Third and Final Installment - Toronto Oddities...

Had to save the best for last - I just hope I can explain them...

First came the homeless cyclist. The longer I stayed in Toronto, the more "aware" I became of all that went on around me. While standing on the corner on Day 4, waiting for the trolley to take me back to the hotel, a man came riding by on the street right in front of where I stood. He rode VERY slowly on his very old rickety bicycle. As he passed VERY slowly, he carefully eyed the few of us standing and waiting for the trolley. It creeped me out, but he rode by and then he was gone. After maybe 2 minutes, he came again, from the opposite direction, VERY slowly riding by within a few feet of us - eyeing us again. Holy crap, what's going on here? I was standing on one side of the little trolley stop and couldn't see where he went after he passed by - of course, had I leaned around the stop, I could have watched, but he was gone and I was glad.

ZOOM! Within seconds, he came back from around the trolley stop - only this time, right beside him, he directed a new bicycle with one hand while steering his rickety old one as fast as his 70s tire would go.

What the hell????

Suddenly it dawned on me that he had obviously spied an unattended bike, checked (several times) to see if anyone at the trolley stop was paying attention to it and when he realized we didn't seem to notice it, he stole it as fast as he could peddle. These people never ceased to amaze me!

But the best one was the last one I saw. He was AWESOME! I think Steve would be his best friend...

The day before we left, mom and I decided to ride the ferry across the water to the Toronto Islands. Irene had told us about a great resturant there. We really enjoyed the ferry ride and the island was beautiful. Lots of people board the ferry with their bicycles and from what we heard, one island had a nude beach!

We had gotten off the ferry back on the mainland and needed to call the hotel to see if they could send a car for us. I noticed a phone booth (rememeber those?) and went to call. As it turned out, the phone booth was a "double" and they were both glassed in. I dialed the number while mom stood in the doorway of the booth talking to me. I heard someone talking in the next booth and didn't pay much attention until I heard something about "Hurry up Batman!". I turned to look at the voice and noticed a little guy naked from the waist down, changing from his swimming suit back to his pants. "Hurry up Batman! We gotta go!" "No more Batman!" Uncontrollable laughter. "Batman, get on your bike - we gotta go!"

What the hell?

With big eyes, I caught mom's attention and rolled my eye's toward "Batman" trying to tell her to look. We looked back at eachother trying not to laugh out loud and enjoyed "Batman's" show until he finally got his britches on, hopped on his bicycle, and rode off up the hill, all the while yelling to himself - "Batman" - about how he needed to hurry up and get out of there.

I dunno, maybe you just had to be there!