This month I 'graduated' from my sailing course although, if I'm really honest, I'm not sure I learned that much more about sailing than I didn't already know (not much!) but it was a fun course. I particularly enjoyed the class about the weather. I now know what mammatocumulus look like at least and know that if I ever see them, I should run in the opposite direction! I've also enjoyed the social side of things and the odd bit of sailing I've done so far has been great. I hope to get out more over the forthcoming months. I spent a very enjoyable evening introducing my former student, Taka, to the yacht club. We were invited to an open house evening jumping on and off different people's boats. This ranged from a basic dinghy to a brand new millionaire-style motor yacht, which was really quite an experience. I also volunteered for the Toronto Area Hospice Regatta. The event raised over $20,000 and I very proudly came away with an ice-box on wheels and two pairs of socks in exchange for my contribution...don't ask! A number of bizarre things have happened this month but one of the strangest was when I was sitting in my basement office talking to one of my team when I felt a very odd sensation. At first I thought I was having a dizzy spell but then when I saw the look on my colleague's face, I realised it wasn't just me that was feeling the waves moving through the building. What we were experiencing was an earthquake. It's epicentre was just north of Ottawa, hundreds of miles away but the 15-second quake was so strong (5.0) we felt here in Toronto. Eastern Canada is not known for its earthquakes so it was a bit of an unexpected occurrence. Fortunately, it didn't do any major damage other than knock a few leaves off the office plant.
As you're probably aware Toronto recently experienced another event that may have more major global impact. The city played host to the 2010 G20 summit. What is usually a peaceful and friendly place turned into a what felt like a war-zone for a few days. It was saddening to see the city streets I love being fenced in and riot police on every corner. 14,000 police were brought in at a cost of well over a billion dollars and military helicopters with soldiers carrying machine guns hanging onto the sides buzzed overhead. I live a couple of blocks from the area that was 'locked down' and am also not far from the former film studio that was used as a police dispatch and detention centre. Consequently, the flow of buses along my street containing riot police or detainees was fairly constant over the few days of the summit.
As I headed to work on the first day of the G20, the downtown area was pretty much a ghost town with boarded up shops and donut-eating police practically the only thing to be seen. Most businesses and banks had shipped their workers out to other offices away from the centre and many educational institutions had shut down. My ride to work was quieter than usual, eerily quiet even. Later in the day, the first reports of 'police activity' started to filter through as I received transport system alerts on my phone. Motorcades started to arrive in the city and the peaceful marches that had been going on all week continued.
Saturday, however, things changed and the event took on a very different tone. I knew there were peaceful marches planned heading south from the area around the Provincial Parliament Building towards the convention centre but apart from the helicopters overhead, all seemed relatively quiet. However, as I emerged onto the street late in the afternoon I saw palls of black smoke and flames rising between the office buildings and hotels on King Street. Police cars blocked the road and the frenzy of onlookers, including myself, were snapping pictures and trying to find out what was going on. I have to admit it all looked very frightening and it was actually a relief to hear that it was 'only' abandoned police cars that had been set on fire and some windows smashed. 
Sadly, the peaceful protests had turned more violent. It appears a small group of violent activists using the 'Black Bloc' technique had infiltrated the demonstration and, once dressed in their all black disguises, had wreaked havoc in the downtown core before melting away by discarding their black clothes and blending into the crowds. Others appeared to literally go underground entering the sewer system and emerging hours later. I have no issue with peaceful protest and support many of the ideals of those demonstrating but I don't like the way the 'Black Blocs' operate. Violence of the sort they undertook in Toronto is not necessary and, in so doing, they managed to obscure all the messages the peaceful demonstrators were trying to get across by shifting media attention. There were rumours that the abandoned police cars were left as 'bait cars' by the police as they played their game of cat and mouse with those bent on violence. 
Many innocent people were caught up in the situation as the police took an increasingly aggressive stance using pepper spray, muzzle guns, tear gas, menacing behaviour and mass arrests as their tools. The tension in the city was palpable. Laws had been passed in secret to give the police special powers during the G20 and almost a thousand people were arrested, more than ever before in Canadian history at a single event. Detainees were reportedly held in cages with open-door toilets at the movie studio and many complaints have been made about wrongful arrest, the lack of water and inadequate medical attention given to people. Most of those arrested were released without charge within 24 hours. Many people are asking questions of those in power. Certainly, the videos here show a very unpretty picture of what happened from both points of view.I am just relieved it's all over now but can't help wondering how many more mothers and children might have been helped had the billion dollars spent on policing the summit been re-directed towards them.
The following week I was pleased to encounter the more friendly-side of policing and officialdom when I visited the nation's capital, Ottawa, for Canada Day. We missed seeing the Queen but enjoyed a celebratory concert and excellent fireworks display on Parliament Hill. I particularly enjoyed hearing the Bare Naked Ladies, a popular Canadian band, who you can hear playing in the background of my photo montage below. There was a great party atmosphere the whole weekend.I'd driven up with three friends and we had a great time exploring the excellent museums and galleries as well as taking in the government buildings and watery setting. We also caught up with a friend from my China days, Fair, for a delicious Vietnamese lunch followed by a traditional Canadian desert, Beaver Tails (donuts that are flat and shaped like...beaver tails). It was a nice break away and we were blessed with fantastic weather. Not a cloud in the sky! Well, certainly not the angry, evil clouds anyway!
