Off to Quebec

I'm heading out to Quebec City in just a couple of hours.  I have to say some of the idiotic things Legault has been saying lately (that we have no choice but for continued and further economic integration with the USA -- and that dairy supply management and French language labeling are untouchable in any renegotiation of CUSMA) are really grinding my gears.  But overall, the trip should be fine.  I don't have all that much to do on Monday and Tues., though I should take a quick look at the program to see what is going on, and if I can slip away Tues. to get over to the museum.

Anyway, I had thought I might bring along a couple of mid-pile books, but I decided instead to see if I can wrap up or mostly wrap up Canetti's Auto-de-Fé, as it is kind of slow going.  I was able to bring it along and read a few pages during the intermission at a TSO concert and before Waiting for Godot, but it just isn't really grabbing me.  In addition, I have decided to see how much Virginia Woolf I can read in Oct., in advance of a couple of November events.  One is a production of Sarah Ruhl's script for Orlando (probably broadly similar to the movie, but not sure) that George Brown is putting on in early Nov.  The other is an event at TPL where they are unveiling a new edition of Mrs. Dalloway put out by NYRB.  I understand that this is supposed to have a lot of Woolf's notes on the novel, but I don't think it is supposed to be a scholarly edition, so I don't really know how they are treating textual variants, and if I even want to read the ur-text.  I think I will probably be fine just rereading Mrs. Dalloway and Mrs. Dalloway's Party and call it a day...  But I am curious to hear more about it, so I will go to the event.  Anyway, that means that Mrs. Dalloway is also on the list.

I'm making pretty good headway on Russo's Empire Falls, and I should be able to get through it a few days after I am back from this conference.  It's quite good, reminding me a bit of Updike but generally funnier.  The book club at work is sort of limping along at the moment, though the Nov. selection (China Miéville's The City & the City) seems to be generating some interest.  Anyway, the Oct. selection is Kundera's last novel (or perhaps novella): The Festival of Insignificance.  I did borrow it, as it is super short, but I don't care for it, and I don't think I would bother dropping in to talk about it.

As I was searching deep in the basement for Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss (because I am going to her talk at TIFA and wanted to get her to sign my copy), I managed to find Murdoch's Under the Net.  I liked this a lot, though I don't plan on trying to reread it before late 2026 (at the soonest).  I also brought up Midnight by Julien Green.  I thought it had some parallels to Orlando, but I think that is not the case after all.  Still, it looks like a book I can read quickly and get out of the house, which is a pretty big plus these days.

One slightly surprising addition to the reading list is Mitchell's relatively recent translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh.  I'm not entirely sure where I picked this up, though perhaps at a library book sale.  Anyway, I decided sort of at the last minute to go to the Sunday matinee of King Gilgamesh at Soulpepper.  While this was the last performance and was mostly sold out, I did get a rush ticket in the end.  Score!  It was mostly the same as from the 2023 run, though they may have tweaked a few minor things.  It's an energetic and engaging show, and I feel that I should try to read this new translation while the story is fresh in my head.  I don't think Gilgamesh is actually that long, though the intro and the copious notes definitely add up!

The one other book that I mentioned is Austen's Persuasion, which I will try to get through in Nov., in advance of her 250th bday party in early Dec. at the TPL.  After this, I will probably return to some of the books in the stacks that were calling out, like The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Last Song of Manuel Sendero and The End of Mr. Y, and then, after that, back to the general list. William Maxwell has been waiting patiently for quite a while now...

 

First Thoughts on Nuit Blanche 2025

On the whole, I found this a pretty disappointing Nuit Blanche, though the art did get better as the night went on.  I probably didn't plan it out all that well, as I was at Waiting for Godot as Nuit Blanche started.  The show didn't finish until 10 pm.  (On the whole I thought it was very well done with some inspired clowning, but it can be pretty exhausting as so little actually happens during the play.)  

Then I grabbed an adequate slice of pizza nearby, so I didn't really get going until about 10:30.  I saw a few things along Danforth between Coxwell and Greenwood. 

Then I hit Aki Native Earth Studio in Regent Park.  Then I went over to Yonge-Dundas Square.  Apparently, I got there just as the music ended.  Perhaps it was a much more lively scene a few hours earlier, but it was kind of desolate (and it wasn't really all that late, just after 11 pm!).

I continued on Dundas and there was a bit of a dance party on McCaul, and there were decent crowds watching a film about Toronto and the many films that have been shot here.

At this point, I went over to City Hall.  I found Nathan Phillips Square to be a complete let down.  There was a bit of art but it was all dispersed and there wasn't really anything to do on the main plaza.  It was certainly a missed opportunity.  An even bigger missed opportunity was that they didn't shut down a main street to serve as the spine of Nuit Blanche.  Aside from a short section of Dundas, I don't think any roads were actually closed down for the event.

