Don Tai (Canada) Blog

Growing up, orange juice was a valued commodity in our family, in that it was rare on our table. Orange juice was expensive to buy and my family could not afford it on a regular basis. While we were “encouraged” to drink water in actuality we had no choice. For this reason, I provide orange and apple juice to our Little Weeds. To me orange juice is a daily reminder of the importance of the small things in life. In a revelation of sorts I set up a taste test of freshly squeezed vs cartoned orange juice (OJ) for the Little Weeds. It was no surprise that they were able to identify which one was freshly squeezed, and also no surprise which one they preferred. Freshly squeezed orange juice is so much better in taste than cartoned orange juice. You really cannot believe all the marketing and packaging of products, as they can warp your life perspective.

Scarborough, Toronto, Canada bylaw investigation and enforcement can be reached at:

Scarborough Civic Centre
150 Borough Drive
Toronto, ON M1P 4N7
Hours of Operation: 8:30 – 4:30
Information Line: 416-396-7071 Fax: 416-396-5650

Bill Blakes, Manager
Tel.: 416-396-8221
E-mail: bblakes@toronto.ca

I tried calling Bill Blakes, but he does not answer nor pick up his calls. The Information Line took my complaint and said they would dispatch an investigator. Note that it can take up to 70 hrs for an investigator to arrive, but they do eventually arrive.

Sometimes finding certain information on the internet is much more difficult than it should be. I was looking for the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada bylaw that allows bicycles with less than 24″ tires to ride on the sidewalk. I could not find it. I emailed the city clerk about the bylaw but got no response. This bylaw is heavily mentioned but almost never referenced. After about two years of searching the web, I finally found it.

Mayor Kotaku Wamura of Fudai City in Japan built a 15.5M floodgate and seawall in the 1970s. It took 12 years to complete, and with a lot of skepticism. During the recent Mar 11 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami the floodgate was closed, saving all 3,000 residents and houses. Without this floodgate the city certainly would have been destroyed. Wamura died in 1987 at the age of 88. Twenty four years after his death he returns to save his town from certain annihilation. His tenacity and foresight should be applauded. Ganbatte.

This post is to remind myself that we actually have reasonable gas prices here in Toronto, Canada, even at $1.40CAD/litre. If we are to encourage people to drive smaller, more efficient cars, I think gas prices need to ride even more. If the tax from gas would only go towards improving public transit, people would not drive as much, resulting in less road traffic. All money converted to CAD where possible.

Having taught English in Japan for a year, I have first hand experience with people from Japan. I was stationed in Kyushu, the largest southern island of Japan, about 100km away from a very large volcano. When you live in close proximity to a volcano that often blows its top, you become pretty nonchalant about tremors. Being Canadian, this never happened to me. The Japanese people love fresh food, especially vegetables. Having some of their food supply deemed unfit to eat is a big psychological blow. We can only hope that this nuclear disaster can be averted. Earthquake, tsunami, and now a nuclear incident: How much can they endure?

Here in Toronto we get lots of snow in the winter. The City of Toronto has heavy equipment such as snow plows that remove the snow from the road and sidewalk. They do an excellent job. Citizens of Toronto also remove snow from their private driveways and the sidewalk. Unfortunately some citizens think it is Ok to simply dump their snow into the street, which creates a hazard to their neighbours and others that use the street. Not only is it very unfriendly to neighbours, it is also illegal.