Sofa, Barbecue, Quebec City Marathon

Sofa

Somewhere mid-May an acquaintance from the Balkans visited Toronto and I tried to organize myself to meet him and pick up some fresh gossip. Like many of my friends overseas, Sinisha (that's his name) is on Facebook and that's how we made contact and first arrangements. However, unlike my other friends, Sinisha wanted to communicate exclusively through Facebook and sms, which he used sparingly because of the roaming charges. When we finally agreed to meet on a Saturday morning in downtown, he messaged me that his colleague is in hospital and he can't make it. Of course, the message arrived when we were already in downtown, so Maggie and I, lacking other things to do, went to browse the stores. To prove that a bad situation can still turn into something good, in the Canadian Tire store--the most unlikely place for furniture--we found a sofa of our dreams with the price better than anywhere else. Few days later, after a frantic tour through other furniture outlets, we were convinced that the price of "our" sofa is unbeatable and ordered it. It arrived last Saturday and promptly became my favorite place for reading. It is so comfy that I left Maggie yesterday slouched on it with a book and found her snoring 5 minutes later.

BBQ

As we waited for sofa to be delivered, we promised each other not to buy anything else until we pay off the credit card. It's recession time, after all, so we are being conscious spenders. That resolution went down the drain when we ran into a cheap barbecue of the backyard variety. It was love at first sight--the moment I laid my hand on it a picture popped in my mind of myself in a Hawaii shirt (which I don't have) and a straw hat (which I also don't have), gripping the long bbq tweezers (that I have) in the right hand and a can of Alexander Keith's Pale Ale (that I'll buy) in the other. On the bbq was a true meat-ikebana: steaks, pork cutlets, Spanish chorizo sausages, Maggie's fantastic tandoori chicken and (a compromise for Maggie's sake) an assortment of vegetables. So, who could resist such a powerful psychic image? My mouth water ever now when I recall it. Of course, I spent the day assembling the bbq, which came in way too many pieces, but is now in a single piece and in frequent use.

Quebec City Marathon

I'm in the third week of the training for the Quebec City marathon which will commence the last Sunday in August. After qualifying in Mississauga marathon for the two big races next year, I decided to take this one for pleasure, now that I don't need to chase time. It should be fun--the route goes along the St. Lawrence river, across the bridge, and ends up in the Old Town.