When I got to Queen St., I realized just how long it�s been since I had a day to myself in Toronto. I�m thinking 1995. (There�s another entry in that, lemme tell ya.) But, mostly, my Toronto experience since then has been either work or commuting. Luvofmylife and I have been coming in for events on weekends but that�s not the same.

I like to walk. I walk the 45 minutes it takes to get to work and back every day. So today, I went for a four-hour walk.

Queen St. has changed since �95. I already knew that because the part that�s changed the most is close to work. It�s gone from a hip, villagey kind of place to something a lot more upscale with a lot of trendy shops and restaurants and such. It�s not a bad thing! It�s not like it�s any less real than what was there before.

What does bug me a bit more, though, is that trend is starting to push its way west of Spadina Ave. That used to be more of a neighbourhood. There used to be grocery stores and hardware stores and diners and used clothing stores, etc. People used to know and greet each other on that street. Now the whole area is filling up with condos and lofts and going yuppy. I shouldn�t be too critical, here. I may soon become one of those condo owners in that area. I just wish neighbourhoods didn�t have to disappear as a consequence.

Anyway, I found my favourite guitar shop. They have grown. They have a drum shop and the acoustic guitars are now separated from the electrics. It�s a good thing I don�t have more cash in my account. There was a beautiful Gibson SG double-neck that I just loved. It was $3,000.

On the way back I cut through the Maul just to cool off. That place was packed. I guess I should call it the Maule, something a bit more shee-shee, since this place is a tad more upscale than most Mauls.

I made the mistake of dropping in to my favourite place on Younge Street � HMV. I should never go in to that place. A hundred twenty bucks later, I walked out with David Lynch�s �Blue Velvet�, A German film called �Heart of Glass�, Robert Plant�s latest CD, and the Verve remix of old Jazz standards bye the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. I�d mistakenly bought the unmixed version a couple of months ago but I liked it so much I kept it. This version has a lot of cool overdubs on it that I like. Ella�s �Wait �Til You See Him� is simply haunting.

I stopped at a nice big grocery store that�s close to my place and was pretty pooped when I got in. So I fell asleep. Nice to be able to do that.

I think I�ll watch Blue Velvet now.

Arc