Can you believe we’ve been here two weeks already? It’s starting to feel almost normal.
No lie-in this morning, as much as I would have liked. It was up and out to get to IKEA (again) as soon as possible. We got there for breakfast, along with a hundred other people. I really don’t understand (or I can but I don’t want to think about it too deeply) how they can charge only a dollar for eggs, sausages and potatoes.
Today we committed to buying a whole bunch of furniture for delivery. We came armed with a mudmap of the apartment, with measurements, and an idea of what we wanted to fill our trolleys with. I think we were quite efficient overall. And we didn’t argue. Maybe Perth IKEA is cursed. I hear of too many couples getting into big arguments in IKEA. Two of our friends can’t even go together now.
We wrote our list, picked up a few small items and then went to ask about home delivery. The awesome news was that they could deliver it that afternoon between 5pm and 9pm (for a fee of course). Success! So we collected the boxes and took our three (yes, three) trolleys to the cash register, paid, and then handed it over for delivery.
We took a couple of smaller things, as well as a chair and a rug, with us on the subway home. Glen assembled the chair (it’s a poang and it very comfortable) then we caught the bus to St Lawrence Market. As I wrote about during the week, it’s a 20 minute bus ride from our place but it’s pleasant and didn’t feel all that long, and we were able to get super-cheap fruit and vegetables from the farmers’ market.
$1 for two heads of broccoli. $2 for a bunch of tomatoes. $1.50 for kale. And various other things. Glen got a bit excited and wanted to buy everything but I could just see it all starting to rot in the fridge. We haven’t got a Thermomix yet so I have to remember how to cool properly and I’m going away on Friday so that means Glen will have to fend for himself in the kitchen. Oh, we also bought strawberries and Glen insisted on buying pots of herbs for his pots on the balcony.
While he was doing that, I was looking at these interesting looking berries at one of the stalls. I heard someone call them gooseberries and before I knew it the two remaining tubs had gone. $5 each. Damn! I was bereft (yes, over gooseberries). I don’t think I’ve ever eaten them before and they were fresh and in season. We left to buy chicken but as I passed the stall on our way home I asked if they’d have them again. The guy said they would and they’d be red by then and sweeter and they should be around for all of July. Excellent. That means I’ll be able to get them when I come back. Can’t wait.
I know. It’s a bit strange to be so excited over berries but these are gooseberries. FRESH and IN SEASON gooseberries. Can’t wait!
We had a nap when we got home and then it was 5pm and my phone was ringing. IKEA furniture was on its way. It was all delivered in under 15 minutes, friendly delivery guys and then began the task of unpacking it all and putting it together. We’d bought a day bed and two mattresses for it, a coffee table, an office chair, two desks, two large lamps and a desk lamp.
Bang went a couple of hours.
We had to put things together individually or else someone would have ended up with an allan key in the throat. Must say though that it was quite pleasant “making things”. The monkeys were very adept at using tools.
We put together the lamps, the desks and the office chair before calling it quits at 7pm. It was Saturday of Toronto Pride after all, one of the biggest in North America. And we only live a street away from the action.
Admittedly we had missed the big action of the Dyke March and a number of the stalls had already packed up but there was still plenty going on. It went a long way down Church St, with business open on either side of the road, food and merchandise stalls and about four or five free outdoor stages. And there were so many people. Not just from the gay community but families and people from the general population. It was so great to see that this is accepted as just another part of life in Toronto, like the Taste of the Danforth or Canada Day.
On the whole people looked like they were having fun and being themselves. Unfortunately, there’s still some just…downright stupidity and grossness out there. For example, we went into a fast food place to get some food. Sat down, eating. The washrooms in the restaurant were out of order. People from the street were coming in to use them but saw they weren’t working so left. All except this one young guy. Now, the hallway to the washrooms had been partially blocked with boxes. This guy went behind the boxes and peed on the floor.
I kid you not.
If I hadn’t been there, I would not have believed it.
One of the staff walked around and saw this happening (we were a bit oblivious to what was actually going on, just knew there was a commotion) and started telling him off. And the guy apologised. And kept apologising. Like it had been some sort of accident. Who pees on the floor in a restaurant for god’s sake? And this guy, from what I could tell, wasn’t too far drunk, or out of his head, so it just beggared belief. The staff couldn’t believe it. Glad to say the disinfectant came out immediately but certainly wasn’t a good part of the night.
We walked up and down before settling on the Cawthra Square open dance party again. Unfortunately this time the music wasn’t that great. Even more annoying, we’d bought drink tokens as soon as we walked in so had to use all them up before we could leave. Then we got waylaid by this girl who wasn’t haven’t a good night and had lost her friends. Or her girlfriend. Or her friend, Pedro, from Mexico. In the end we extricated ourselves from her and left her to her own devices. She looked like she could handle herself.
We couldn’t find anywhere else that was playing the kind of music we wanted to hear so we got home about 11. So glad to live just around the corner. Glen’s put together the coffee table and has started on the daybed. I’m loving my new desk and the setup in the den.
Life is good.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?