Mirror mirror on the wall

 

Yesterday I read a blog entry by Kate Slawinski entitled “What women over 50 should never wear” http://kt1writes.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-women-over-50-should-never-wear.html?spref=fb

With this information fresh in mind, I thought of Kate as I boarded a subway train today and came face to face with a rather disturbing image ... a very overweight, heavily pregnant woman, dressed in a super tight strapless top and minuscule shorts.  A pretty sight it was not.

Apparently times have changed and pregnant women no longer try to hide their swollen belly.  While there is nothing wrong with pregnancy, there is a big difference between no longer hiding the obvious and putting it out there.  What is wrong with a tasteful maternity outfit? 

The huge belly aside, the strapless top on the overweight woman wasn’t the best choice either.  Not only were her double D boobs a jigglie mess trying to escape their confinement, she would have done well covering up her overly fleshy chest, shoulders and arms.

As for the minuscule shorts ... did we really need to see her huge thighs, dimpled with cellulite? 

I have nothing against overweight people, but I do have something against people who throw on anything and venture outside.  Can’t they see how objectionable their outfit is?

In comparison, a far larger woman was also on the train, but she wore a pretty outfit with a modest V-neck, short sleeves and a hemline below her knees.  She looked stunning.

Short or tall, slim or overweight, pregnant or not, get a mirror!!!

 

Homeless?

A few people contacted me, pointing out that it’s been quiet on the Under the Toronto Sun blog.  They’re right, my last entry dates back to July 22.  A dedicated blogger I am not.

In my defense, not much has been happening under the Toronto sun.  In fact, for the past two weeks I’ve been under the Belgian sun.

My father past away after an extended hospital stay.  He was 88 with a number of health problems.  Losing him was not altogether a bad thing.  He was alone after mom passed away three years ago, and resided in an old age home.  Compared to where he was, I’m sure he’s much happier where he is now.

Even with that knowledge, attending his funeral was quite an emotional affair.  As a veteran, dad’s funeral was attended by other veterans, complete with Belgian flags and playing the national anthem in church and at the cemetery.  So many of his friends were there, some of them in wheelchairs. 

 (Dad [far right) with his group of veterans)

My hometown didn’t feel like home anymore.  So much has changed, I hardly recognized the place.  Where the municipal pool used to be is now a college for the performing arts; where I used to go dancing on Saturday and Sunday night is now a hotel; and where my favorite boutique used to be is now a MacDonald's.  What a sight that was, that giant letter “M” on top of a glass and steel structure, among buildings that date back to the 1500s.

(Belfort Aalst)

While in Belgium I stayed at the Ibis hotel.  A charming place.  It might not have been a 5 star hotel, but it sure had 5 star service.  The staff, from the receptionist right down to the chambermaids, were very friendly and knowledgeable.   

(Ibis hotel Aalst)

All too soon August 15^th came around and time for me to pack up and go home.  Only, I couldn’t go home.  At the airport it was discovered that my passport had expired and I was refused access to the plane.  To get back to Toronto I had to organize a new passport.

When I went to the municipality of Aalst, where I was born and raised, they couldn’t find me.  After some digging it was discovered that, because I live abroad, my file was transferred to Ghent.  So off I went to Ghent to apply for a new passport.  To cut a long story short, 240 Euros later I had such a new document.

And so now I’m home again.  Home … strange to think of Canada as home.  I never thought about Canada as home.  Then again, I always thought of Belgium as home, but it isn’t anymore.  Maybe I’m homeless.

Ban alcohol ads

One of the perks of having a blog is that you can speak your mind. When struggling with a particular issue there might be nobody around to listen; in a conversation someone might cut you off; or when writing an article about the subject, your writing might get censored. With a blog on the other hand you can speak, vent and even ramble, and you can do so to your hearts’ content. Which is exactly what I am about to do.

If you think I’m a little put out today, you would be right. The cause? A book. I’m reading a book (a murder mystery) and the main character (the detective) drinks like a fish, on and off duty. This puts my nose out of joint.

These days it’s all about healthy living, switching to organic products and shunning the smokers has become a national pastime. But has anyone who reads books ever noticed the alcohol consumption of fictional characters?

They guzzle down champagne, wine and spirits any time, any place from morning ‘till night. I wonder how recovering alcoholics feel about that. How do people, who try to break their drinking habit, feel about fictional characters drinking like fishes? It must be hard enough walking passed bars, restaurants and liquor stores, without being confronted with alcohol in books.

