So here we are. Our famous Distillery District, whose cobblestones streets have been used countless times for various TV shows and movies - and I had never been there.
The old, crumbling buildings of Gooderham & Worts were restored to sell $500 sweaters (hey, they're machine washable!), $30,000 ink blot paintings, and $45,000 beds.
We went to this store to try out the mattress we'd heard about with a sticker price of $110,000. But unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was no longer on display, because it had been sold. I repeat – someone bought a bed that cost $110,000. I know - I can't wrap my head around it either. The one I lay down on which only cost $45,000 was quite comfortable, but what was in the $110,000 bed? Brad Pitt?
A Christmas tree formed out of beer kegs. Why, the scene is only missing dancing sugar plums...
I'm assuming when this place was built, the background wasn't a sea of condos.
Many of the stores had long line-ups to get inside, the only one
of which I could comprehend was the chocolate store (where they have a
chocolate laboratory, with people actually wearing lab coats, like they're
inventing the stuff). Here's an enormous
contraption that grinds the beans.
People who know me well would not even have to think twice about whether
or not I walked out of that place empty-handed.
But it's a gift – I swear it!
This building was once a bottling facility – now gutted and re-purposed as an art gallery. Not that I understood any of the paintings. But I'm always impressed when something that big and heavy hangs suspended on a wall. (I had a cleaning closet shelf in my old apartment; the only thing it held was TP and Kleenex, and it fell down 3 times before I finally gave up.)
One thing I really appreciate about this place is that all the wares for sale appear to be from the developed world. No sweatshop goods. Much of it is 'made in Canada'.
The historical significance of this place can be seen and felt –
right here, in fact. Don't strain yourself
– I'll read it for you. It says,
"This millstone, brought from England on the schooner 'Kingston' to the
town of York, 1832, was used for grinding grain in the historic windmill of
Gooderham & Worts. The windmill
stood 52 feet southwest by south of this point. It was the eastern limit of the
famous old 'Windmill Line on which the original plan of the city of Toronto was based." (I added the punctuation; maybe that hadn't been
invented yet.)
I'm not sure exactly what this plaque means, but I do know that
if you travel just a little bit south of here, you'll fall into a lake. How difficult is it to plan a town around that?
One Thing That >50 Me Has Learned Along the Way...
Your vote matters. Treat your right to vote with the seriousness
that it deserves. If you're sick and
tired of hearing people say to you (right after confessing that you never vote),
"well, if you can't be bothered to vote, you have no right to complain
about politicians, or the way they spend your tax dollars, etc.", then don't
raise the subject with me either. You're
likely to get a similar response.
Vote. It's a privilege that
people in countries you'd never step foot in are dying for - literally. And don't expect a pass by claiming yours is
only one vote, how much could it matter.
In 1923, one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi Party. Vote.
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