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SHANGHAI ALLEY
It isn't exactly bucolic when you're living off a suspect back alley smab dab in Chinatown. If you stick your head outside,
you might be able to see a row of pale pig carcasses swaying in the back of the delivery truck parked below. And if you're
lucky, you might witness a take-down happening in the alley. One morning when I was out tending my flowers on the fire escape,
I saw a cop handcuffing a Vietnamese fellow against his cruiser.
Strange animals can and will appear. A small grey cat was mewing anxiously at me from the fire escape when I returned home
after a few days away. Who knows how long it had been trapped outside. Thinking it might be hungry (and kosher) I threw
together a delicious meal of herring and gefilte fish, but the critter turned its nose up over the meal and hid in my closet.
Exciting criminal action and lost kittys aside, it is nice to be able to pop downstairs to pick up a mango, take away a BBQ
duck on rice, or head on over to Kensington to practice my hacky-sack skills.
WHO LOVES KITTY?
Sadly, not enough it seems to keep Kitty's little shop of horrors open. Located on The Drive in Vancouver and filled to the
rafters with hand-painted Jesus-on-a-cross object d'arts, plastic laminated poodles, carved loons, freaky Barbie dolls, and
thousands of vintage hats, Who Loves Kitty had a valiant year-long run before closing its doors last month.
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EURO CUP 2004
First it was bye bye Beckham, adios to the elegant Spanish, then au revoir France. Euro Cup has suddenly turned into a tournament of the underdogs. Between
Holland and Portugal, I have to admit a slight bias towards the Dutch, only because Babs claims he's descended from the Tulip
Throne and Stephen thinks the Portugese flag is butt ugly. The potato-eating Czechs may be strong, but I'm still rooting
for those damn Greeks. I love the look of sheer amazement on their faces when they realize that they have, to their utter
surprise, advanced...again! Book off Canada Day for the showdown between the robust Czechs and the "I'll do-it-tomorrow" Greeks.
See you on the Danforth.
UPDATE: July 1, 2004
Unbelievable. The Danforth celebrations after a stunning 1-0 victory over the excellent Czechs were more muted than expected
I think due to shock. The Portugese however, were crazed out of their heads after their win yesterday against the Netherlands.
College and St. Clair were thronged with cheering fans waving their red and green flags that Stephen still despises.
UPDATE: July 4, 2004
And what a tournament. Greece may not have played the most attractive game, but they were tight, controlled and effectively
contained the free-flowing Portugese. Massive celebrations on the Danforth - thousands of stunned blue and white draped Greeks
("It is a gift from Zeus!..."My old father Papodopolous never thought he would live to see this day!..."So who won?"..."Long
live souvlaki!") and assorted hanger-on'ers whooping it up in a sea of ouzo fumes. Even Canary made the journey to Greektown,
although I suspect her intentions were fueled more by Nor's email informing her about the proliferation of eye candy at the
matches than an overwhelming desire to cheer on the Greeks. And to add to the surreality of the moment, my celebrity match,
Sandra Oh, stopped in front of me with her husband, the director Alexander Payne (originally Papadopoulos) and said, "People
tell me I look like you", before being speared in the ear by an errant Hellas flag.
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