Toronto Fall Colours Tour

Actually, there's no such thing; I'm inventing my own.

Seeing as I can't get away right now, I'm aiming to hop on my bike one day next week and take the Don Trail from Carlton Street all the way up to Sheppard and Leslie. After all that cycling (i.e., all those hills), for the price of a token I can take the subway back, thanks to the new Sheppard line.

The idea is to pack a picnic lunch and really make a day of it. Only problem is the lousy weather we're having. I can't recall an October this cold and rainy. It's like we're getting November for the price of October. I just checked the long range forecast—looks grim: rain Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, cloudy Wednesday, sunny—I'll believe it when I see it—Thursday and Friday. On first blush, the latter two appear to be the best days, right? Yeah, if I wear my woollies: Thursday's high is 6, Friday's 4. Normal for this time of year is 12.

Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and follow the age-old cyclist's dictum: "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." On the bright side, I won't need a freezer pack for the food ...

Plus Special Guest Appearance!

This just in to our newsroom ... our group's beloved author-in-exile, Howard Whitehouse, is being parachuted in (and here, cue Ed McMahon voice) DIRECT FROM NEW YORK to read selections from The Strictest School in the World. So, your one remaining excuse for missing out on the evening ("Ah, I'd love to come, but Howard won't be there") is null and void. Come one, come all! That's this Monday, October 16, 6:30-8:00 p.m., Community Room (2nd floor), Parliament Library, 269 Gerrard Street East. We now return you to regularly scheduled programming.