So True true true

Happy Hallowe'en! The weather could not be better for the kids - mild and sunny, amazing, and due to last all week. I myself will not be celebrating - I teach tonight, and in any case, I'm not into this festival. Anyone who has dressed in someone else's clothing for a living doesn't much enjoy doing so for fun. But it's wonderful to see all the costumes on the streets of Toronto today.

A bit dark - but this is Eli with the shield as Captain America - sigh - his friends as Spiderman and some other superhero, and Ben's first Hallowe'en - as a skunk. 

So True, the reading series, yesterday - a great success by all accounts. About 65 audience members, plus 8 fantastic readers, Jason the superb M.C. and me, in the warm space of the Black Swan second floor, telling and hearing the important truths of life on planet earth. One woman came up to me beforehand, said I didn't know her but she loves these events, they make her laugh and cry and feel less alone. How great is that? I'm always beyond exhausted by the end - producing the event itself, encouraging the readers who feel like my children by that point, and then my own talk and reading - it leaves me drained but exhilarated by the response. Onward. The next, on Feb. 26, 2017, is our tenth, and we'll do something special, though not sure what yet.

On the way there, I stopped at Mike's Music on the Danforth, one of the few independent music stores left and a fabulous place, because he had special-ordered for me a great treat: the Macca compilation. FOUR CD'S of Macca's best. Heaven.

Anna and Eli visited yesterday morning. Eli told me about the two girls from school he's going to marry. I read him "Alexander and the terrible horrible no-good very bad day," and at the end he said my favourite words: "Read it again." I understand Alexander, having had a few of those days recently myself. 

Spent this morning on the line with my new BFF, Rogers. Ha. Am getting my new phone line set up, maybe. My new TV channels configured, maybe. Don't hold your breath.

Most importantly - the American election lumbers along on its excruciating path. Curse the FBI and its shocking miscarriage of justice. The world is at the brink. Let us pray. 

And finally - here's a great review of the new/old place Sam is working: Harry's. Inexpensive, unpretentious, lots of fun.

http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/harrys-toronto

The Beatles 50 T.O. exhibit

The city of Toronto has produced a whimsical exhibition: The Beatles 50 T.O., upstairs at St. Lawrence Market, in honour of the fact that the group visited Toronto six times, more often than anywhere else on this side of the pond, the last time 50 years ago. I went this afternoon to see it - lots of artifacts from Beatles' visits, fabulous photographs and slides, and a hilarious recreation of a Sixties rec room in Don Mills:

My friend Piers Hemmingsen, who knows every arcane fact about the Beatles in Canada and has written a vast tome about this very subject, took a large crowd on a tour around the room. I met the curator Jane French, who provided a lot of the actual stuff from her family home, and the Globe critic Deirdre Kelly, another Beatle nut, who knew? I left flyers for my book, in the hope that hordes of fans would seize them and be desperate to read this fine book. Sigh.

It occurred to me, not for the first time, looking at the shots of the screaming girls, the almost terrifying evocation of hysterical passion, that Beatlemania was perhaps the first time in history that female erotic energy was unleashed to this extent. When else had young girls made such an impact, sexually, financially, socially? I wonder if Beatlemania helped push feminism to the forefront - it emerged in full force only a few years later. We already know that Beatles music helped to tear down Communism, as so many young people behind the Iron Curtain were desperate for western music and broke rules to get it. Perhaps those four young men caused more than one worldwide revolution. What do you think?

As I listen to Randy Bachman, it's 8.30 p.m. on October 29th and my back door is wide open to the winds. Long may it last.

defeating Rogers, maybe, and brava to Madeleine Thien

Now, this is the definition of a friend: someone who is willing to spend TWO SOLID HOURS  on the phone with Rogers to help sort out a dizzy friend's cable, cell phone, home phone and internet needs. Yes - last night, friend Lynn - another Lynn, now known as Lin Lin, came here for dinner. She is an extremely efficient and capable person, and when she heard my tale of woe - I'd just spent another frustrating hour on the phone with Rogers and with Bell, trying to sort things out - she said, Let's fix it now, whipped out her phone, and we were off to the races.

It was a learning experience to watch Lin Lin patiently get the representatives to explain the incredibly confusing bundles - if you get this, you don't get this, if you save on this, you might have to pay that, on and on and on. I would have given up after ten minutes; in fact, the reason I was in that mess is because I DID give up after ten minutes, every time. It's so boring and convoluted - and of course, designed to be just that. Lin Lin pointed out to the customer service reps that I was paying for far more cell phone than I needed, that a much cheaper home phone option existed that no one had told me about, that I was paying an exorbitant fee for channels I never watch. We had very good service - a man called Ceta or Seta and then in the fabulous Retention department, Kelly in Ottawa. The best.

And now, if all goes well - and I fully expect it NOT to - I will pay $100 less a month for a service tailored to my specific needs. And if that's not a friend, I don't know what is. In return, I gave her dinner, a bottle of my homemade salad dressing, and a bunch of my just-dug-up garlic with dirt clinging to the roots. I owe her a great deal more.

