FLASHBACK FRIDAYS!
Jun. 20th, 2008 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teddogSo, the Jays hired Cito Gaston back. Okay, so this is work related, but what the heck?! Everybody party like it's 1992!
Also, I had the displeasure of looking for Batter Blaster in Canada yesterday, venturing up to Whole Foods. I do not understand the appeal of this chain in the US or anywhere for that matter. There are two Whole Foods in all of Ontario.
One of these is in Oakville. Oakville is a bedroom community at best, king of the suburbs, with most people having to commute to work. To reach this store, you need a car. You can see where this is going.
The other is in the Yorkville community in Toronto. What's the location like? Well, it shares the mall with a Rolls Royce dealership.
I know it's not my job to judge, but this seems quite silly for a store that preaches being green and everything, while at the same time the locations seem to declare that this way of living is can only be sustainable by the upper class. Oakville is not the land of poor people. Yorkville, depending on how you look at it, could be, but for the most part it's full of people who wank about things that aren't shiney and new, which I'll get to in a moment.
It gets even sillier when I go down the aisle and see many of the exact same products that I buy over at Valumart and Dominion, but at Whole Foods there's about a 25%-50% markup on the product. So, if I buy them from my usual stores, does this make me somehow less green? You know, despite that I use cloth bags and try to buy locally?
Speaking of buying locally, isn't that the whole point of living a sustainable lifestyle? I saw some really nice bottles of iced herbal tea at the store, all labeled "Product of Thailand". How much money and effort was spent shipping that tea across the globe?
Of course, after all this I learned that I probably can't get Batter Blaster in Canada. After I dealt with the pain of going into that so-called grocery store. It should also be noted that I saw some university students being tossed from the store for shoplifting. Make of that what you will.
Now, onto the brief topic of why Yorkville sucks somewhat, I present the Cumberland Terrace. I've heard stories about it and decided to check it out.
A search online reveals some people complaining about how it has no spot in Yorkville. I'm a freak for old malls, though. These sight has examples of the outside:
http://illegalsigns.ca/2007/11/27/roof-sign-structure-removed-at-cumberland-terrace/
The insides are better, with the top floors having good examples of how malls looked in the 1980s. I felt like I was 5 again. The basement, on the other hand, is the greatest secret ever. It has perfectly preserved mall design in the style of the 1970s. It's completely mindblowing. I can't find any pics online, so I'm probably going to have to visit with a camera at some point.
Also, I had the displeasure of looking for Batter Blaster in Canada yesterday, venturing up to Whole Foods. I do not understand the appeal of this chain in the US or anywhere for that matter. There are two Whole Foods in all of Ontario.
One of these is in Oakville. Oakville is a bedroom community at best, king of the suburbs, with most people having to commute to work. To reach this store, you need a car. You can see where this is going.
The other is in the Yorkville community in Toronto. What's the location like? Well, it shares the mall with a Rolls Royce dealership.
I know it's not my job to judge, but this seems quite silly for a store that preaches being green and everything, while at the same time the locations seem to declare that this way of living is can only be sustainable by the upper class. Oakville is not the land of poor people. Yorkville, depending on how you look at it, could be, but for the most part it's full of people who wank about things that aren't shiney and new, which I'll get to in a moment.
It gets even sillier when I go down the aisle and see many of the exact same products that I buy over at Valumart and Dominion, but at Whole Foods there's about a 25%-50% markup on the product. So, if I buy them from my usual stores, does this make me somehow less green? You know, despite that I use cloth bags and try to buy locally?
Speaking of buying locally, isn't that the whole point of living a sustainable lifestyle? I saw some really nice bottles of iced herbal tea at the store, all labeled "Product of Thailand". How much money and effort was spent shipping that tea across the globe?
Of course, after all this I learned that I probably can't get Batter Blaster in Canada. After I dealt with the pain of going into that so-called grocery store. It should also be noted that I saw some university students being tossed from the store for shoplifting. Make of that what you will.
Now, onto the brief topic of why Yorkville sucks somewhat, I present the Cumberland Terrace. I've heard stories about it and decided to check it out.
A search online reveals some people complaining about how it has no spot in Yorkville. I'm a freak for old malls, though. These sight has examples of the outside:
http://illegalsigns.ca/2007/11/27/roof-sign-structure-removed-at-cumberland-terrace/
The insides are better, with the top floors having good examples of how malls looked in the 1980s. I felt like I was 5 again. The basement, on the other hand, is the greatest secret ever. It has perfectly preserved mall design in the style of the 1970s. It's completely mindblowing. I can't find any pics online, so I'm probably going to have to visit with a camera at some point.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 04:42 pm (UTC)I wanna see!
A few years back - around 2004 - I was working in downtown Hamilton, and needed new glasses. But it had been years since I had my eyes tested, so I went out at lunchtime to find a nearby optometrist. There was one in a nearby building, next to the Crowne Plaza. I walked up a very long and narrow and steep flight of stairs, carpeted in brown, up three stories.
The office at the top of the building was totally styled in the 1970s "rumpus room" look, all cheap dark paneling, wall-to-wall brown carpet, and Danish Modern waiting room furniture. I think there was even a bean bag chair. There was a definitely a macrame owl, something I'd not seen the 1st grade.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 06:41 pm (UTC)If you have money for TTC tokens, I can take you up there over a lunch break. It's right by Bloor station and there's some eats there.
Hm, to give you a preview of what's down there, the tunnel that connects the retro mall to the one with the subway? I don't remember all of the details, but there's a large bronze trim that lines the walls. I want to say that it looks like seating, but it doesn't come far enough away from the hall to be anything but trim. The bronze is in perfect shape and polished. Between that and the floor is a white trim that almost looks like it's lit from behind. The basement itself has brick walls, IIRC, with yellow trim around the tops of some of the stores.
It's not completely "rumpus room", but it looks lost in the past.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 06:48 pm (UTC)Love to! Maybe Friday? :)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 08:30 pm (UTC)