It felt like a lot of stuff happened in June, but it was mostly things that affected Toronto or the world rather than me personally.
First there was the BP Oil spill, which actually happened in May, but the incompetence continued into June. BP struggled with trying to stop the leak using a variety of methods, and there was a few weeks of coverage about that. That news slowly died down, without much conclusion, because the World Cup started in the middle of the month.
As Toronto is such a multicultural city, the flags started appearing on cars, and news coverage talked about both the event and about Torontonians watching the event. In June, there were a few upsets, with 2006 finalists Italy and France not making the knockout round. The World Cup also had a few controversies, first with the official Adidas ball acting a bit differently in the South African altitude, and second because the South African population blow Vuvuzelas incessantly throughout every game!
The end of June means that we’re getting close to moving, I spent some time this month packing and didn’t get out too much. Although, there was one weekend (19th-20th) where it was crazy busy in Toronto. There was the Dragonboat festival, free NXNE concerts, and the Toronto Island Concert (headlined by BSS and Pavement) at Centre Island. You could tell who was going to which pretty easily in the morning, all the people wearing sunglasses (when it was overcast) were going to the concert! There was also the KISS92.5 WHAMBAM at the Molson Ampitheatre, Luminato’s closing weekend (and 1000 Tastes of Toronto), the Much MMVAs AND half of downtown was blocked by G20 preparations.
Speaking of the G20, there was a lot of paranoia and preparation for the G8 and G20 summits, but being a suburbian, I wasn’t really affected. My drive in on Friday was a bit slower (since they closed the ramp to the 427 South), but we didn’t plan on going downtown and missed all the action. There was a lot of protesters and some violence, and a lot of arrests. Some of those arrests were from a hush-hush new law that granted police powers to arrest basically anyone on the spot. Unfortunately, the law turned out to not even exist! I think we’ll be hearing more about the G20 fallout and the law in July.
The more exciting thing for me was the earthquake! This was the first time I felt one (in Toronto or elsewhere). Too bad I missed out checking in on Foursquare at that time, otherwise I would’ve gotten my swarm badges too!
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