a day at the fair

the family and i spent the better half of the afternoon at downsview park celebrating canada day today. the main attraction was a second-rate fair featuring rickety amusement rides staffed by sketchy-looking wanderers. there was also a full complement of inspection-worthy bouncy castles for the youngins, not to mention a sadsack petting zoo, balloon bustin' clowns, overpriced food stands, and shaky-handed face painters. good times.

anyhow, there were two incidents in particular from today's patriotic turn in the sun that stood out for me. both involved the delicate etiquette of lining up.

first, after spending a good thirty minutes queuing in the afternoon heat, i was just about to plop my two-year-old onto a faded merry-go-round pony when suddenly, a local yokel decided to jump in front of me and place her little johnny on the last available horsey. pissed is an understatement. i mean, what's with this sense of entitlement anyway? so i gave the mannerless madam a piece of my mind. her response? ms budinski swore that she didn't see me standing there in the line-up. uh yeah, that makes sense. after all, i'm only 6'3" and today i was decked out in my bright orange old navy t and shiny white swimming trunks. you're right, lady. i can see how i'd be easy to miss.

last, in just about every other conga line i joined this afternoon, i was faced with egregious violations of my personal comfort zone. such transgressions usually took the form of trailing perpetrators unintentionally coming into contact with my backside. at other times, those positioned immediately in front of me were apt to shuffle backwards only to locate my size 11 sandals. now really, was that necessary? step off, people. just step off.

oh, and lest i forget, the port-o-potties on site were so foul and malodorous that i nearly passed out within milliseconds of taking my first breath. i would rather spend a month on a deserted island teeming with parasitic tsetse flies than be forced to endure another moment in that nightmare of outdoor plumbing.

by the way, the kids had a good time today.

p.s. downsview park was also home to the 2003 toronto rocks concert for sars which attracted almost 500,000 fans, one of whom was me. everyone in attendance that day agrees that ac/dc stole the show away from the headlining stones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBZTngutxRo

p.s. thanks for the nice comments, jc. much appreciated.

p.p.s i will have you know that my comma placement was absolutely flawless in this post. and as for challenge and change... jamais.