Despite beautiful weather during the week, Pride was a washout. We woke on Saturday to rain, a grey and depressing day that did not inspire much joy. We had been invited to a pool party in the afternoon, but the day’s dreariness put a real dampener on it. Still, we couldn’t not go just because of the rain.

We went down to Julian’s at around 1pm. Our internet and cable had been cut off on Friday in preparation for the move so we were there draining his supply. At one point I was out on the balcony watching the wet people below. We live near enough to Church St that we can see bits of the festival stuff and a lot of people in rainbow coloured clothes.

While on the balcony we heard a woman scream and then a couple of loud pops. At first we thought it was gunshots, the woman’s screams fearful enough that we didn’t just assume it was party-goers. But hearing no further screaming from anyway (because if there had been someone with a gun, surely there’d be more screamin) and the police on their bikes below continued on without care, we went back inside.

Unfortunately, it was not nothing. A return to balcony showed us that the street next to ours was being cordoned off by police. Emergency services were there as well, positioning themselves outside the X2 condo nearby, and behind the building, on the ground, was an orange blanket covering something body shaped. This led us to the conclusion, later confirmed, that someone had jumped. 

We don’t know the circumstances of why they jumped but whatever they were, it was sad and an unpleasant reminder that in high density living situations that you’re more likely to encounter this sort of thing. I’m just glad we didn’t see it actually happening. The sound was bad enough.

We left at about 2pm, feeling a little uneasy about what had been going on, but life does go on, as unfortunate as that is. We walked through the rain to the subway and caught it up to Rosedale where Richard and Alastair lived. They have a beautiful house in this beautiful part of town. Four stories, all stylishly decorated. The pool wasn’t so much a pool as a long hot tub, almost swimming pool sized, so it was heated and enjoyable in the rain.

We met a lot of people that we already knew through Ur and Israel, as well as a few newbies. There was food and drink (strong drinks once again). We chatted to people, including Eric who was an opera singer for 20 years. The afternoon rolled into the evening and before we knew it, it was midnight and definitely time to go home. 

We caught an Uber back to our place, the rain still coming down and making the night rather unpleasant. Once home we considered going back out again to Woody’s or Buddies but after getting messages from friends who were out and them saying the queues were ridiculously long, we decided to stay in. Another good choice on our part, I think.