h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think if we keep talking about trawnna/turranna/to-ron-to on that thread we will totally unravel it.



az

??? I was about done with pronunciation. Quite content to return to dangerous raiment. Are people not tolerant on h2g2 of slight conversational deviations in topic? Please advise.

Now as for Yonge and Bloor: What's doing there? The only thing I know that's going on in town is the Picasso ceramic exhibit at U of T. Then Modigliani is coming. Dundas and Yonge is completely transformed. They took hell (not paradise) and put up a parking lot. Not a parking lot exactly, but an entertainment park that looks like a parking lot. They have go-go girls outside a big white tent. Don't ask me what's inside the tent. It could be Don Cherry.

They have some middling outdoor concerts in the new park. It has a big videotron which makes the whole intersection look like a frozen Blade Runner. The guy who has been drumming outside Eatons for the past three decades is still there drumming. Somebody bought Eatons. Sears or The Bay; I don't remember which. The only business I have at Yonge and Bloor is my bank and Canadian Tire (the centre of the known universe). What has inspired you to create a thread dedicated to the name of Young and Bored? Ani.

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Oh, the penny is falling. You little rascal, you. Are you suggesting a game of Canadian Mornington Crescent? Ani.

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Oh no, topic drift is a fine old tradition here it seems.

As for Yonge and Blah, that was my old neighbourhood. Lived there for eight years in an eensy apartment with a big balcony on the 26th floor with a fab view of downtown and the lake.

I left TO about 15 years ago and the last time I was back was six years ago for a very short visit. I must say I miss the restaurants.

Anyhow - hello!


az

Hi az. <>

Yes, so do I. D-oh! I mean which restaurants do you miss?

I don't eat out a lot. There is a sports bar down the street. We call it Nik the Greeks, but its real name is Market Square or some such thing. Who knows. There is another place further along the street which is actually called Niks, but we call it The Other Niks. Nik makes the best fish and chips in the known universe. Passable souvlaki too. Sometimes I go down to watch a particularly good game of something, pushed up shoulder to shoulder against my fellow Canadians. Oh Cana-deh! (as Joni Mitchell would say)

Fionn MacCools is down the street. Hot Pepper is where the local nobs eat. Sometimes I pop in with a neighbour to Le Marche which is in that enormous white cathedral-like skyscraper on Yonge and Front. Massimos West of College and Spadina makes THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE MARGHARITA PIZZA ANYWHERE.

The only place I go with any regularity is Timothy's maybe two mornings a week. I know the people there. An ex-engineer and mountain biker runs it and a lass from Limerick Ireland always has my mocha java decaf ready. Ani.

Well, I don't know what is still there but I used to like going to Southern Accent, Grano, the Boulevard Cafe, Greek places on the Danforth (can't remember names) and, yes, Massimo's.

For coffee places I used to prefer the Second Cup to Timothy's (and would *not* go to Starbucks - ick).

Hey, I once had a job for five minutes at Fionn MacCools. Well okay, maybe it was a week or so. I once went back to TO to work for three months (this was about 7 years ago) only to discover upon arrival that the job didn't exist! So I had to look for whatever I could find and, in desperation, took the job at FC. Luckily I got something slightly better shortly afterwards because it was quite horrible working there.

So you live down by St.Lawrence Market then? The only place I lived in Toronto other than Yonge and Isabella was a year or two when I first arrived at Danforth and Pape. Quite liked that neighbourhood but found I preferred being more central. In fact, for me TO is bordered by the lake, Pape, St. Clair and Palmerston - anywhere outside that always felt like going out of town.

btw, what is Mornington Crescent?


az

Mornington Crescent? Oh dear. How much time do you have?

To start out with, go to my space and read down until you come to the Mornington Crescent link which you can click. That will take you to some introductory pages on h2g2.

There are the legends and there are the cold hard facts. I'll let the links take care of the legends. That leaves me with the cold hard facts. MC is a yelling game. It's not really a game. It's just yelling. Now there is a semblance of rules. There may even be a semblance of shifting rules. But believe me there are no rules to this yelling. What does one yell, you ask? The names of London subway stations.

The object supposedly is to reach the Mornington Crescent station first. Where the rules come in is that you can use any of a billion nonsensical rules to hamper your opponents or simply to add an picturesque environment to the match. In reality, however, people simply make the rules up, even if it is only to misinterpret existing non-rules. I have found there to be quite a significant degree of snobbery involved, people only playing with certain people and refusing to play if they are snibbed. I suspect it is only a variant of the same old same old oneupmanship for which there never have been any rules and never will be any rules.

Having said all that, I am totally enamoured (simply gaga) with Mornington Crescent, but no one will play with me because I am far too inventive with the non-rules, so I have to put on an air of indifference. Thank goodness nobody gives me grief over hockey. I believe the only rules for hockey are that Don Cherry gets his fifteen minutes of fame at half-time and that the beer is kept cold and coming. Ani.

