men on wheels

[the_siobhan]

I make a lot of typos on this keyboard.

I'm kinda of mixed mind on the continuing yuppification of my neighbourhood. In part because I am part of the reason it's happening, moving in here and scooping up the affordable housing like I did. But I still really hate the weekend warriors who come down here from the suburbs in their cars and clog up the roads in every area where a new club has opened up. And the garish ads all over the place for new condos, assuring people that they'll be "bohemian" if they just move here.

But there are still a few cheap apartments and rooming houses and hostels and rehab centres (and crack houses) in the neighbourhood as well as the local mental health hospital, soup kitchen and needle exchange site. So that means we still have our share of interesting people.

There is one gentleman who lives just south of me who uses a wheelchair. He has huskys - usually two, although I have once or twice seen him with three - who are tied to his chair. The dogs gallop down the street with their tails waving and their tongues hanging out in big doggy grins and he bounces down the road behind them in his chair. Everybody involved looks like they are having the biggest blast ever.

There is a bar nearby that always has a lineup of those motorized scooters for handicapped people lined up outside. One of them in particular always catches my eye because it has a leopard-print seat cover. I spotted the rider one day, a thin silver-haired man with the turned-up jeans and careful duck-tailed hairstyle of a 50's greaser. This is where Fonzie ended up when they told him he wasn't allowed to ride his motorcycle any more.

The other day I was coming home and I was passed by one of the local street people. He had managed to get a pair of rollerblades from somewhere. He was a bit unsteady on them but was managing to make pretty good speed along the sidewalk. He wore a black suit jacket in the 40+ degreee heat, and it billowed out behind him until he looked like a giant greasy raven. He was singing at the top of his lungs the entire way.

Little things like that make me really like livin here.

What I'm listening to right this second: Young MC

Thanks to gregclow for finding this. I freely admit I wanted to see this video again just to check out Flea's trousers. BEST TROUSERS EVER!

Comments

[artistatlarge.livejournal.com]

I think I know the "bohemian" condo you mention. Or at least, the billboard with the trendy/hot/alternative model pic, and a URL, which if visited yields exactly ZERO information.

I'd love to live in your 'hood, but who can afford to buy now?

Loved the greasy black raven image...

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you live in a wonderful neighborhood, that isn't all sanitized for your protection, but still safe. The kind of area that makes me want to live in a city.

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

a thin silver-haired man with the turned-up jeans and careful duck-tailed hairstyle of a 50's greaser.

I see him on the corner of St. George and Bloor every Saturday morning.

[kest]

the condo complex next door to us advertises itself as an 'urban oasis'

[unagothae.livejournal.com]

By definition, once something becomes trendy, it stops being bohemian.

The mind boggles :)

[mog-warbeast.livejournal.com]

See, this is exactly the kind of thing I made universe_smiles for, but it really hasn't taken off yet...

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds like a cool neighbourhood :)

And the garish ads all over the place for new condos, assuring people that they'll be "bohemian" if they just move here.

Grr. There's a building site near my place, with ads that proclaim an "avant garde" apartment complex is going there. The pictures make it look like a building from the 20's, like every other building in the area. Jo has got sick of me mumbling "avant garde my ass, fucking yuppies..." every time we walk past.

[amon-zero.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that was me.

[markeris.livejournal.com]

"There is one gentleman who lives just south of me who uses a wheelchair. He has huskys - usually two, although I have once or twice seen him with three - who are tied to his chair. The dogs gallop down the street with their tails waving and their tongues hanging out in big doggy grins and he bounces down the road behind them in his chair. Everybody involved looks like they are having the biggest blast ever."

I am unsure if I`ve seen this, or whether you have simply described in previously in such fine detail that I feel as though I have.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I shall add it there forthwith!

[2ndaryairplane.livejournal.com]

donno what it is but i've been seeing a small boom in rollerblading street people population.

[caspervonb.livejournal.com]

"The other day I was coming home and I was passed by one of the local street people.
He had managed to get a pair of rollerblades from somewhere. He was a bit unsteady
on them but was managing to make pretty good speed along the sidewalk. He wore a
black suit jacket in the 40+ degreee heat, and it billowed out behind him until he
looked like a giant greasy raven. He was singing at the top of his lungs the entire
way."

That sounds like Kevin Clarke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Mark_Clarke) to me.

He lives about a block away from my place.

Cool neighbourhood

[inulro.livejournal.com]

It is. My ambition in life is to move to Parkdale.

Seriously.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Could have been - I found his pic on the Eye site and might have been him but I didn't get a really good look at his face.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

This concept makes me very happy.

[razorjak.livejournal.com]

I like your neighborhood. It's fun.

Then again, I've not yet been up to TO where I've not had a fun time.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

You pretty much have to buy one of the few remaining crack-houses/slum-lord dumps to get into the neighbourhood now. (Which is what we did.)

[lilactime.livejournal.com]

Seconded on the Kevin Clarke sighting. He's around my part of the hood more often - he's been doing a lot of campaigning at King & Dufferin. One afternoon, he walked north along the yellow centre line of Dufferin Street flying a kite. He's actually really interesting and intelligent when he's on his meds.

Wheelchair guy is named Bo - he lives in the building on Dunn. There used to be four dogs, taken out in pairs of two. Your seeing only three worries me that the oldest might have passed. The brown one is Cocoa, and one of the other ones is named Mischa. If he's still got the older growly guy, his name is Nanook.