I do believe that there is a larger amount of homeless in Toronto #29 during the summer months, it seems people from everywhere come and sleep in our parks in hope of getting more money than they would begging at home. The influx also brings some new fun ways of being accosted by the non-working crowd. Today on my way home, at the corner of Jarvis and Gerrard, some guy comes to me with a box of pizza with one slice left in it, wanting me to buy it from him, I smiled as it was not the usual tricks people normally pull for a quarter or a loonie and then I said: “hummmm, well…. as enticing as this looks, I think my husband would kill me if I came home not hungry after he spent the afternoon cooking for me”. He just looked at me with his mouth open, closed the box and started backing away. I wasn’t sure if it was because I actually responded to him in a semi-polite manner, or that I used the word “enticing” for the pizza box/slice he probably found in the park nearby or that I mentioned my husband… and then just went I thought I was in the clear, he went: “well, I have a feeling one slice of pizza wouldn’t fill you up”. The insolent bastard.

Later on, on that same walk home on Carlton just past Ontario, I noticed this guy in the middle of the street with his dog on a leash doing a cute little number 2 #04… in the middle of the street… not on the sidewalk, nor close by… but in the middle of the street, we’re talking streetcar tracks, painted dividing lines and all. Luckily for both of them no cars were coming. Anyway, after doggie finished his business, they just walked away, not even an attempts to pick it up, maybe a little guilt in the guy’s face when he noticed me noticing him. Of course that was all the invitation I needed to pipe up: “Do you need a plastic bag?” He didn’t even turn back to look at me when he raised his middle finger in my general direction . The insolent bastard.

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