Ice Storm In Toronto... And Other Stuff

 

An Icy Stare

The power is out in Toronto.
My sister-in-law was visiting her daughter, who lives over at Ring Around The Don (I can't recall the name of the place... it's the Stonehenge-type circular road around the intersection of Don Mills and Lawrence). What was to be a short visit may turn into 72 hours of panic. There are no subways running, restaurants are shuttered, the only food they have is what providentially they had in the fridge when the lights went out all over Ontario...

... whether they shall be lit again in our time, no one knows.

This is a good experimental set-up for a Donner Party type of inquiry, like how long does it take for social mores to break down, and people then begin to resort to cannibalism? Just wondering.

I think this would make a much better movie than The Walking Dead nonsense, for in this case the enemy is a fatal dose of infrastructure neglect and weakness.

Speaking of The Walking Dead, I hear that Matthew has been killed off in Downton Abbey.
I always used to think of things being TheWind In The Willows sort of dolce far niente among the rural gentry and dulci domo (in their home sweet home), but bad things happen in Downton at an appalling rate. I suppose it is all for the good, since they are adding a black character, although I would not give you a nickel for his chances at longevity.
Julian Fellowes is more like The Writing Dead, although he does seem intent on spinning out his explorations into the heart of a decidedly tedious darkness by letting Thomas shamble along, trying to find the formula for an Imitation of villainy. (There absolutely must be a flash-back scene where Thomas discovers that he is not like the other children, and at least one of his parents was a Villain - or at least Half Villain, or even Quadroon or Octoroon Villain - and he can no longer "pass" as a goody two-shoes in the village school.)

If Mr. Fellowes were in charge of the Toronto ice storm, he would have dropped the story line already after 24 hours, and the temp would be a balmy 20 degrees Celsius.


--