The same with TV and magazine advertisements. Why are alcohol promoters being given free rein to make their products look attractive to consumers? With their ads they are giving the impression that drinking is cool, fun and sexy. I wonder how much fun it is to lose a family member or friend because some drunk who had to have one more drink?

What about domestic violence? How many more spouses need to be beaten up before anyone is going to do anything? How many black eyes, broken noses, split lips, broken ribs and blood is it gonna take for someone to demand the advertising of alcohol be stopped?

Smokers are being given a hard time for lighting up and are bombarded by messages that oeh smoking is bad for you. But what about drinking? Is nobody going to say something about that?

Job advice

Where it comes to unemployment and finding a job, just about everyone has suddenly become an expert. Just Google ‘How to find a job’ and see what comes up. Who are the people who write those articles? Do they have any qualifications to give advice?

This morning I read a post by Laura, who was putting in her two cents. She stated that she was unemployed and rambled on and on about her quest to find a job. Something she had failed at, yet she felt qualified to tell other how to be successful.

At the bottom of her article I found her signature in which she stated that she was a full-time mom of six children. Six children! No wonder she couldn’t find a job.
Not only had she been out of the job market for a good number of years, her technical skills were probably far from up to date.

Other than that, would you hire a mom of six kids? I wouldn’t. What are the chances that she works an uninterrupted week? You know how it goes with kids … they have to be taken to school and picked up, so as an employer you can forget about her coming in early or staying late. When the kids get sick or have an accident, they have to be taken to the doctor and if it’s anything serious someone is needed at home to take care of them.

No thank you, where it comes to employment, give me a woman over the age of 45 any day.  Judging from the comments Laura got on her article, I wasn't the only one with misgivings.

The homeless urinate in chairs at Timothy's

Toronto residents, or those visiting Toronto, might want to think twice before taking a seat at Timothy’s coffee shop at 40 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario.

For the longest time, Timothy’s was my regular lunchtime spot. I would order a coffee or tea and then settle down in one of the comfy armchairs to read my book. That routine changed when I visited Timothy’s on February 25th.
As soon as I sat down in one of the armchairs I felt a distinct wetness. When I got up I noticed a huge stain in the chair, with the distinct smell of urine. OMG someone had peed in this chair!

When I approached the lady serving coffee at the time and pointed out the soiled chair, she was not particularly concerned. “A homeless man was sitting there earlier,” she said. “Maybe he had an accident.”
Maybe he had an accident? That was it? She wasn’t going to do anything!
Well if she wasn’t, I was.
Not yelling, but not keeping my voice down either, I informed her that it is unsanitary to have a soiled chair standing around for people to sit in. How many people before me had sat in that chair, and how many would take a seat in it after me?

“What do you want me to do?” the waitress asked. “I can’t turn the homeless away. It’s cold outside”
While I am most sympathetic with the homeless, I draw the line where they think they can relieve themselves anywhere it is convenient.
The building houses a huge food court at basement level, offering coffee, tea and all kinds of breakfast. What’s wrong with the homeless sitting there?
Why do they have to sit in coffee shops? And since when is peeing in chairs permitted?

I flew out of the coffee shop and went straight to Giliani, a ladies clothing boutique.
I couldn’t wait to get out of my soiled pants and into a fresh one.
I was going to buy new pants and Timothy’s was going to pay for it.

To cut a long story short … first Timothy’s management offered me a free cup of coffee.
They upgraded that suggestion with the offer to have my soiled pants dry cleaned.
I didn’t budge though, I had been ‘forced’ to buy a new pants, and I wanted them to reimburse me for that.
Nothing more, nothing less.

And I got it. After contacting Timothy’s head office with an official complaint, they offered to pay for my new pants.
There that took care of that.
While I am satisfied with the outcome of this incident, I am dissatisfied and concerned with how Timothy’s treated my complaint.
The soiled chair remained standing in the coffee shop, and is still there.

If you happen to visit Timothy’s coffee shop at 40 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario, and you take a seat in one of their chairs, you might just be sitting in the urine chair. Could there be more than one?

The Bitch

I do not consider myself a violent person, but today I would have happily grabbed someone by the scruff of her neck, dragged her outside and thrown her a beating she would have remembered for the rest of her life.

Remember the protest badge:

This is not a Canada Goose jacket

For I am not an animal killer

Say no to fur

I met a women today who was reading the badge and when she was finished shrugged a made a face.
“Don’t you agree?” I asked her.
“I don’t really care,” she stated.
“You don’t care that helpless animals get trapped and killed?” I said.
“No,” she said with a shrug.
“In that case I hope one day your leg gets stuck in a trap so you’ll feel what it’s like,” I said. 
“Not all animals get trapped,” she stated.  “Some are raised and killed for fur.”
My mouth fell open right down to my toes.
“You are in favor of fur?” I asked her.
“Of course,” she said, “real fur is much better for the environment than fake fur.”

