toronto a-ok (a blackout thread)

I was thinking about the "wow look at the stars!" factor, I wasn't sure if urbanites usually noticed stuff like that.

(Glad everything's cool, Sean. And hey yeah, isn't the Pleiades shower sometime around this time of year, or is that July?)

Oh no, not Grizz!

Just got home from my nature walk, and the ISP seems to be kicking the data out again, so will cross fingers that things are fixed and not fuXed. Still conserving power and water so will be an interesting (and hot) day today, may escape to the ravines or something, to keep cool.

i was at work when it happend and luckily the go trains were running so i got home ok. but the walk to union station was INSANE. we had power from about 1-9ish this morning, and then it went out again. seems to be back now (probably temporary again) but there's NO WATER AT ALL. like, not even enough to wash your hands.

Noodley Dude, Spellcheck just called and wants to be your Frieeeeeend. Unfortunately the only suggestion it gived for "frigables" is friable, and I don't even know what that means so you're on your own. ;)

You got back up there pretty fast though - that's good news. Have fun sucking on that beer!

I hope Dyson isn't still quiet because he's burned his place down with emergency candles.

i was planning on sneaking into the radiohead show on saturday (i know how to get on through the back, ha ha) hopefully they're going to make up the show soon. at the amatheater.

happy 5th anniv.

I'm actually really sorry that I missed this.

It's also my parents' 26th wedding anniversary! 'Course, they've been separated since I was 8...

I spent the blackout first on a bus (from 400 & Steeles to Yonge & Finch) and then in a bar with my Dad, drinking a pitcher with the $15 or so we had in cash. Then we had a barbecue in the backyard. Good times! I wish we could have one day off (forcibly - none of this opt-in hippie shit!) where everyone had to exist without power again. Except those who need power to live (respirators, etc.)

It is raining heavily now and the lights flickered and I wonder if we'll get a little brown-out.

Are you downtown? I am in North York and it is beautiful and sunny here...

I'm in North York right now, and it's pretty cloudy.

Crazy! I am in the west end, 400 & Steeles-ish. We've got big fluffy white clouds..

We got no brownout. (I'm in East York.)

I'm driving to Scarborough at 5 so bound to hit some terrible weather somewhere!

I'm kinda bummed I missed the blackout. I'm a Toronto native but was living in London at the time and was jealous hearing all the stories of walking down dark streets looking at stars, beers on candlelit patios, etc.

Mind you London had a big blackout shortly thereafter and I was stuck on the Piccadilly Line tube during rush hour which was not fun at all I can tell you.

as of right now it's sunny here at the 404 and steeles!

big up Steeles! no, actually, I can't big up Steeles. It sucks.

it does suck. luckily i just work here, but live downtown (parkdale)

yeah, I live off of Vaughan and St. Clair - but I used to live in Bloor west village! Loved it there so much.

i like bloor west! helps if you speak a little ukrainian of course ;)
parkdale is great although the constant name-checking of the area in association with the new hipsterdom/queen-west-west-west gentrification is somewhat annoying. i'm closer to roncesvalles anyway...

It's sunny again at Yonge and Sheppard.

"I'm kinda bummed I missed the blackout. I'm a Toronto native but was living in London at the time and was jealous hearing all the stories of walking down dark streets looking at stars, beers on candlelit patios, etc."

I have exactly the same story, and I feel the same way, for the same reasons. Just replace London with Nagoya, Japan.

"but I used to live in Bloor west village! Loved it there so much."

I recently moved to High Park, and I'd heard that Bloor West village was a pretentious little suburb on the edge of Etobicoke. Wrong! It's great. I'm actually finding less and less reason to go downtown anymore.

"parkdale is great although the constant name-checking of the area in association with the new hipsterdom/queen-west-west-west gentrification is somewhat annoying."

I read an article recently which named "Bloordale", the section of Bloor from Ossington to Lansdowne as the next target for gentrification. Has the Junction's moment already passed? What about Leslieville? I can't keep up anymore.

bit of rain at king + bay. wait, no...clearing up now.

