After I found out that I wasn't going to Stratford after all, I slept in pretty late. I eventually made my way over to the gym. I certainly don't normally go that late (it was basically early afternoon). I don't go nearly as often as I used to in the evenings, as I find it is pretty crowded. Sat. or Sun. morning is usually not too bad, but this was actually far emptier, which was quite nice, though I don't plan on making a habit of it. Afterwards, I actually had to hustle a bit in order to grab a few things on hold at the library before they closed.
It was a nice day, and I had kind of wanted to read outside, but I also wanted to get this deck repair done. I dragged my feet a bit but finally got started. In the end, I managed to get one and a half boards removed before it just got too dark. I think I read a bit after that and got at least a bit of work done.
Sunday I escorted my daughter to her volunteer job downtown. The TTC was in fine form. Dundas Station was closed due to police activity with no hint as to when this would wrap up, so we walked down from College. After I dropped her off, I wanted to backtrack and go to the Regent Park pool. I just managed to get a streetcar, but it turned out it wasn't going anywhere because there was some addict sprawled out on the floor completely unwilling to move. I think the passengers would have been more than happy to walk around him, but the driver wasn't going anywhere. Finally, he put the streetcar out of service. This was unbelievably frustrating, and probably had the standoff happened later in the evening, someone would have physically dragged him off the streetcar. I guess the only (small) saving grace is that the driver made us all get off the streetcar and drove off with the addict still on the floor. I guess he was going to try to meet the police and/or ambulance somewhere (though there certainly should have been some kind of response from the ambulances around the corner at Victoria and Shuter!). Otherwise, the Dundas line would have been completely shut down for who knows how long. Under normal circumstances, I would have given up and gone to work instead, but the Dundas station was still shut down. It was a very long wait (definitely over 10 minutes) for the next streetcar, but I did eventually get to the pool and did 22 or so laps.
Then I did go to work for a bit, trying to focus entirely on GIS processing, as my VPN situation still isn't great when working from home. Then I picked up my daughter. I thought I would take her out for a late lunch, but she just wanted to go home.
So then I was actually able to return to the deck repair. I pried out the last half board, and then nailed in the replacement boards and stained them.
I was wrapping up as dusk fell. Between swimming the extra laps and all the hammering, I was a bit weary. I basically crashed and then woke up in the middle of the night and got a bit more work done, though not quite as much as I had hoped.
I ended up working from home on Monday, and I certainly assumed that I would be able to sand the other boards and hit them with a new coat of stain. I'll try to get around to the other parts of the deck, but the top part needs it the most. Anyway, almost my entire team is out in Edmonton this week, and the call that was supposed to end around 5:30 or so ran until 7:45! I should have just dropped off anyway, but they were talking about important things like the project schedule. I only was able to briefly test that the belt sander was still working before it just got too late. This means that I will have to try to come home from work early on Tues. to wrap this up, which means I can't run over to see anything at Carlton until Wed. (While there wasn't much I really wanted see at the TIFF Festival, I probably would have watched Croenenberg's The Shrouds. No idea when this will actually turn up at a regular screening. I also somehow missed the Goddard flic at Paradise, and they just don't have that much on through Oct. Sigh.)
Now I had been scheduled to see Jane's Addiction and Love and Rockets on Wed. I was certainly a bit worried that the weather wouldn't cooperate, but that was the least of my worries. As has been widely reported, Perry Farrell tried to hit the lead guitar player and had to be restrained and taken off stage. While I thought it was unlikely they would continue the tour after this, I was hoping somehow they could get themselves together. Honestly, I could care less about Jane's Addition. I wanted to see Love and Rockets again. We already lost so many concerts during COVID (and several never rescheduled). Then The Fixx keyboard player broke his hand right before the NYC show. Then Neil Young cancelled his second Toronto show. And now this. I'm definitely more than a little pissed off. So as I said, I'll probably go to the movies instead on Wed.
I'm scheduled to see a George F. Walker premiere on Thurs., and then Friday, I'll probably hit The Rex to see if I can see Neil Swainson in action again. So I am not exactly moping around.
Sat. is my all-day excursion to Stratford for this season. Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates. Sunday I will take my daughter over to Spadina Museum. I may be able to sneak away to do work and/or see something at Carlton depending on what they have scheduled.
And then I am off to Vancouver for the TAC Conference. So not a whole lot of downtime over the next week or so... There is very little rain in the forecast, so I probably should go ahead and water the plants, even though I don't like to do that.
Edit (9/17): I was able to get home by 7, so I had a narrow window to get the sanding done before it got really dark by 7:45 or so. I wasn't as worried about putting on the stain after dark, as that wasn't going to disturb anyone's rest... Hopefully it looks ok. It should be dry by Wed. evening, not that I am planning on going out there for a while. I may be able to work on the next section on Sunday, but I saw that it was threatening to rain Sunday into Monday, and that probably won't give me the time I need to let it dry. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
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