Better for the environment!
I had one hell of a job keeping my hands to myself, because all I wanted to do was smack that bitch into the middle of next week.
 

I wasn’t done with her though.
Once we were in the elevator I stated that I couldn’t wait for the day that animals turned the tables on humans and started hunting them for their skin.
“That will never happen,” the bitch stated.

Hm, that will never happen hu ...
When my grandmother first heard of the concept of voices coming out of a box, she said that that would never happen.  But it did happen and they called it a radio.
Later when someone stated that someone should add moving pictures to the voices, my grandmother once again said that that would never happen.  But it did happen and they called it a TV.

How many more things did people claim would never happen?  Did the inventors of the airplane ever foresee that their invention would carry over 500 people over the Atlantic ocean?  Did those who poured gunpowder in their muskets ever foresee a type of gun that could fire several hundred round per minute?  Did the inventor of the looking glass ever foresee that we would be able to see other galaxies?
Never be too sure about what the future might or might not hold.

I sincerely hope that the bitch, one way or another, gets a taste of her own medicine.  
Remember the movie ‘Powder’ with Johnny Depp in the title role?  When a hunter shot a deer, Johnny grabbed the hunter and placed his hand on the deer, making him feel what the deer was feeling. 
 

I wish I could do that to every hunter who hunts for fur and everyone who wears fur.  Make them feel the pain.

I wish the bitch will feel the pain one day, one way or another. 
Will I feel sorry for her?  What do you think?

Canada Goose jackets

About three months ago I noticed a colleague with a beautiful winter jacket. I asked her where she had bought this jacket and she stated it was very expensive. I thought this was a rather strange answer as I wasn’t interested in how much the jacket had cost, merely where she had bought it.
She stated it was a Canada Goose jacket and only select stores carried it.

Back home I did some research on the Net and found the Canada Goose website, where a little more research revealed that these jackets were made with real feathers of geese and the material around the hoot was real coyote fur.
Suddenly this beautiful jacket wasn’t so beautiful anymore. Real feathers and real fur ... had the Canada Goose company not heard of animal rights?
My admiration for the Canada Goose jacket was instantly dead. More so, I wouldn’t have wanted a jacket if the company gave me one for free.

From that moment on the sighting of those jackets really irritated me. They irritated me to the point that I wanted to grab the wearer of the jacket and point out that an animal had died for him to parade around in this jacket. I saw the jackets as a slap in the face of every animal lover and animal rights activist.

For weeks I brooded, wondering what I could do. Whenever I passed a Canada Goose jacket wearer I would accuse him of being an animal killer, but did the ‘killer’ hear me? I wanted to do something, but what?
Then one day it came to me ... labels, I would put labels on the sleeves and back of my jacket that stated:

This is not a Canada Goose jacket
For i am not an animal killer
Say ‘no’ to fur

Finally I had found my voice. The voice of protest. Wherever I saw the young fashion slaves flaunt their Canada Goose jacket, I would flaunt my badges.
The label was read and I got some wonderful responses. Colleagues and strangers came up to me, stating “Good for you” or “I didn’t know about this” or just giving me the thumbs up.

Then today I got the ultimate revenge.
I was in a full elevator where a woman read my badge and asked “Do they really use real fur?”
“They sure do,” I replied. “The Canada Goose company traps coyotes for their fur and slaughters thousands of geese for their feathers.”
Now it so happened that a young Chinese man stood in the center of the elevator wearing one of those Canada Goose jackets. So I made him a target.
“See that fur around the hood of his jacket?” I said. “That’s real coyote fur.”
Stone faced the guy stood staring at the elevator door, not looking left or right.
I guess at that moment he didn’t feel like flaunting his apparel. From the looks of it he wanted to shrink to the size of a leprechaun and disappear through the floor of the elevator. Can you imagine, some twelve people looking at you like you with accusing eyes of being an animal killer?
Upon reaching the ground floor he shot out of the elevator like an elastic and moved like he was on skates.
Ah, revenge is sweet.

You will have to admit though, in a time where PeTA activists have made huge progress in creating awareness for animal cruelty, animal rights and have created a stigma around wearing real fur, it is rather insensitive, if not downright stupid of the Canada Goose company to use real fur for their jackets.

Of course this had to happen in Canada. Not only does Canada have this black mark on their name because of their continued seal hunt, now they are killing geese and coyotes as well. What will be next?