Grano's up on Yonge is fabulous.

hmmm, I think I'll give Mornington Crescent a miss - sounds too complicated for me!

As for Grano, yes it *is* fabulous. I used to work there before I left to live in England. And in fact, *that* was the job that ended up not existing! A few years ago I found myself in rather financial dire straits here and called Roberto who said I could come back and work there for a few months (because tips there were amazing!). The plan was to pay off my debts and go back to Spain with a clean slate. Instead I ended up scrambling for jobs in TO and finally getting back to Spain (only after my cousin very generously bought me a plane ticket) with twice as much debt as I left with! Ah well, the best laid plans of mice and women . . .


az

I spent some time in Madrid. It was hard to tell if anyone liked me because so many were in a hurry and not feeling particularly friendly. But my neighbours were terribly upset when they learned that I was heading back for the Troo North. I hooked up with some folk from Panama. The Madrilenos claimed they could not understand my Spanish. However the Panamanians and I got along just fine, chattering away over wine til the wee hours in The Drugstore (a bar, not a pharmacy) or in a park. I loved it and miss it to this day.

When were you in Madrid? For how long?

I think Sevillanos are much more patient with foreigners trying to speak Spanish - in fact, they go out of their way to understand them and compliment them on even trying to speak a bit of Spanish. I'm not too fond of Madrid myself. I think because it is such a big city and feels a bit 'cold' to me. But I think TO would feel the same if I showed up there not speaking the language very well.

I hope you don't think I was 'getting at you' on that other thread. I was just trying to explain the difference between genuine 'topic drift' and people taking it over as a chat thing.

Again, this was why I started the thread to you here. Because I was interested in talking to you more but didn't think the thread we met on was the best place for this.

Can I ask how old you are? If you don't mind. I'm 47 3/4.

az

Good morning az. Madrid did strike me as cold at first. I experienced the most acute culture shock of my life there. (My second most acute was in London.) In time, however, I learned to look past the gruffness of Madrilenos and got used to them being around. I do truly love Madrid, particularly as it has come through so much struggle.

I dunno about TO. We are the most multicultural city in the world according to the U.N. If you ask directions here (no matter how good or not good your English or French is), people tend to stick with you and explain things in different ways until you're happy. We're just used to doing that for each other. We wouldn't know if you were from Toronto or from furn climes unless you told us. I think the main motivation for chatting people up here is to gain converts to the cult of hockey.

Re topic drift: Yes, I do understand your point. I feel that we had taken care of the potential for drift by starting the new thread. My concern was that people be a little flexible in accepting slight conversational deviations. Language is a social thing. We are not presenting technical papers here. We are sharing viewpoints which need to be explained, redefined, shared, modified and so on.

I am thinking about the book 'The Road to Language.' I think it was Heidegger that wrote that but, as my books were stolen, I can't verify. The writer posits that language 'calls us into its neighbourhood'; that language is not simply about exchanging information.

As a second-language teacher I encountered this very problem. My students were bright, studied hard, and I taught them good things. But they still couldn't hold up their end of a conversation. So I started teaching them local body language and local idioms. It worked. One of my students got a job at Robert Desrosiers Dance Studio by changing her body positioning when entering a conversation. Enuff sed. This approach is involved and I don't want to tie up this thread either.

I feel the poster could have simply said 'Let's get back to Volvos' without attributing 'tendencies' to me and whomever else was involved in that PKD drift. The attribution was unnecessary.

47? My mum taught me never to discuss age, wealth, or class. I think she taught me never to discuss religion, politics, or sex in polite company as well, but that last trio seems continually to have escaped my understanding. It's pretty grey, cold, and damp here somewhat south of yonge and bloor. What's the weather like out there somewhat west of yonge and bloor?

Happy Thanksgiving. Ani.

Well, I am also a 'second-language' teacher in that I teach English to Spanish people here. So, that is your job in TO?

Meanwhile, as you said to Teasswill - 'lighten up'.

Trust me, I'm not being critical. Just that, well, I was new here on this forum once too and I had to find my way. And you will find your way too. Far be it from me to give advice but if I can share some experience, I found it easier to see what other people were about before making assumptions about why they said certain things.

For example, Teasswill is a wonderful and very tolerant person. She was only trying to make a point and get that particular thread back on topic. It does make sense. And I think you don't need to feel that she was saying anything negative about you, because from what I know of her she would not ever do that.

And I know what you are saying about TO since I lived there for quite awhile myself. But I also never felt like it was my 'home', you know what I mean? Still, I sometimes miss it and especially my friends there. And the cinema! And yes, the restaurants. But I find I am happier and feel very 'at home' here in Seville.

Ha! So you're not going to tell me how old you are, eh? Fair enough. I was just curious. The age thing for me puts certain things in perspective - music, films, books - things that one has seen or read or experienced at certain times in their lives.

When I first started on hootoo - about a year and a half ago, a bit longer - I was more 'aggressive' than I am now. I think I felt a bit insecure and felt I had to *make my point* about certain things more strongly. I'm not saying that you are doing this, just telling you how it was for me.

