Author: Michael Murray

The city had a strange, apocalyptic feel to it on Thursday. I took the dog out for a walk early in the afternoon and the humidity was punishing. As we moved slowly down Queen Street, normally so vivid with life, everything seemed unnaturally still and quiet. Above us, two military helicopters sliced through the heavy…

As most people know, security for the G20 Summit here in Toronto has really been ramping up. The Police are everywhere, most often traveling around in packs of 12 on their bicycles. This gives them the look of some sort of pre-teen gang, but it turns out that this is something they have absolutely NO…

On Saturday I went to Trinity Bellwoods Park to watch Rachelle and some friends play tennis. It was a lovely day and it seemed as if half of the city was scattered about there, all engaged in some form of languor. Stoned girls in sunglasses sat on benches, sucking lemonade through straws. A hobo with…

Earlier in the week I was at the Toronto East General Hospital having a bunch of pre-operative tests in preparation for a rather complicated hernia surgery. And so, for most of the day I sat in a waiting room with a collection of people who were also going through their prescribed battery of tests. There…

Today I have given the Blog over to Heidi, our 3 year-old Miniature Dachshund. ************************************** Had weird dream last night. In boat eating cheese and then bad, bad weather come and begin to rain and Heidi get wet! Hate being wet!! And then no cheese, cheese I eating just vanish! Horrible, horrible dream!! Guess a…

On Saturday, I went to see the Pop Life exhibit at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa. It’s fun and zippy, like some arty reinterpretation of an amusement park fun house. The work is instantly familiar, even iconic, and walking through it was a nostalgic stroll through memory lane, kind of like flipping through somebody’s…

I’m pretty anxious around dentists. The idea of scraping, pulling or poking at teeth just freaks me out, the way that some people go squirrely around insects, and so I tend to keep my visits to a minimum. What this means is that I’m negligent in my oral care, and whenever I go to the…

Although I’m very optimistic that the new fortune telling business I’ve set up in the local Laundromat is going to blossom, it has been a kind of rocky start. As such, I’ve decided to diversify my business interests and am starting up an Animal Ghost Tour in the Riverside District of Toronto where I live.…

Earlier in the day I came across an old Ellis Valentine baseball card. For a brief period of time, he was my very favourite player. In the late 70’s, along with Warren Cromartie and Andre Dawson, Valentine was going to usher in a golden age of Montreal Expos baseball. The three of them were expected…