Queen and Parliament is now Peter’s Corner

My favourite pizza place in Toronto, Peter’s Cajun Creole Pizza, is expanding. The former Mr. Tasty location, adjacent to Pete’s Cajun at Queen and Parliament, is now Peter’s Corner. They installed the sign tonight:

The sign promises:

• Hamburger
• Panini
• Steak
• Coffee
• Gelato

But the best part? Their slogan is “Profile of Excellence.”

I’m not quite sure what that means, but I’m keen to eat there.

So I ordered a Brompton

I love riding my bicycle. I ride it to work, I ride it to school, I ride it to pick up groceries. I use and enjoy my bicycle enough to warrant owning a nice one.

But the problem is, I live in a city (and a neighbourhood) where nice bicycles get stolen. Quickly. Thus, for the past four or five years, I’ve simply resigned myself to the fact that I need to own crappy bikes that aren’t worth stealing. These bikes, of course, are not much fun to ride.

Whenever I’ve talked to bike shop guys about this problem, they’ve said, “Well, you should buy a nice bike. Just bring it inside.” I know that’s what I should do, but it’s something I would never actually do. I can’t imagine lugging a bike up the flights of stairs to our apartment, let along finding a place to put it.

So then, last weekend, when Jenna and I were walking along Bloor Street, and we ducked into Curbside Cycle (“Just to see”), I again explained my conundrum to the salesperson, Aaron. He countered by showing me the Brompton Folding Bicycle. Gorgeous, and handmade in London, they fold down to a package that weighs just about 25 pounds.

Perfect! This is a bike that I could actually imagine carrying up some stairs, or bringing into my office.

I took one for a test drive on Saturday, and loved it. It feels a lot like a “real” bicycle, despite the smaller wheels. A bit low to the ground, obviously, but otherwise, a totally normal, comfortably smooth ride. I tried folding and unfolding it a few times, and I’m not quite at the 30-second fold yet, but I’ve been assured that with practice, I will.

So yesterday, I bit the bullet and placed my order: a 3-speed M-type in Cornflower Blue (similar to the one above, without the leather Brooks saddle).

Because Bromptons are all custom, the turnaround is about 3 weeks. It’s going to be a long wait.

My smart, beautiful, talented wife

This week, Jenna signed a contract to spend the next two years working for The Dominion Institute heading up The Memory Project.

She’ll put together a team that will travel across Canada to collect oral histories from Canadian WWII veterans, then put them online.

It’s good, important work, and I’m really proud of her.

While I was 26

Tomorrow I turn twenty-seven.

And because someone once told me that “celebration without reflection is hollow and empty,” here then, in no particular order, are some of the things I’m most proud that happened in the last year. I:

• Celebrated a year of marriage (thanks Jenna)
• Started running (thanks Beginning Runner’s Handbook)
• Started playing the ukulele (thanks Tom, and thanks Steve and David)
• Pitched, produced, and hosted my very own pilot for CBC Radio
• Started drinking Scotch seriously
• Helped make another season of Spark, a show that I think is both important and good
• Schooled another class of aspiring audio producers at Ryerson
• Took a weird digital cable channel up on their offer to host a fake talk show
• Formed a brand new rock and roll band with my friends Tristan, Mike, and Isaac

Here’s to becoming old!

Margaret Mulligan’s ukulele portraits

Photographer Margaret Mulligan took portraits of people with their ukes at last week’s Corktown Ukulele Jam, and they look terrific. Here’s the whole photoset on Flickr, and here are two of yours truly: