The Friday Five

1) How long does it take you to get to work, from door to door, and do you use public transit or take your car?
It takes me about 40 minutes by streetcar to get to work, but about 50 minutes coming home for some reason.

2) Would you ever consider a job that involved a commute of 75 minutes or more?
Never, not in a million years would I ever do that again.

3) What's the latest you've stayed at work, and what was the reason?
Last night! I left at 8 o'clock, because I am playing "catch up from last week" at a feverish pitch, and I was determined to take my Sunny Friday today. However, the last time I left work "on time" was in mid-July.

4) Is your office a 9-5-with-an-hour-for-lunch environment, or is clock-watching frowned upon?
That describes my office perfectly, right up to the president and the director. Tumbleweeds blow down the hall at 5:05. Except for this week and last week.

5) If you do take a lunch hour, what do you do during that time?
I hardly ever have time for a lunch break, excpet for three times last month, when I went clothes shopping at the Eaton Centre. If I had the time everyday, I would go for a walk, cop a squat and read a book, attend the free concerts at Nathan Phillips Square, go to the Farmer's Market, browse Chinatown or Queen West... all the things my less-busy colleagues do. Sniff.

Now Appearing as Johnny Fever.... You!
One rainy Wednesday afternoon you are contacted by a lawyer in a far away land. A distant relative of yours has passed on, leaving you full control and ownership of a radio station! Now what do you do? What will your programming mandate be? Which DJs will you hire? Will you have an all-polka lunch hour, or non-stop retro 80's? And, most fun of all, what are your radio station's call letters (CRAB AM is taken. It's all talk.)?

Fast Food
I'm both impressed and horrified at the same time. The idea of making a stew and tossing a salad in the car seems very efficient to me, but I suggest that it shouldn't be driver wearing the chef's hat.

Lessons Learned or Forgotten?
"Have a nice Simcoe Day," chirps the lady at the Purolator depot Friday night. "Simcoe Day?" my tired colleage barks. "What the hell is Simcoe?"

John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, is remembered for ending slavery, and introducing trial by jury to our fair nation. Bloody good for him - good enough, I'd say, that I'll remember him fondly as I sleep in Monday morning. One more anecdotal gift to you: Queen Street East was constructed by 1796 so that Mrs. Simcoe could travel the three miles to the Beaches to visit the Ashbridge family for an outing on their waterfront property.

Where I come from, Simcoe Day, as you call it here, was simply known as August Civic Holiday. Admittedly, I'd never heard of J.G. Simcoe. When I moved to Toronto in 1996 I bought a book about the history of my neighbourhood, and thus learned what I've shared with you today. That's what nerds like us do.

So today's question is: how many explorers/historical figures/heroes/Fathers of Confederation do you remember learning about? Most people I know, Mr. Crabby and Fresh being obvious exceptions, have forgotten almost everything they learned in school. I have forgotten lots, not all. I'm tempted to post a quiz, but I know you'd just Google your way to a perfect score. So be honest: Baffin, Cartier, Cabot, de Champlain, Drake, Franklin, Fraser, MacKenzie, Magellan... Heroes or Strangers?

As an aside, I had my palm read on Saturday night in Yorkville. August 26, 27, and 28 will be very lucky for me, she said. And, I should stop worrying about money. It's coming. I'll keep you posted. If she's right, I'll send a postcard.