Toronto visit

Earlier in the month I was in Toronto, originally for the wedding of my friends Jen and Vic, and then the funeral of my father was added on to the weekend's events.

I met Jen and Vic separately when they lived here in Ottawa, as Jen was a volunteer with re-Cycles and Vic was a member of HPVOoO. They later met when I introduced them at a party at my place. So because of this (and the fact that I'm just a swell guy) they asked to be MC for the event, and I agreed, as long as I could wear an appropriate MC jacket! They agreed, so here it is:

(I'm talking with crazybikerchick Tanya. Photo by Brian Martin. More here.)

I bought that jacket about ten years ago while on a gig in Toronto, so taking it to the wedding was sort of like returning it Home. Or something... I was at a store on Queen St. and there it was, sticking out of the rack amongst the usual black, brown, (and occasionally plaid) items. It cost $25 - do you think I overpaid? ;) It certainly is a bit of a freak show, but like my odd chopper bike it's just the right thing for a certain mood.

Anyhoo, I was staying at Tanya's place, and we traveled around by folding bikes, since she has both a Raleigh Twenty and an Auto Mini. Quite coincidentally, my folders page on my website documents these same little bikes (though not these specific ones), and in fact I think I have about the only site on the Net that has any info on the Auto Mini (Google it and you'll see).

A bunch of HPVOoOers also made the wedding trip, with Richard and I taking the Greyhound bus together. Once arriving downtown we took the streetcar east to T.'s place, where I grabbed her Mini and R. got her beater bike (she had commuted to work on her Twenty). R. and I then headed west again to Urbane Cycles for a visit, and R.'s accommodations were conveniently nearby. I had not forgotten how much fun it can be negotiating streetcar tracks!

Then we met with Tanya after her work and cycled to Jen and Vic's BBQ party. Then later headed back east to T.'s, dropping Richard off along the way. By the time we got back I had cycled long enough (party was at Dundas West, her place is east of the DVP) on a small-frame folding bike!

The wedding was the next day, and we arrived on the little beasts:

Yes, two tall people on short bikes (I'm 6'3", she's 5'11").

I also got a great shot of Tanya on her Twenty, which captures a great sunny summer look (though the day was overcast and rainy):


The wedding was really nice, taking place in an old one-room schoolhouse (the oldest and only remaining Free school in Toronto). Everything went well, though it seemed that almost everyone had to take pictures during the ceremony, which was rather distracting. It made it seem like a bit of a paparazzi event! During the after-dinner party we could not get Vic to demonstrate any Lithuanian folk dancing, but we did at least get him (and others) into The Jacket (see the above link to Brian's photos).

The next day I rode the Mini again to get to family brunch downtown, riding on the roads, but then took the Martin Goodman Trail on the way back, which was rather nice. For the Monday funeral I was on the TTC to meet up with family, then after dinner TTC'd back to the Greyhound station and then home.