The Bicycle Trip Saga Vol. III: The Elephant
Chapter V: Golden Horseshoe
Starting in right where we left off, it was Chinese food I craved, and so, making my way observantly from the roaring, pulsating, luminous rush that is Niagara Falls, northward along the gorge, checking restaurants and "Buffet" appears on signage, and my bike stops quickly. I had had a meagre breakfast, camped down at the marina, of coffee and bad pancakes with nothing on them. I noticed this restaurant was kind of scruffy on the outside. Once inside, I see that I'm the lone customer and I smell some unfamiliar aromas and instantly I feel sorry for the owners because I thought nobody was coming here to eat. I notice it's all paper plates. But upon inspecting the buffet, I see entries that get me excited: huge heaps of baby bok choy, a mound of roasted eggplant, potatoes done in a different way, and it's all delicious, and then, just as I'm sitting down, in walks a busload of tourists. They seem to be all Chinese...and more of them arrive. Everyone speaking Chinese, and I get it. This is where the Chinese busloads of package tourists come to eat lunch, and I'm lucky, and I'm eating lots of cool surprise dishes here because these folks are expecting lunch just like back in China.
One man is so amazed at the sight of my bike outside the window that he has to know, all in silent sign language; yes, that's my bike, yes I'm all alone, going very far, everything okay so far...he smiles broadly, thumbs up, and takes his wife outside to inspect and photograph my rig.
A round table of young men, about 19 years old, sit and talk at their lunch. They all seem to belong to the same school or club or something, since they wear matching crests but I can't understand them, and they all have black, grey, navy, and white clothing, very neat and clean with Adidas uniformly worn as the brand of choice. On the backs of their jackets, they have phrases in English. One says "the heart of man is proud, but only through humility comes honour" and another boy's jacket says "you belong here."
It's a glorious day, riding next to the enormous Niagara gorge, on this great little paved bike path, and I see sights I've never seen, or have forgotten. Who knew how incredible this whole piece of the world is? Hydro plant, dam, churning water, steep forested cliff sides, and spectacular lookout places. I follow out the trail to Niagara-on-the-Lake, which grabs the title as THE most deliberately touristy town I've ever seen in Canada, but I enjoy a darned good gelato on a waffle cone, and head for St. Catharines, a city I have almost zero history with, to visit Tony.
Retired meteorologist turned full-time artist, Tony is a favourite friend to our whole family. We saw each other last when Greg and I visited during the 2014 bike trip "Tour de Friends," and he's looking great. A two night stay is necessary for all the catching up and fun we need to have. Tony is growing redwood trees on his balcony and window sill. They're destined for some land that one of his kids has somewhere, but I'm amazed
to see these mighty giants as such young babies. On the walls, there is part of Tony's inventory. He favours rock 'n' roll and music as his themes and has created mosaic glass and ceramic works depicting James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, etc., and has a series called "Black Hole Sun." He introduced me to some musicians he's following lately, via the big screen and YouTube. I see Valerie June, and Gary Clark Jr. and we visit some artists from the past that I rediscover: Sandy Denny, Fotheringay, Fairport Convention. Then we get onto Neko Case...well, it's a full day, and I make some sketches of his cool studio pad. We share notes on being struggling artists, and we heartily agree on the unsavouriness of hustling our work. I know that Tony creates his work from a genuine passion for music and pop culture. He often goes across the border to catch music acts in Buffalo. Our nickname for him has always been "Tone Arm"...
Every party has to end, and so, leaving Tony with two mangoes that I forgot (I was going to see if a mango made a good lunch along the way; guess I'll do that experiment later) I got on to the shoreline road, and in Grimsby, I find the bike path again. It's Sunday, and it might just be the first warm weekend day of the year, and the promenade is packed with bikers, strollers, skater and skateboarders, walkers, dogs, and it's a party. All these days, cycling along by my lonesome and now it's a solid people trail. But I love it. I stop and wade into Lake Ontario, chilling the muscles. It feels so good. I didn't even know that this trail passage existed, and it takes me right through to Burlington, and then I get onto Lakeshore, and my heart gets excited to be on familiar ground, heading towards my hometown Mississauga, the big city of Toronto after that, and I'm spinning along, when I notice a car is cruising just to my left and behind me a bit, at my speed. I look over, and the driver calls to me "Your bike is so beautiful! What kind is it?" We're both moving along in traffic but I tell her it's a deKerf, made by this guy Chris deKerf, great guy, I met him once, blah blah and I'm so flattered that somebody noticed my bike, and it's a young woman, no less, and it all just adds to the thrill of being in Mississauga again.
In Port Credit I stop for nachos at the Crooked Cue, a place I knew about from Facebook, because my old high school friends, Janet Duck and Sylvio Catalano have reserved the whole place for a reunion later this month, and I'm sad that I can't make it, but of course I tell the restaurant manager all about this and head off towards downtown, to Jason's penthouse on Wellesley Ave...
Toronto is where I was born. I'll need to stay here for a few days. Sister Leslie, again by pure coincidence, has an apartment for free in High Park. So I have that luxury. And then there's Jason's penthouse, where more music video is viewed, and we watch documentaries on Keith Richards and Sam Cooke. I'd had no idea of how he'd died so young. The title is "The Two Killings of Sam Cooke", and it explains how his death took away from his artistic legacy, how it all seems very suspicious and looks like a set up-- to kill him because he was yet another truth-telling person that society needed but tragically just didn't get to hold on to, like Malcolm, and Martin. Jason, like Tony, is a huge music fan. I've learned so much through friends like these.
I have to use point form for the rest of my Toronto highlights, in the interests of space and brevity. But there have been so many!
Briefly:
-dinner with my niece, Cindy Robinson! We haven't seen each other in a long time and it's so wonderful, and Leslie's there, and it's so great to see her, she's doing great, looks incredibly young
- I busked for the first time ever! While walking up Yonge St. to my friend Itay's place to watch the Raptors (win!) I heard a great voice singing, and at Wellesley & Yonge, Southeast corner, I was honoured to accompany the young and talented Hugh Harrington for a couple songs, with my harmonica. We did "Streets of Fire" by Bruce Springsteen, and a song by MGMT that I didn't know but we clicked, and shook hands, and it was so much fun. I even saw real people putting real money in the guitar case. Remember the name Hugh Harrington. He's only 22, and I think he'll be big.
-Leslie was a volunteer at the Inside-Out Film Festival, and she got me in for one amazing documentary called "Queer Coolie-tudes" about personal testimonies by Indo Caribbean people from an indentured labour, diasporic past in Guyana, and Trinidad, and their personal journeys. The director was there to speak and take questions. Such an informative film.
-we went out to see the premier of Rocket man! What a performance by the guy who plays Elton John...will want to see it again. Interesting to me how there are parallels in his childhood with the Who's Tommy.
-finally, just walking through the old haunts. Queen Street West, the art college, High Park Grenadier restaurant for breakfast...
The Elephant continues, down the leg and out east, to Peterborough. But that will be covered in the next (the last?) chapter. Stay tuned...
D. Robinson
En route
