Sucky day

• Today is fire inspection day at Ye Olde Apartment Building. Those alarms, they sure do work. Loudly, piercingly, repeatedly, for hours. Even though D. knew what was happening and had heard them a few minutes earlier, she burst into tears when it blasted again unexpectedly.
• When we got up this morning, the water was running sort of sluggishly out of the taps. I thought, “Hmm, maybe they’re testing the water mains too, or something?” But no, the water ran less and less and colder and colder. Of course, the water mains had burst this morning. Oh joy. I had just finished cooking a massive and dirty-dish intensive lunch (sort of a pre-birthday lunch for the Redhead) when I finally checked with the super and learned the ugly truth. MANY dirty dishes. I feel scuzzy and coated in cooking residue and I want a long shower so, so badly.
• In order to be marginally clean for school, instead of a quiet afternoon of studying, I shall have to hike through the snow to my mother’s house and shower there, only to advance again in the opposite direction to take the subway to class this evening.
• D. is having one of those days where she defiantly and wilfully and purposely misbehaves and then crumbles into hot, sad tears at some random moment during the process of being reprimanded.
• That evil, orange “service engine soon” light. What? What is it, brand new engine that we got this summer? What is your freaking problem?
• I slept badly and I am now a very cranky, tired person with a crick in my neck.
• Other stuff, too, that is making me pissy.

I cannot wait until bedtime, so this day will be OVER.

Smells of my apartment building….

I just had to run downstairs in boxers and a thermal shirt to get a package that turned out not even to be for me. With the door open, it smelled nice down there: Eau de Winter-Finally-Freaking-Came: Cold winter air with just a hint of snow. Well, plus a bit of a stale laundry-soap and creamed corn. But still, SNOW!

Smells of my apartment building….

Yesterday was gross. Just not ok.

Eau de TAKE OUT THE TRASH ALREADY: Warm chickpeas (no idea why, that’s just what it smelled like), peepee and just that smell of, you know, trash.

Smells of my apartment building….

It’s just too good…

Eau de Amsterdam Christmas: eggnog and pot… hmm.

Smells of my apartment building….

Eau de Guy-Next-To-Us-Trying-To-Be-Nice: Stale cigarette smoke and liquor partly dispelled by a chilly draft and huge amounts of air freshener. I guess somebody complained about how the hallway smelled like a bar, hmm?

Creepy

I am all alone in the apartment and it is seriously weird. I have never in my life slept alone in a house, without at least a cat or a dog for company. Now, there is a fish in here, but he’s hardly going to make companionable noises at me, climb on my lap, or come lie down across my feet. It feels very odd, and am going to admit that I’ve been sleeping with the bathroom light on.

I can’t wait for my girls to come back…

Neighbourhood love…

I was away for a few months over the summer, and it has reaffirmed for me how very much I love this city. Growing up I never would have thought, in a million years, that I’d enjoy living in a city. I think part of the reason Toronto works for me is because it is more like a collection of neighbourhoods than the concrete-paved wasteland big cities usually make me think of. We walk easily to one of many parks and playgrounds, to the little produce stalls, to a big grocery store, to the library, to a bookstore, to coffee shops, to diners, to (or, mostly, past) fancy, trendy restaurants, to playgroup. And while many collections of amenities like these exist in many, many other places in the city, the neighbourhood does have its own distinct feel. While most people passing through see some bars and clubs and upscale condos and dismiss it as yuppieville with a few families thrown in, it’s honestly very different from that. Huge numbers of kids live around here. Housing varies a great deal in style, cost, etc., which means broke students and small families (raising hand) and newer immigrants live near comfortably wealthy families and young professionals. It’s not the most ethnically diverse neighbourhood in the city, but umm, compare it to anywhere I was this summer in the US, any of the big cities, and we’ve got them beat hands down. I love the contrasts in this neighbourhood: The baby boutique stocking Burberry everything and fancy little handmade French lace dresses half a block from the cheap and awesome Chocky’s where I can get a huge bag of kids basic socks for $5. The Tim Horton’s two blocks from some of the fanciest restaurants in the country.

What I hate? Parking. It’s a freaking nightmare around here.

Smells of my apartment building….

Eau de Gagging: Stinky diapers, laundry soap and cigarettes.

Smells of my apartment building….

Eau de Chinatown: Durian, sweet and sour pork and fish sauce… Almost didn’t think I’d make it through the hallway today, that was NOT RIGHT.

Smells of my apartment building….

All is in harmony today…. Eau de Thanksgiving: Turkey, etc.