Sad cat story

I was out running again this morning which, incidentally, is not much fun in the prevailing heat and humidity. There's a buffet restaurant built from old rail cars on Queen's Quay that I regularly run past. It houses a largish feral cat colony. This morning one of them was lying dead on the grass right next to the sidewalk. There was no obvious trauma so I guess it was probably natural causes. I didn't look too closely as it was already covered in flies.

Yesterday lemur_catta and I hooked up with oakenguy who had driven up from Boston for the circus festival. One clown seemed very perplexed by us. I think it was when I suggested that the red and white "Canada" umbrella he was wearing on his head probably indicated that he was CSIS agent secretly infiltrating a terrorist clown cell. He was certainly lurking suspiciously close to the pie shop. More clowns and other circusy things today I expect.

Who says men don't ask for directions?

I was walking up Lower Sherbourne Street this morning when two young guys pulled over and asked me for directions to.... Ottawa. I was surprised and double checked but it was Ottawa they wanted so I directed them appropriately.

For those of you not familiar with Ontario geography this would be roughly equivalent to being stopped on Charing Cross Road and asked directions to Newcastle.

Spork!

Fans of history_spork and other despisers of Mel Gibson would get a kick out of the latest edition of Durham First, the Durham University alumni mag. Andrew Fisher, Wallace's most recent biographer, does a pretty good number on Mel and Hollywood's treatment of Scottish history generally.