Sunday 17 November 2013

October 4, 2013

A Tafelmusik concert took me west of Spadina so I thought a trip to Kensington Market was over-due.  One of my goals was to locate a statue of Al Waxman.  Much as it was with my quest to locate a bust of Jan Sibelius, I learned that I had been painfully close in the past and had missed it by that much.  He was between two park benches and his right hand was slightly extended so I took it as if to shake it and I said, "What a guy!".  I resisted the urge to sing the theme to King of Kensington only because I feel a dance should go with it and I haven't entirely worked it out.

That done my second goal was to locate a place I had heard of called Thirsty and Miserable on Baldwin Street.  It styles itself a beer geek dive bar.  There are no employees, only the proprietress and she strikes me as a hoot.  The night in question the joint was packed with a plethora of twenty-something empty-skulls who had evidently invented drinking just a few minutes earlier and she seemed a bit put out at the thought of pouring tiny shooters all night.

The furniture is mis-matched, not to mention unbreakable, and the beer list is written in marking pencil on a piece of corrugated cardboard torn off the side of a box.  I chose a Junction City Station Master's Stout.  It is an impressive beer list and her refrigerator holds just as many treasures. 

I hear tell that there is a menu, comprised of frozen Swanson microwave dinners at $21.95 but I gather this is in the interest of keeping a certain variety of license.  It is rumoured that if one asks after food the owner lets it be known that there is a burrito joint next door and she will not take offense if you were to come back and eat in front of her.

It is useful to know in advance that it is cash only.  My main quibble is that, owing to the presence of a fish market next door, the air is a blend of incense and raw fish.  I don't know that I would want to visit in August and I cannot attest to the loos as I did not have the courage to go down the stairs.  No matter - I will definitely return to Thirsty and Miserable and if my wife will visit the Cloak and Dagger she will enjoy the character of this place, even if we will be among the oldest and not the youngest as was the case at the Cloak and Dagger.

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