Old and New

Today was a little more active than yesterday; woke up early for class and found Spanish to be kind of enjoyable, actually. Talked about different New Years traditions (eating grapes in the 12 seconds after midnight is, apparently, Spain's New Year tradition).
Then an hour of showing Blaire Western Scotland on google street view (she was very impressed) and my first Vic One class with the other new professor. This course is about Postwar Europe and I'm so excited to learn more about that time period, and even to read the massive history book.
After that I waited around in the Old Vic building for the administration to get off lunch so I could get an essay back that was being kept in there and after receiving it, my mood was boosted. Bumped into Paige and we decided to go on a wander.
I worked out the new books I'd need for this term and we headed off through the snow (I'm wearing two pairs of leggings today) to the U of T bookstore and the Student Centre, where I finally picked up my health insurance.
Bought all my books and some more paper (stocks were running low) and then we walked down College for a while back towards residences. We passed this traditional American diner called Fran's with the leather seats in cubicles and the lights and the general air of beloved and welcome tackiness.
Yonge Street, as well, has the same air of tackiness. And, as I said to Paige, I love this about it.
I kept taking photos of all the shops and the buildings - the graffitti, the juxtaposition of crumbling Victorian apartments with the modern, dusty shop fronts which are an eclectic mix of used bookstores, sex shops, crappy shoe sellers, juice bars, psychics or even a Christian Science place. Scary looking big glass windows showing rows and rows of the same book with flames on the front of it.
Anyway. This photo is quite typical of Toronto - the old architecture slowly taken over by the new commercialism at ground level.