When I got to 401 Richmond, slightly after midnight, it was hopping!  I guess everyone decided to just hang out there.  The crowds actually were a bit too much for me, and I just went into a couple of galleries and then split.  But I do hope that the city decides next year to build around the 401 Richmond hub and maybe shut down Spadina (except for the streetcars).  One can dream anyway!

So then I biked over to Stackt Market (dodging some poor drivers on Bathurst), and that was generally pretty interesting and also moderately busy, though not quite as overwhelming as 401 Richmond.  There were some really interesting video installations, as well as this set of skyscraper models.  I think the point was these were all from movies where skyscrapers were destroyed, but I'm not really sure. 

Then I went briefly over to the Bentway.  There was some video art, but mostly it was disappointing how empty it was.  Apparently it was busier earlier, but they didn't really do much to keep the crowds there, as opposed to previous years when I think there were food trucks and a dj.

One of the more striking pieces was along Ft. York Blvd.

It was just about 1 am at this point.  I decided to stop in at St. Lawrence Market, and thought one of the video installations was pretty good.  At least my bike didn't act up, and I covered a decent amount of the city in one evening.  I managed to get home just after 1:30 am.

So it wasn't a complete bust, but I definitely think Nuit Blanche was more successful and was more of a civic happening in previous years.  Let's see what next year brings...

Back on the Bike (Again)

I guess it was last week I was talking about how my bike fell over, and the derailleur was somewhat damaged, so I took it in the shop.  I got it back, but it still wasn't really acting right, so I left it there again, perhaps on Monday.  After talking it over with the mechanic, he agreed it was probably that the front ring was worn out, as I almost never shift out of the middle gears (or rather the middle ring).  I wasn't expecting it back until Thurs., as they needed to order the part, though they called me late on Wed. (around 5:30), saying it was ready.  As the shop is only open until 6 pm, I had to wait until after the electrician wrapped up (another adventure in itself!), and then I went and retrieved my bike.  I probably wouldn't have bothered, but as I was off to the TSO that evening, I went in to work in the late afternoon, since I had to go downtown.

Anyway, the mechanic said that he had replaced the front ring and the chain.  I think the cassette on the back tire was still fairly new, so they left that alone.  (At least he had noticed the skipping, and it wasn't just in my imagination.)  But he had found a used derailleur that was in better condition than mine(!), so they replaced that as well.  Over the years, pretty much all the components, including the seat (after one was stolen), brakes, shifters, tubes and recently the rear tire casing have been replaced.  (Indeed, I had yet another bike light stolen after a quick trip to 401 Richmond, so I had to buy another one of those as well!)  It's possible that the only original components (from when I got the bike back around 2012) are the frame itself, the mud guards and the very beat up rack for my pannier.   I was thinking about the Ship of Theseus paradox lately (as it is discussed in the book version of Mickey 7, though not necessarily in the movie).  Is this really the same bike or not?  I suppose if I ever have to replace the frame for some reason, at that point I would say it is no longer the original bike.

This reminds me of a particularly annoying "concern troll" on Linked In, who popped recently and who was going on and on about how bicycle advocates were not honest about how much repairing bicycles would cost over the life cycle of a bike, completely distorting the cost and basically ignoring the much higher auto maintenance costs, even if these are somewhat lower for EVs.  And then not content with this, he had the nerve to say that cycling advocates were ignoring the carbon costs of the bananas that fuel cyclists (in some promotional material).  There really isn't much to do with these folks, who are likely just AI bots, than ignore them. 

Anyway, the bike chain still slipped a little bit going through gear shifts, though it was working much better.  I did find, however, that the middle ring seems to be just a bit smaller, and I was ending up in the upper gears all the time, compared to how I am used to riding.  So I have started to shift up into the largest ring more often.  One interesting side effect is that it seems that I have shaved about 5 minutes off of the trip downtown (as well as from my house to Woodbine).  I guess it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks, as I have done this much shifting in 10+ years!

The downside, however, is that I thought I was on the larger ring and was downshifting, and I was in the middle and shifted to the smallest ring.  The chain completely jumped off and ended up jammed between the ring and the frame!  It took some time but I was able to free it and get it back on the ring.  That was extremely concerning.  I had to rearrange my schedule, but managed to stop in at the bike shop on Sat.  They said there was no damage to the chain, and that I should just try not to do that (sort of like the old doctor's joke) and to shift a bit more gently.  I think if I keep to the middle and largest rings, I should probably be ok.  However, there was one more time when I was going between the upper and middle ring and I was coming up to a light, so didn't have a lot of time for the shifting to take place, and the chain jumped off again!  This is far from ideal, and maybe this is just a sign that it is time to think about buying a new bike.  But for now, it seems to be working reasonably well.