Not that kind of service you pervert.
Yesterday my lovely wife and I had the day to ourselves completely, so aside from some household chores, it was all about us. Around 1pm I dropped her off at the nearby Eaton Centre for one of those luxuries women don't mind overpaying for - a full service hair appointment. Wash, cut, colour, that sort of thing.
Meanwhile, back at the house I spent a solid two hours doing adult things, and when I say adult things I mean online gaming. I ranked up in Tanki Online and now I'm Captain Donkeyface8. Captain! It was one of those early afternoons where I just wanted to do nothing important ahead of embarking on one of our classic Saturday adventures that we've had to put off for a while due to various reasons, including the horrific weather.
So around 4 I hop on the streetcar and we meet up, making our way north to Toronto's Annex neighbourhood, a fine area I used to live in when in university. It's an eclectic neighbourhood full of shops, restaurants & pubs. Typically we'll stop at one of the few remaining bookshops in town, and on this visit it reminded me that I haven't read a book in about 3 years. Then, a necessary stop for another minor luxury my wife and I both enjoy. Incense. I've always loved it and burn it constantly, usually accompanied by some chill lounge background music and a relaxing candle-lit living room. In fact, we try to immerse ourselves in that sort of environment as much as possible. It's our nightly escape from the harsh world of work, traffic and self-serving jack asses we all have to deal with.
This incense purchasing expedition was different though. It was the equivalent of buying a new suit or a wedding dress. As we made our way to the full wall of 100's of varieties, the merchant politely, not aggressively, asked what aroma's or types we like. I wasn't even sure what to tell him, so he provided some categories ranging from heavy to light to flowery to woodsy to earthy and so on. We spent a good twenty minutes sniffing a multitude of styles, and ended up with a wide range, including herb and earth sandalwood, lavender and something called satya aastha. It was a very refreshing, positive experience and I'd recommend the joint - it's called Piya's Boutique. This guy gave us nearly a 1/2 hour of his time for a sixteen dollar purchase. That's service.
Next up on our adventure, we decided it was beer o'clock, so we had a few familiar options but as we often do, we decided to try out something new. I spotted a place called Furniture Warehouse, billing itself as a "premium dive bar", which is something of an oxymoron, but whatevs. We sat at the bar and I ordered a Sapporo, my wife a special one of a kind Caesar which was quite delicious. It was described as "muddy" and came with 3 giant pieces of pepperoni and dill pickles. Fantastic. We didn't eat, but apparently everything on the menu is only $4.95, which explains why our drinks were slightly over priced. But, aside from a bit of a douchey hipster bartender (the type who constantly wears toques half off his head, inside or out), it was a fun find.
Then, a quick stop at another Annex favourite: Pauper's. The gent behind the bar was a doppelganger of the ghostly bartender in The Shining. He was well dressed and rather ghoulish. But the service was prompt, the beer cold. To wrap the evening, we arrived at our final stop - dinner at Southern Accent. I love this restaurant. It's cozy and eccentric with a menu of Cajun comfort food. I made a reso in advance, requesting a quiet corner, and they did not disappoint. We started with zesty piquant shrimp with little cornbread thingy's, and then the mains. My wife had Dauphine Street Cracker Catfish, and I the Jambalaya. The food was exquisite, and the service top shelf.
Here on Hobo Gauntlet, I often write about terrible experiences and selfish people, so it was nice..real nice, to be free of any of those situations on this Saturday in early March.
It was lovely being serviced on a Saturday. We missed it, and will visit again very soon.
Yesterday my lovely wife and I had the day to ourselves completely, so aside from some household chores, it was all about us. Around 1pm I dropped her off at the nearby Eaton Centre for one of those luxuries women don't mind overpaying for - a full service hair appointment. Wash, cut, colour, that sort of thing.
Meanwhile, back at the house I spent a solid two hours doing adult things, and when I say adult things I mean online gaming. I ranked up in Tanki Online and now I'm Captain Donkeyface8. Captain! It was one of those early afternoons where I just wanted to do nothing important ahead of embarking on one of our classic Saturday adventures that we've had to put off for a while due to various reasons, including the horrific weather.
So around 4 I hop on the streetcar and we meet up, making our way north to Toronto's Annex neighbourhood, a fine area I used to live in when in university. It's an eclectic neighbourhood full of shops, restaurants & pubs. Typically we'll stop at one of the few remaining bookshops in town, and on this visit it reminded me that I haven't read a book in about 3 years. Then, a necessary stop for another minor luxury my wife and I both enjoy. Incense. I've always loved it and burn it constantly, usually accompanied by some chill lounge background music and a relaxing candle-lit living room. In fact, we try to immerse ourselves in that sort of environment as much as possible. It's our nightly escape from the harsh world of work, traffic and self-serving jack asses we all have to deal with.
 |
| Refreshingly, this is the worst thing you'll read about in this post. |
Next up on our adventure, we decided it was beer o'clock, so we had a few familiar options but as we often do, we decided to try out something new. I spotted a place called Furniture Warehouse, billing itself as a "premium dive bar", which is something of an oxymoron, but whatevs. We sat at the bar and I ordered a Sapporo, my wife a special one of a kind Caesar which was quite delicious. It was described as "muddy" and came with 3 giant pieces of pepperoni and dill pickles. Fantastic. We didn't eat, but apparently everything on the menu is only $4.95, which explains why our drinks were slightly over priced. But, aside from a bit of a douchey hipster bartender (the type who constantly wears toques half off his head, inside or out), it was a fun find.
Then, a quick stop at another Annex favourite: Pauper's. The gent behind the bar was a doppelganger of the ghostly bartender in The Shining. He was well dressed and rather ghoulish. But the service was prompt, the beer cold. To wrap the evening, we arrived at our final stop - dinner at Southern Accent. I love this restaurant. It's cozy and eccentric with a menu of Cajun comfort food. I made a reso in advance, requesting a quiet corner, and they did not disappoint. We started with zesty piquant shrimp with little cornbread thingy's, and then the mains. My wife had Dauphine Street Cracker Catfish, and I the Jambalaya. The food was exquisite, and the service top shelf.
Here on Hobo Gauntlet, I often write about terrible experiences and selfish people, so it was nice..real nice, to be free of any of those situations on this Saturday in early March.
It was lovely being serviced on a Saturday. We missed it, and will visit again very soon.
When I pine for my younger days in Toronto I often hop on Google Street View and cruise Bloor Street but it's just not the same...
ReplyDeleteBlin, what you do is not unlike the scenes in Star Trek TNG, when Picard goes into the Holodeck to ride virtual horses in a virtual country setting, which I presume is a simulation of something from his past. Remember though that hindsight's 20/20, and there are various reasons why you live where you do now, including those unfortunate incidents with illegally imported Thai women.
ReplyDelete