Shirin Delsooz

My Life Adventures and Thoughts

Drinking in Public… in Canada!

I’ve ran into a few people from France who casually take a swig of alcohol in public. Yikes! Do I have to really ruin the party and tell them it’s not allowed before someone else does and takes them to jail!?

Today I warned a guy in the subway not to drink his wine in the subway, no matter how fancy.

“Not outside man!”

“But we are in the subway!”

“But it’s public!”

“I’m not actually drinking any of it. This is really good wine! Do you want some?”

He began to explain just how fine the wine is before he left the metro. He even gladly presented the bottle for this blog.

I hope he finished it sans problems. I wish I could freely do whatever I want without a worry, stress, anxiety and constantly having to look around!

So, a word of advice to my European readers: put it in a plastic bag or a flask so you won’t get hassled!

Drinking fancy red wine in the metro!

She hated ‘green’

Okay, so there’s this coworker I had who always spoke openly about hating ‘green’. She refused to recycle, and detested products that had green marketing. And despised bike paths!
To her, being ‘green’ was some sort of trend statement that went with granola bars and yoga mats.
I’m open to opinions, but being green shouldn’t be viewed as a preference.
That’s all.

Guess who I met the week after? Justin Trudeau!

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Hello folks,

As the season couldn’t get any more interesting, I ran into Justin Trudeau a few days ago!

So here is the story (if you must know):

I made a casual appearance to the “Sounds of Democracy” hosted by Apathy is Boring in Montreal and there was le Monsieur in his jeans, Justin Trudeau.

He spoke off script about making differences. I heard the story before, but his delivery made it cool. He isn’t in my riding, nor is he my first choice for political parties, but I’m very glad there are cool guys like him in politics.

Guess who I met?

On my way to Dora’s on the Danforth, my friend Stef points Jack Layton out for me. I hurried across the street and cheered, “JACK!”

He was in an in depth discussion with someone, and it totally didn’t occur to me that public figures were people who do people things. So I stepped back and patiently waited until he was done. I kinda felt a bit invasive, but how often do you get to meet Jack Layton?

Then it occured to me that the Danforth is his riding, so a Layton sighting shouldn’t have been all that shocking. And I did meet him once a few years ago when I volunteered for the NDP.

But he’s such a cool guy, and I felt like saying hi.

Afterwards he came up to me all smiles and struck up a conversation. I proposed a really cool digital marketing idea for the NDP that I’ve had in mind for quite a while (that I won’t disclose yet), and Jack gave me his business card. I must also add here that his card is in brail. Now I’m tempted to get one of those for myself.

Homelessness in the Suburbs

Suburban Homelessness

A homeless woman soliciting cars at the red light by Yorkdale Mall, in the suburbs of Toronto.

Homeless Suburbanite Man

Her partner soliciting cars on the other side of the street. His sign says he is hungry.

As I was walking towards one of Toronto’s snazziest malls in the suburbs, I couldn’t help but notice a couple on the intersection stopping cars for money. Their signs that read “HOMELESS” and “HUNGRY” were written very legibly on good quality paper. They undoubtedly looked more well groomed than the stereotypical homeless guy.  But at the same time their looks indicated despair.

Not everyone down on their luck is a toothless haggard.

The couple made me think of the many who are well educated and hardworking but somehow still fell through the cracks of the system. There can’t possibly be jobs for everyone. We don’t hear about those people because not everyone who is homeless necessarily begs for money.

The couple also made me think of poverty in relation to location. Homelessness isn’t a phenomena that only occurs in downtown. You can lose your job in a factory in the suburbs, inner burbs and rural areas.

Of course, there is more factors that come into play on the issues of homelessness. These were just some thoughts that occurred to me as I passed by them.

Homelessness is a very complex issue, and merits very complex answers.

Regardless, when I asked the couple if I could take their picture (shown above), they were very thrilled. This may be because this was the first time in a while anyone had any interest in them…