Lovers of Toronto

Source: Entrepreneurs

George W. Bush once claimed the French don’t even have a word for entrepreneur. Lol. Toronto knows better. In fact Toronto is the best environment in North America, if not the world, for young entrepreneurs. Tyrone Lingley, Founder of www.shoes.com (tyronel@shoes.com) has bought in, “We’re from Vancouver. We thought we’d come to the T-dot, or the ‘6’, to introduce ourselves. We’ll be here for 8 weeks”. The marketing strategy is the brainstorm of Michael Pham at Blast Marketing (mike@blastmarketing). It includes coffee truck, stationed on Queen St. opposite the Rivoli, a nearby Pop-up shop and online promotions. Visit Shoes.com, or Instagram, use‪#‎shoesthe6‬ for a chance to win free shoes for a year and more information.

Say the word and you’ll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I’m thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It’s so fine, it’s sunshine
It’s the word, love. — Lennon/McCartney

A river runs through it. The Humber river runs through Kings Mill Park. Buddies, Markian, Eric and little buddy, Robbie. “I do a lot of canoeing up north. Instead of traveling 3 hours I can come down here. I’ve canoed down river, out to the islands and back”. Kings Mill park’s practically in Markian’s backyard. “I’ve been kayaking down here maybe 10 years. We wanted to get some paddling in on, probably, the last nice day of the year”.

Had the great pleasure of meeting Ms. Susan Eng, Toronto lawyer and former chair of the Metro Toronto Police Services Board, current vice-president of advocacy at the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, as well as an activist in the Chinese community in Toronto, at the U of T University College Alumni Lounge Lecture Series. Speaker, Maclean Magazine editor John Geddes. I’m happy to meet you, I said. She said, why? Because you’re a city builder, I said. She chuckled.

A Remembrance Day tribute on the front lawn of the Manulife building on Bloor St., E, Toronto. By chance I stop one of the builders of the tribute for an interview. Ed’s a Manulife employee. He, along with several other employee volunteers planted 11,843 flags. Each flag represents 10 Canadian soldiers killed in war-time and peace-keeping.

There’s a place I know where the hipsters go called Queen St. & Spadina Ave. So say Flimont (pronounced Filmont). “One day. One day. I’ll be down here”. Flimont’s in High School. Today he rode his bike from his home in Scarborough down into the heart of the city, nearly 50 km round trip, to surround himself with the vibe.

Perfect duck weather, cold, windy and rainy. On the lake windsurfing is Greg. “How deep do you think that water is”, I asked? “About 15 meters” he said. “Do you surf here in the winter”, I continued? “Yeah. I do this for a living”. Windsurfing at Cherry beach year round. The perfect first entry.

The world thinks Toronto is a great city, but drive outside the city limits Canadians happily heap scorn on Toronto. I’ll tell you a true story. I’m a Torontoite, but my first year out of high school I lived in Banff, Alta. Now and again I’d hitch hike to Calgary. This one time a late model, orange, Dodge Ram stopped to pick me up. An old timer was behind the wheel. Where you from, he asked? Toronto, I said. Then he said, “that’s an awful place. Have you ever been there, I asked? Nope! And never want to.

Now, understanding vicarious hatred. It’s like an axe carving a hole in the trunk of a, handsome, tree. Now imagine the hole as an empty room in a grand hotel, room 416. Lovers hire the room, to stay.

I’m the Bellhop. 🙂