kathleen_dailey

The Artful Dodger has been our local for the last 15 years. It's shabby and friendly and quirky. Now that the spouse is dependent on a Rollator and can't manage the stairs, the pub's accessible, roomy patio is even more of a valued destination in mild weather.




It looks like the owners of the Dodger are about to tangle with a developer that wants to build a 76-storey tower (yes, yet another behemoth in my poor beleaguered little neighbourhood) next to the Dodger.

For years we've been patronizing the Dodger at every opportunity, because we know that development pressures make it inevitable that the venue will eventually disappear (when the owners die, sell to new owners, or get an irresistible offer from another developer). But in the meantime, I hope that the pub lasts for a good few years to come. The developer has a reputation for zone-and-flip shenanigans, so maybe the proposal will remain in limbo until either it or we disappear from this plane of reality.

1. Friday was mostly consumed with medical claptrap--following up on follow-ups; booking blood-lab appointments (what an unfunny joke--never once has an appointment at the nearest lab happened within an hour of the booked time); and waiting on hold for ages after futilely trying to interpret the contradictory and outdated boilerplate instructions in the spouse's Wheel-Trans package and on the TTC website. TTC bureaucrats, please hire an editor!

2. Our condo board has undertaken a massive renovation of the building's public spaces and common elements. Any day now, we'll be getting new entry doors to our unit, replacing the original burl-elm versions. Some of the residents are keeping the old doors and converting them to dining or office tables; they're real wood and attractively unusual in their colour and pattern. Even though the renovations are accounted for in the 2024 budget, I know from sad experience how renos invariably proceed, and I foresee a special assessment in my future.

3. In other condo news, the unit next to ours has been sold. This is a big deal because there's not much turnover in our building (a unit changes hands every two or three years). Each floor has seven units, and our floor is a tight-knit micro-community of very diverse and very compatible humans and animals. So we're all hoping for more of the same with our new neighbours.

4. If some of the AO3 tags describing Spock and his personality traits, childhood development, mental and emotional stability, and interpersonal relationships had been available to the psychological screening department of Starfleet Academy, I'm pretty sure that he never would have gotten as far as an interview for the cadet training program, much less risen to become "the best first officer in the fleet."

5. In this week's Rob Fordesque episode of LOT: CI, the investigative reporter was said to work for Toronto Life, which IRL hasn't raked a microgram of serious muck since before David Miller was mayor. The disclaimer card at the beginning of the ep said, in part, "No identification [sic] of any actual person is inferred [sic] or intended." Showrunners, follow my advice to the TTC in item 1 above and hire an editor! Otherwise, the story was forgettable and the performances anemic. The two leads have zero presence and less chemistry, although the IT guy has a tiny (really tiny) bit of promise.

1. A reply (within, literally, 90 seconds) from my family doc's office to my very polite email protesting an invoice that shouldn't have been triggered, assuring me that the invoice is now voided and thanking me for my patience. It took me longer to write the email than it did to receive the reply!

2. Surprise receipt of a missing specialist requisition and appointment schedule that I expected to have to spend many phone calls and emails in search of.

3. A phone call from my specialist in X answering a question about preparing for a diagnostic procedure in specialty Y that requires advance planning in X. I was so sure I wasn't going to hear from her in time that I'd already made diary entries for repeated follow-up queries next week (and a sit-in at her office if needed).

I am so pathetically grateful for these atypical responses--one of which actually came in spoken words from a living human being--that I want to hug someone.