Now I am way more relaxed here. It's a bit of a 'second home' for me and I have come to know many wonderful people who I count as very special friends. In fact, one is about to move here for a year and be my partner! I almost can't believe it, but it really is happening.

Anyhow, I have really enjoyed meeting you and especially talking about TO.

az

Hi az. My job is teaching pottery and art.

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Totally. I think that places resonate with our souls. I was extremelyl unhappy this summer when I went up to Haliburton. Not that I didn't like the people. I did. I found them extremely enterprising. Why, eight people lined up at Wendy's to give me my salad! They seem to really want to get people to work. But the land itself seemed to be rejecting my feet. I don't feel that on Huron or way up in Manitoulin or on the North Channel or on the North Shore. I feel that those places are my home. Toronto has been good to me though. It is my home away from home. My shelter in the storm.

As for h2g2 being my second home. Too early to tell yet. Some of the folk on the ctmb were certainly not very friendly. The Beeb's a big place though. I wish we had a Ceeb in Canada.

What cinema and restaurants do you go to in Seville?

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Wow! One would think that something like that is close to impossible! Would you mind telling me the story? I would really like to know.

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Me too. Ani.

I've never been to a Wendy's. Nor to a Burger King. When McDonalds opened their first place in Winnipeg - we're talking almost thirty years ago - I was given a coupon to go and try out a free Big Mac. So I did. And I took one bite and went - ick, this isn't food! And I've never been back. Nor felt any inclination to go to any similar fast-food place. I think I like food way too much to waste my time with these sorts of places.

Here in Seville there are many wonderful tapa bars that serve up the best 'fast food' ever. Little snacks that are served within minutes of ordering them, but freshly cooked, real food, very nice.

Cinema is a big problem for me here as most films are dubbed. And I WILL NOT watch a dubbed film. I'm quite happy to go and see a Spanish film in Spanish, but I won't go to see English, French, German, etc, films that have been dubbed into Spanish. There is one cinema here that shows films in original version, but it is a limited list, so mostly I watch films on dvd.

As for my partner, he is coming back tomorrow (from Wales). Yes, I met him here. We were friends for about a year and a half, then he came for a holiday - spent seven weeks here. And we have decided to spend the next year together and see how that works out. One year at a time. It seems sensible all things considered. But it is also very romantic. It's been awhile for me since my last serious relationship so I quite often keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming!

What about you? On your own? Married? Kids?

I've been married before - no kids. Just cats. Quite looking forward to my new adventure with P.


az

I've never been to a Wendy's. Nor to a Burger King. When McDonalds opened their first place in Winnipeg - we're talking almost thirty years ago - I was given a coupon to go and try out a free Big Mac. So I did. And I took one bite and went - ick, this isn't food! And I've never been back. Nor felt any inclination to go to any similar fast-food place. I think I like food way too much to waste my time with these sorts of places.

Here in Seville there are many wonderful tapa bars that serve up the best 'fast food' ever. Little snacks that are served within minutes of ordering them, but freshly cooked, real food, very nice.

Cinema is a big problem for me here as most films are dubbed. And I WILL NOT watch a dubbed film. I'm quite happy to go and see a Spanish film in Spanish, but I won't go to see English, French, German, etc, films that have been dubbed into Spanish. There is one cinema here that shows films in original version, but it is a limited list, so mostly I watch films on dvd.

As for my partner, he is coming back tomorrow (from Wales). Yes, I met him here. We were friends for about a year and a half, then he came for a holiday - spent seven weeks here. And we have decided to spend the next year together and see how that works out. One year at a time. It seems sensible all things considered. But it is also very romantic. It's been awhile for me since my last serious relationship so I quite often keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming!

What about you? On your own? Married? Kids?

I've been married before, no kids. Just cats. And now I am looking forward to this new adventure.

az

excuse double posting - hootoo is acting up. thought the first one didn't go through so I posted it again.

az

It was Haliburton so we had to go to Wendy's, until we found decent places. Wendy's isnt as bad as the other ff places. I am familiar with tapas. I do not like dubbed films; subtitles are Ok. I usually stop reading them after the first 15 minutes.

So happy to hear that you have been blessed with a companion. I have a cousin E who lives in New Bridge. Some of us also got to know a man with an absolutely luminous mind (which he claims is pickled) from North Wales; he was posting on the CTMB. Well, say bore da to P.

I have a son, beautiful to behold with a heart of the purest fine-spun gold. Ani.

You have a son? How old? Are you a single mother then? Tell me if I'm being too personal. I'm simply curious.

Meanwhile I am still in - I can't believe this is happening! - mode with P coming tomorrow. Though I actually do believe it. It just almost feels *too* lucky, you know? I'm not used to such lovely things happening to me.

Maybe I'll just have to get used to it?

az

I am not in the habit of giving any but the vaguest information about my son. He managed to escape all sorts of pitfalls, is a happy well-adjusted young man, and I am relieved. Ani.