Ah you need to get shopping and get some pretty covers....my Mom lovvesss them - and you can get matching serving trays


You can buy the more discerning cover - you would never know what lies beneath.

Is that actually an improvement or not? I'm not sure.

Can you try covering the whole thing in a blanket?

I made the trip home in daylight. I pass through the band of ghastly suburbs roughly defined by the 905 area code. It's all pretty much the same.

A new mausoleum under development.

Heavy traffic in both directions from 3ish until 7ish, commuting in or out is equally difficult. Lots of the traffic is trucks which makes merging a frightening business; they're usually going at 70 and somehow you have to find a gap between them from a much lower speed. The lack of the concept of lane discipline makes driving here much more difficult than in the UK or the US.

A typical strip mall. This one is dominated by a Hindu Temple.

My idea of hell. Oakville, Burlington, Brampton, Ajax, Whitby, Vaughan, Plano, Richardson, it all looks like this.

After the projects there are older houses on larger lots.

Columns and railings are popular as are stone (or imitation stone) lions, tigers, unicorns and so on.

Lawn jockeys are also popular. They're usually white now but I'm not sure that that makes them less offensive. Note that this one is chained to the post; you can't be too careful with your lawn jockey.

As I sit here at my desk in Basildon, I reckon I can see where I work in the pic - I'm sandwiched between BAE and Visteon

Interesting stuff here.

Never heard of "lawn jockeys" before today, can't say i want one either.

Don't like the huge gates and walls it looks way over the top to be considered appealing. What are the ribbons for?

My journey into work this morning

1) From bus stop
2) From bus stop (2)
3) Alderney Landing
4) oil rig on way to North sea
5) Dartmouth from ferry

Lawn jockies are an emblem of the old south; they used to be images of slaves. Having a traditional lawn jockey is akin to having a Rebel (Confederate) flag on the lawn. I assume that one's chained down because painting the slave white doesn't erase the connection and it would otherwise disappear, perhaps through the owner's window.

I don't know about the ribbons as I aint from around here boy. I don't care for that sort of imagery either but the area northwest of Toronto is mainly populated by people of Italian (and to a lesser extent Portuguese) descent and they do like it. It's no surprise that, come the World Cup, every house with a balcony railing, pillar or fountain also has an Italian flag. I believe Toronto has the third largest Italian population in the world, after New York and some place in Europe.

After very little deliberation with my dependants and spouse, on looking through (thru) these pics we have decided to forget Canada as a destination.
It's obviously the cesspit of North America and we've been fed lies and misinformation by the authorities. So we're heading for my old haunt, Hackney E9!

Bet you would still have to pay mega money to live there though!

Can you get a mortgage on a cardboard abode?

Nice neighbourhoods, looks clean and very modern. So you went round taking pics whilst driving? I wouldn't want to be round you when driving

Nelly F does look older than she actually is, must be hard being a single mother, link to everyone from Steve Nash, to Ronaldho of Man U

You can't get much more modern than "unfinished".

Yes, of course.

Maybe, maybe not, I've never met her. My point was that's the sort of thing you can't say on the radio in Canada which makes it nice to hear radio from other countries.