a day in the life of piano monkey

santa went up last week in yorkville. my retail job at swiss chocolate shop finished christmas decoration about two weeks ago.  tis the time of giving, we say, and we see it all over, with glistening lights and sparkles.  christmas adverts are out on telly and some are quite touching. last saturday, as i had 20 min to spare to my planned journey, i decided to get a quick snack at the eaton centre's foodcourt, then walk through the underground PATH to get to TSO, noseda, bollani show- my favourite, ravel g major piano concerto was on the program and i was certain that it would be spectacular (and it was!) i forgot that it's christmas time.  the mall was heaving with people, with bags everywhere, families in tow, lots and lots and LOTS of stress. get gifts, get stressed! how did i miss that slogan. i took a seat at the communal long table and as i slurp my sustenance served in real china bowl and real spoon and fork, i started to people watch. there were a f...

tis sunday. i had  non-9am (or earlier!) start, awesome. so i rolled in bed in sunshine for a bit, then headed out to fill my fridge, which has been sitting kinda empty as the days been quite bustling. i often walk to chinatown, along dundas on quiet weekend mornings to go get my groceries.  before the city wakes up for festivities, shopping, meetings, brunch and dinners, tis a quite a different place. as the weather is turning colder, you may see few cocoons of homeless people. an empty cab driving around. sometimes small hoard of people exiting the bus station. this is the time that i do not need to listen to anything carefully, so i usually walk without a 'soundtrack.'  bare eared, no headphones, earphones or filters. just the quiet hum of the city. then came an unexpected sound. it took me a bit to figure out where it was coming from - i looked around me, and started to scan- and there it was, upward. such loud bird? but it wasnt a bird on the balcony wal...