Shawn Micallef
@shawnmicallef
Local tosser Books author (New: Stroll!) Toronto Star column writer Spacing Magazine co-founder U of T instructor Trying to do it a bit different here than the last place. Links to books, etc: 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🤘🏼
A delightful “discovery” this morning. I’ve not come across this book of Chris Chambers poems before (that I recall) but I pulled @alharris.bsky.social’s Imagining Toronto off the shelf, which I have read (& get my students to read) & of course I have come across it here. Cold lake thoughts today.
Bought sheep manure yesterday at Fiesta. I am ready for the heat wave.
Yyz arrival, on the other hand, was smooth. Canada customs is a breeze these days. Their machines all work. I’m a long time complainer but have none today. Also in the far corner of baggage is this disposal area. We picked up an extra (backup) stroller that just needs one but to fix. 🤷🏼♂️
The square cobbles of Rome are such a thing. Endless. So many missing. So smooth.
Haha Italy. Like the tiny coffees they can only manage old art in the airport. Wait till they see my Tripadvisor review! Update already.
14€ bottle of wine at Genoa airport - so $24 or so at home. same grape / bottle wholesale in Toronto is $28 (I’m w wine people). A glass of middling wine at YYZ is more than both.
Chiavari. Laid back old/new perfect little town. Recommend. Easy access up and down the coast on trains. Tourist town but full of real & quirky shops. Mostly Italian tourists & some adjacent. Not so expensive. Not a bad meal. Not a bad snack. Not even a bad 1.49€ carton of beach wine.
I didn’t catch it perfectly but there was a moment all the people were fanning at once in the Chiavari square waiting for something to start (we were resto reservation bound)
“Toddler on the beach.” A new forthcoming film by Éric Rohmer. The days & hours go by. The salt stings & it heals. There are 4 trips to the pharmacy for different creams. The sun moves slow. The dad drinks 1.75€ box of wine slowly. Holes are dug. Holes are filled. SPF50 smeared over the focaccia.
I could do a coffee table book of Italian ashtrays. Everywhere. Our beach umbrella has an ashtray. I have smoked 4 cigarettes on this trip (always after midnight, once at my wedding) and it is how to do it.
Last eve had our usual 11:30pm doppio espressos & it was served in perfect little glasses. My MIL says her father in 1960s little Italy Toronto always took his espresso in a wee glass.
I have complaints (of course). The regional cinque terra train, which has most stunning views and part of the line’s greatness, is obscured by wrapped trains advertising cinque terra. Must turn grouchy columnist brain OFF. (Difficult. Tho at least there’s work if I move to the EU)
In Brampton some, including former Premier Bill Davis, argued the lrt couldn’t go thru the old city centre cuz, in part, it would alter Brampton’s historic character.
A mandorla granita and a small work horse truck that could do more than an F250. Then another one. Big trucks are 98% lifestyle virtue signalling.
I’m at a veg farm resto on the edge of Lavagna - they just served a tomato dish and referred to the main tomato as the “king of summer” and that is the only way I’ll ever refer to a Tomato again. King of summer. Or queen why not.
Since I’ve got a strange car thread going. Favourite oil company logo.
Most bananas 🍌 infrastructure in Liguria. Trains by sea we mostly take - endless long tunnels - then old cliff hanging roads - then these mountain top duel carriage highways. Genoa et al down there
We had a good time. Kids playing on the floor. Young Moroccan kid of 12(?) alone at bar (his parents work on a boat? Maybe there was a chaperone?) introduces himself. Says Canada will probably get one goal, Morocco 2, plays ball w kids in our group. Chats w us. Ah well. Was fun.
Sound is not on (euro beat plays) but a strange window into “home”
Chiavari. Big town. Proving *impossible* to find a place showing the Canada-Morocco game tonight. The World Cup basically doesn’t exist in Italy when they don’t qualify. RAI (tv network) even isn’t showing it - have to find a place paying for a DAZN feed (like HBO I guess). Quite difficult. 🤷🏼♂️
Camogli. These things slide out & make ped areas. Deliveries when needed. Local police don’t extort $100s of $1000s todo this.
