Blogs from Ontario, Canada, North America - page 4

Alors voilà! C'est le retour des 5 poulets en vacances! Pour ceux qui auraient manqué le blog de l'an dernier, Sylvie, la mère à Geneviève, est notre plus récente recrue. Plutôt défensive, c'est une fabricante de jeu (au sens propre) hors pair et elle a vraiment pris Romy et Delphine sous ses ailes. Pour ceux qui seraient encore plus en retard sur les nouvelles, on a eu une 2e fille, Delphine, en novembre 2019, à l'époque ou le concept de bulle référait à des sphères de savon et où les masques se portaient juste à Halloween. S'il y en a qui ne savaient pas que j'avais eu une fille également en 2016 (Romy), je ne suis pas trop sûr de ce que vous faites sur mon blog... Enfin. Nous avons autre nouvelle recrue cette année. Sprune. ... read more

The day is finally here! Long day of travel started stressing out with wondering if we were going to make the connection in Montreal. We had 1 hr layover and because of covid airports were seeing delays. Turns out we got on the earlier flight standby and go there just in time....and then the flight was delayed 45mins. We managed to get on early and clean up and set up well. The only kicker was the food on the Lisbon flight had nuts or no ingredients. Wtf. We were stuck eating snacks we brought on. None of us got much sleep and were pretty tired but excited to arrive. After a long wait in customs, we were on our way downtown. Stopped in to pick up our key early- woohoo and they a walk to vodafone ... read more

This morning we’ve got tickets for Toronto’s iconic gothic revival style mansion, Casa Loma, and then this afternoon we plan to head to the beach. … well that was the idea, but we look out the window at grey skies and rain, which might put paid to the bit about the beach. The beach we planned to go to was at Scarborough Bluffs a few kilometres further along Lake Ontario's shoreline. We saw some Torontians lying in the sand sunning themselves on the shoreline near our apartment a few days ago, but noticed that none of them were looking all that keen on going anywhere near the water. Yesterday we found out why; it’s apparently way too cold even for winter-hardened Canadians. Hang on, it’s still liquid, so it can’t be all that cold, and anyway ... read more

We all wake up feeling surprisingly well rested. We decide that the white noise of the traffic coming in through the cardboard covering our windows where the glass is supposed to be mightn’t be all that sleep disturbing after all. I suggest to Issy that we should record it and play it back when we’re trying to get to sleep elsewhere. She doesn’t look overly convinced, although she says we might be onto something if we can somehow edit out the sirens that she says seem to go off at about ten minute intervals day and night (I’m now thinking it might perhaps just have been me who slept well). We start to wonder how safe the apartment might be. It didn’t burn down last night despite the fire alarm, so that’s a tick, and the ... read more

Our shoddy but eye-wateringly expensive freeway-side apartment didn’t magically improve overnight. We learned during the small hours that Toronto freeway drivers are very fond of honking their horns and doing burnouts, and that the traffic on “our“ freeway is as heavy at 4am here as it is at peak hour anywhere in the rest of the world, or so it seemed. This may of course have something to do with the cardboard taped over the windows next to our bed not being a particularly effective noise barrier. … and as I lay awake watching the advertising signs flashing blindingly through the gaps in our near non-existent blinds and curtains, I began to wonder why these get left on late at night when everyone should be asleep. Oh wait on, of course, they’re not asleep, they’re all ... read more