The Kindness of Strangers

Today, without warning, a wildcat transit strike left 700,000 Torontonians to find their own way home. In the middle of our first smog alert/heat wave too! The temperature hit 34 degrees this afternoon. That's 94 in American.

I spent a sweaty afternoon voluntarily riding around town, which in retrospect isn't so smart when there's a smog alert. At the end of the day I met my photographer friend Adrian, who wanted to take some more photos for the portfolio he's building for me. I was wearing a business suit and tie in the still-hot sun, coyly holding my cell phone and sweating almost as fast as I could dab it away.

After a couple of thirst quenching beers in The Distillery District followed by a quick Vietnamese dinner I drove home to walk Barkley. Being an honourable canine he has so far left my floors un-blemished, but a dog has needs...

So why were pedestrians waving at me as I drove by? Oh yeah - 8:30 PM and office workers were still trudging home in the heat! As soon as I realised that their hopeful gestures weren't a recognition of my impending stardom I stopped and filled my car with hot, tired huddled masses and drove them as far north as I could.

Listening to: Lonely in Your Nightmare by Duran Duran from Rio.