around, yes even in the city. I just don't feel safe. Summer storms one can usually gauge the likely duration of, but the rare winter ones have no rules. So I decided to suck it up and take the subway for one whole stop, which qualifies as laziness or luxury depending on circs.

Descending into the bright fluorescent Spadina Station I heard the melancholy and unmistakable sound of an erhu. (The erhu is a stringed Chinese instrument of Mongol was it? origin, very plain and rustic in sound.) I got out a tooney for my old erhu-playing friend from the Yonge station last December--- but it wasn't him. Bless the Toronto Transit Commission for licensing two erhu buskers in this town, because this one makes CDs of his music. And has business cards should one wish to contact him again when one has perhaps more money in one's pocket than today. And plays the flute as well. And has a *little* more English than the Yonge St erhu player. In any case, I gave him my last night's earnings and came away with two CDs, one of which goes out to you,

mvrdrk, tomorrow. Happy Wednesday, all.

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Walking isn't helped by snow around here. Puddles are exactly what you get, right where you don't need them ie at every street corner. Or ridges of slippery ice, which is even worse. City winters are miserable any way you slice it, though if people actually shovelled their sidewalks it wouldn't be.

I'm so glad this didn't turn out to be a 'while I was riding my bike to work in the freezing rain' story. Taxi subway, go go. ^^;

(I had to look it up. I will share with other curious types: erhu history page, with lots of clicky pictures (http://www.crosssound.com/CS00/CS00Instruments/CSTHEERHU/erhuPagemillEng.html), and page with a small sound sample (http://www.philmultic.com/home/instruments/erhu.html).)

FTR: I don't bicycle in ice and I don't bicycle in snow that has any chance of turning into ice. I *used* to bicycle in snow, but that was when I had proper mountain bike tires and not these bald-in-the-middle jobbies some idiot decided to put on all city-use mountain bikes. ('They go faster.' Like I care. Do they go safely over sewer gratings, potholes, and snow banks is what I want to know.)

That's a nice page, and one I managed to miss when I was looking for erhu music info myself.

That's good to know. 'Cause one half-expects "Blizzard? Sleet storm? Phhhff. I'm a CANADIAN! I have A PONCHO!" (aaaa. ^^;)

city-use mountain bikes.

They give you bikes??? Duuude.

Huh? What give? When you go to buy a bicycle in this town and you want mountain bike size and sturdiness but not the idiot mb handles because you're not riding it in the country and it matters to be able to see what's in front not what's underneath you, you'll find the bike has smooth in the middle tires. It costs to get the more expensive all-terrain ones and the clerk'll try to talk you out of it. In my case he succeeded.

How disappointing. ;_;

See, I'd thought you must mean you lived in one of those cities one reads about that maintain public bicycles for everyone one. Moutain bikes, no less. I was wowed by your l33t socialist principles. --But no longer!

Um- I think there are some bicycle network places where you can use a bike as needed. Nobody has them for *everyone* as far as I know. This is a capitalist country. And Toronto is also- really no shit- the bike theft capital of the world, outdoing even Amsterdam hard-as-that-is-to-believe. Public bicycles wouldn't stay that way very long.

It's global warming! :-)

Your erhu player's sound wonderful. All I have around my office is panhandlers who turn down food. Food they can get, it's money they's wanting.

The subway ride was neither laziness nor luxury in my books. Rather, supremely practical and worth of holding up as an example to be emulated.

hugs
mvrdrk