It's 18 degrees! Fantastic out there - a last gasp of mildness before doom and winter. And the @#$# U.S. election. I do not want to hear the words "Hillary's email" ever again, please God, give us a break and save the planet, let this pass quickly by. Listening to Trump crow makes me want to jump off a bridge.

Meant to say before: congratulations to Madeleine Thien for winning the Governor General's award for her novel "Do not say we have nothing." I met Maddy at a UBC Creative Writing department event where alumnae, including Maddie and I, were invited to speak about the writing life; I liked and admired her instantly. She radiates an intense and enviable calm and focus. Watching her, I was reminded of another acquaintance - the actor Ian Charleson, later one of the stars of "Chariots of Fire" and other movies and plays, whom I met at theatre school in 1971. We could all tell he was the real deal - a superstar, an enormous innate talent. Nothing show-offy about him, just the blazing glow of brilliance. Maddy, in a similarly quiet way, has that too.

While the rest of us are just trying to get our cable TV's to work. Luckily, to cheer us up, there's this:

the Economist loves Canada

The esteemed Economist has written an article about the great success that is Canada. Not perfect, as the article points out, far from it - but tolerant, courageous and measured in a way now enviable to the rest of the world, our sister countries dealing with the frightening spectres of Trump and Marine LePen. Hooray Canada which elected Justin Trudeau, who is still spectacularly high in the polls, and as far as I'm concerned, deserves to be. Another mind-boggling change the other day - appointing nine non-partisan people to the Senate, citizens who are simply smart, knowledgeable and engaged. Imagine that! As I said - mind-boggling.

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21709305-it-uniquely-fortunate-many-waysbut-canada-still-holds-lessons-other-western

It's a beautiful day - perhaps you can tell I'm in a better mood. Still no washing machine - now they tell me next Tuesday. I will not hold my breath. The pile of laundry grows. Still no TCM on my Rogers cable, which requires another tedious phone call. But the sun is shining. My garden helper Dan came this morning and we ripped up impatiens, culled the rest of the little tomatoes to ripen inside, washed and pruned the outdoor plants to bring them in - and now it's warm enough to leave them out! Confusing, as fall in this wonderful country always is.

Last night, the rehearsal for the next So True reading event, on Sunday. How proud I am of the eight readers - beautiful stories, beautifully read - and our spectacular host Jason Allen. Tonight, dinner with a dear friend from lo these many years. Tomorrow at 2, my friend Piers Hemmingsen is speaking at the Beatles exhibit at St. Lawrence Market. I'll be there. And right now, I'm going to tackle page one of the Moonlight Sonata.

I thank you god for most this amazing day.

PS My good mood did not last. Spent almost an hour on the phone with Rogers and then almost as much time with Bell - so @#$#@ confusing, and nothing resolved! Then I got a confusing Enbridge bill that makes no sense. My face is more blotchy than ever, with frustration. Time to move to a desert island.

first world problems and bad bad John Tory

Had one of those days when the world seemed intent on defeating a hapless city woman just trying to get by. The roofers arrived to do $2000 worth of roofing because the crook who repaired the roof not long ago did it so poorly, the tiles were falling off. He also took a $250 deposit for materials and vanished. If you ever hear of Luke's Roofing, please let me know.

Then, a lengthy battle with Home Depot about my washing machine, which was supposed to be delivered tomorrow, so I'd cleared the day to wait for it. When I called to confirm - no, not tomorrow, probably not Friday, maybe next week. I hit the roof. A long call with Rogers about my cable bill and home phone and what's wrong with the TV which shows a "Loading ..." notice on the screen every few days when it's loading nothing. A call to a dermatologist about the red blotches on my face. My iPhone decided on an upgrade and then was all different and confusing. My plants are inside because it's cold out and I haven't had a chance to take them back out to wash the pots and prune them, so there are plants in the way everywhere. The basement is nearly inaccessible with the old washing machine disconnected and laundry in baskets everywhere. It's really cold. Brucie left. I did Carole's class at the Y and I was at the end of the line, as always, and everything hurt.

The world was one giant PHOOEY.

And then, first, my dear friend John came over to do some work; he spent the morning washing and sanding and oiling the butcher block top of the kitchen island, which looks beautiful again.

And then at the Y, I saw again the woman with the bald head and the thinnest body I've ever seen, still exercising, still smiling.

And I was ashamed of myself and my first world problems, my whining. What have I got to complain about? Not a fucking thing.

EXCEPT okay one thing - that City Hall is cutting the library budget. The library - one of the most used, most useful amenities in this city! So much for you, mealy-mouthed John Tory. If I had a shred of respect for you ever, it's gone. And I didn't anyway, not after the vote to KEEP the Gardiner Expressway East, a hunk of rotting concrete.

Oh dear, she's still in a bad mood. No, I'm not. Well, maybe a little bit.