In what can only be described as a miracle, Rebecca managed to refrain from waking us up until about 8.30. The relaxed tone of the morning continued with Elizabeth's home-made ginger cookies and a mesmerizing8-month old omnibus of Coronation St ( apparently the Canadians love it).
In another step closer to a collective heart attack, we indulged in Sunday Brunch at the Sunset Grill, where we managed to ingest a coup-full of eggs, despite only asking for 'side orders' of French toast and pancakes.
More stuffed than a turkey on Christmas day, we managed to waddle into town, where we had arranged to meet up with members of the Toronto Public Space Committee. This is a loose collective of artists and activists from all backgrounds who are interested in the reclamation of urban spaces form commercial interests. Liam O'Doherty, one of the artists in the group had invited us to take part in some guerilla gardening in the downtown area of the city. At the time this had sounded like a nice way to continue our relaxing Sunday. However, little did we know that it would end up raining more than Preston on a bank holiday, something which we had obviously never considered as we arrived in ballet pumps and light summer jackets with only 1 and 1/2 umbrellas between us (Elaine's Pound Shop umbrella proved particularly ineffectual against the downpour.)
Having correctly presumed that the bloke outside the subway, clutching a lilly, was one of the guerillas, we ended up representing the UK in what turned out to be the highest concentration of nations on a 2 foot square of mud. After digging through layers of chewing gum and fag ends, in what was fast becoming a brown puddle, we successfully created 2 miniture gardens that could rival any of the show gardens at Chelsea.
In another step closer to a collective heart attack, we indulged in Sunday Brunch at the Sunset Grill, where we managed to ingest a coup-full of eggs, despite only asking for 'side orders' of French toast and pancakes.
More stuffed than a turkey on Christmas day, we managed to waddle into town, where we had arranged to meet up with members of the Toronto Public Space Committee. This is a loose collective of artists and activists from all backgrounds who are interested in the reclamation of urban spaces form commercial interests. Liam O'Doherty, one of the artists in the group had invited us to take part in some guerilla gardening in the downtown area of the city. At the time this had sounded like a nice way to continue our relaxing Sunday. However, little did we know that it would end up raining more than Preston on a bank holiday, something which we had obviously never considered as we arrived in ballet pumps and light summer jackets with only 1 and 1/2 umbrellas between us (Elaine's Pound Shop umbrella proved particularly ineffectual against the downpour.)
Having correctly presumed that the bloke outside the subway, clutching a lilly, was one of the guerillas, we ended up representing the UK in what turned out to be the highest concentration of nations on a 2 foot square of mud. After digging through layers of chewing gum and fag ends, in what was fast becoming a brown puddle, we successfully created 2 miniture gardens that could rival any of the show gardens at Chelsea.
The whole event was document(at)ed by a New Yorker called Beth, who had been sent to photograph it for the American Airlines in-flight magazine. So next time you take a transatlantic flight, you'll be able to see our bedraggled, mud-splattered faces staring back from the seat pocket in-front.
After less than an hour of gardening in the rain, we spend an intensive 2 1/2 hours networking over a few well deserved pitchers of beer in the Imperial Pub ('where anti-imperial plans are hatched' and where we clogged up the sink with the tonne of earth from under our nails).
Back home we dried out with Iain's 'pasta spesh' and the season finale of Desperate Housewives. Another day of hard graft come to an end.
Back home we dried out with Iain's 'pasta spesh' and the season finale of Desperate Housewives. Another day of hard graft come to an end.
1 comment:
Great to hear about the guerilla gardening! Read an article about it recently and thought it was right up your street. Sadly I don't have time to do my own gardening, never mind other people's! Delighted to hear that you found $70 ... what is that in real money?
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