I was a Jane street girl for two lovely years. I moved away to move in with my boyfriend and my neighbourhood of the last 2 years (Forest Hill) sucks because I don't have any money, a car, or kids to drop off at expensive lessons. There are no bars around here! I can't believe I live in an area that isn't walking distance from a pub of some sort.

I really like that black and yellow breakfast place at King/Queen and Roncy. Good stuff and awesome decor!

I think the Junction is still plodding along, last time I went there I saw a lot more hipsters and condo developments.. Lansdowne though, that's interesting! I think that's got to be one of the most depressing streets in Toronto. I used to have to stand on the street at Queen & Lansdowne as part of my job (not a hooker) and it was terrible.

insomnia at bloor and bathurst has an awesome brunch. esp their huevos. sooo o o o o good.

xpost or smthg

I thought this thread revival would be about the explosion, which for better or worse I was out of town for. Although I'm told my house at bathurst and sheppard indeed shook.

5 years, eh. How long did it take for people to forget about it and go back to blasting their AC at 20 degrees.

"There are no bars around here! I can't believe I live in an area that isn't walking distance from a pub of some sort."

That factored heavily into my decision about where to live. The park was a big draw, but I didn't want to live in a place where I couldn't walk to get a drink or a bite to eat. I know some people living in those condos down by the SKYDOME (screw you Ted Rogers) and there's nothing there. I'd go insane.

"my neighbourhood of the last 2 years (Forest Hill) sucks because I don't have any money, a car, or kids to drop off at expensive lessons.'

My dad used to live there, as a much younger man. Picture it being 1966, and my father, a recently arrived immigrant from Barbados being probably the only black person at Forest Hill C.I., which was then very rich and jewish. He still has his class ring.

Apparently there are more Torontonians than I realized on ILX these days.

black and yellow place is the Easy - although i've had mixed experiences there and it is a bit pricier than other good brunch places in the west end (soooo many!)

i haven't heard anything about this 'bloordale' thing - that stretch still seems kinda awkward. i used to take the lansdowne bus every day at my last job, which was indeed depressing. the city re-paved the section from bloor to dundas ignoring the relatively big protest (signs on every lawn complaining about the lack of parking, etc).

queen and lansdowne is not a good place to stay stationary for a long stretch of time...

i was surprised there was no thread about the explosion since there do indeed seem to be a few torontonians kicking around (although i haven't posted regularly here in ages...)

"I thought this thread revival would be about the explosion, which for better or worse I was out of town for."

I felt it first, then heard it and then watched it from my friend's apartment at High Park and Bloor. It was my first time ever seeing anything like that.

i had no idea about it until sunday night, when my hangover finally let me get up. still haven't seen/heard/smelled anything except on the news, and except for the smelling. could have just as well happened in beirut.

Here's the article I read on the Bloordale thing

I kinda lived in the Junction for a while last year and I think it is going through the requisite neighbourhood 'upgrades', but for the most part it escapes the panopticon Toronto media focus. I like it there! Although there is a distinct lack of good hangouts aside from the Axis. There was briefly a cool little bar called the Buzz, but it closed due to some weird owner issues - certainly not lack of popularity. I see there is a new organic supermarket and cafe in the Junction too.

I'm actually finding less and less reason to go downtown anymore

So true. A few years ago, I would have probably said I'd never want to venture west of Dufferin on Queen. Now I barely ever go EAST of Dufferin! The Rhino is about as close as I get these days ;)

My dad used to live there, as a much younger man. Picture it being 1966, and my father, a recently arrived immigrant from Barbados being probably the only black person at Forest Hill C.I., which was then very rich and jewish. He still has his class ring.

-- j-rock, Thursday, August 14, 2008 8:43 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i wonder if your dad went to school with my mom!

does anyone know if there's tickets left for james murphy at wrongbar on saturday?

no, but I have lawn tickets for Radiohead tomorrow! (For old time's sake.)

you could try getting on a paid list via the wrongbar facebook group maybe?

paid lists are what got us into this mess.

good idea rob, thanks.

hey yeah, the explosion - there really was no thread? we nearly got shaken out of our beds here at Eg and Allen (talk about no pubs!) but i was tired enough to sleep through it. at first Zac thought it was people fucking on the dryer, but no.

I commiserate from down the street, Kim. :P I was surprised that there was no explosion thread either, but I was camping in Port Elgin so I have little to say about it except it sucks and it's on my bus route so I am glad I was far, far away at the time!

Uh...you all okay up there?

who cares. Toronto sucks.

-with love, a Torontonian

In all seriousness, all is well here up East, but.

10th anniversary. I was in the process of buying my first house, and had a 9:00 appointment the next morning to do the inspection. Had to force myself to sleep fitfully--my alarm was without batteries--and we did the inspection with no power, so all the electrical stuff had to be evaluated visually.

i had the most glorious two days off work.

Sorry for corniness but it was my own personal Bloomsday, my bf and I exhausted ourselves in separate adventures and ended the night making our first confessions of love

That story is all kinds of awww.

had to google "Bloomsday"... happy 10 year love confession anniversary!

:D

happy 10th anniv!

http://gothamist.com/2003/08/15/the_new_york_city_blackout_edition.php

I had just got back from summer camp (lol) and was sitting on my bed after a shower, listening to Slowdive and waiting to go to the to-be-postponed Radiohead concert. I remember I was looking in the mirror across from my bed when all of a sudden the music stopped. Then I went skateboarding in the plaza by my house, where many people were hectically stocking up on water, ice cream was allegedly being given away, and pizza pizza (owning as gas-powered over as they did) was doing steady business.

oveN

Any of you without power? I was this morning (with two huge branches on top of my shed out back--don't want to venture too close, but I don't think there's any damage), got out of the house for the day, got back 30 minutes ago and it's back on. I was resigned to spending the night in a nearby motel (there was power from the Queensway north when I left this morning) but happily won't have to. As long as my neighbour's ridiculously humungous tree doesn't crash down on my roof, everything looks to be okay.

No power issues here, yet, but a block north of us there's a significant swath of powerlessness (just east of Christie Pits).

Have similar feelings about _our_ neighbour's humungous tree, which leans over our house, covered in ice. As more ice accumulates and (we're told) the wind will be picking up overnight.

Good luck!

You too. As soon as all this clears up, I've vowed to do something I should have done long ago--see if I have any legal standing to get them to cut down this tree. (I've dropped hints.) If it ever does come down on my house, I have a feeling I wouldn't see any insurance money from either their end or mine.

my lights have stayed on so far (parkdale). hoping it doesn't get too windy by the lake tonight, as i'm surrounded by huge trees on all sides.

No power since 11pm Saturday in Cedarvale - a huge tree in my neighbour's yard went down, thankfully in the opposite direction.. Doesn't look like it hit anything. We're cold and our food is in coolers in the back :P trekked out to Scarborough to check on my Grandma.. There are NO LIGHTS east of Kennedy station except for a fucking Walmart whose parking lot was all lit up :P

I liked the warm weather blackout better :(

unexpectedly, it looks like all the ice encasings have gone from the trees overnight, at least around here. Hoping power's been restored to at least some of you folks, it looks cold out there.

East End looks like it's getting the worst of this: http://www.torontohydro.com/sites/electricsystem/PowerOutages/Pages/OutageMap.aspx

Power came back on while I was at work this evening! I went to a friends house to shower this afternoon, it felt amazing after two mornings without showers. Apartment is still cold, but oven is on full blast to kickstart it.

15 years

http://gothamist.com/2018/08/14/blackout_2003_15_year_anniversary.php

I walked home across the Brooklyn Bridge. The convenience stores were being stripped of their ice cream and pornography.