Today's strange headlines...

TTC unveils trip planner, 1 Bloor street East will be built, restaurant promotes sex in bathrooms...
What next?  City taxes abolished, Rudy Guiliani to run for Toronto mayor...?
There are days when going through the local and national newspapers there isn't much "news" going on, and then there are those days that have so much relevant information that you don't know what to read first... Today is a slow day apparently.

The long awaited TTC trip planner is now up and running.. After months of hearing about it and anticipation for our failing system on so many levels to have something positive to talk about, we now have to wait for something else other than this  anticlimactic event from the TTC.  This trip planner was intended to be a smart guide for not only the seasoned rider in the city, but for tourists who need to know how to get from their hotel to the ROM. I thought I would give it a try (just to see if it actually works).  To some degree it does, if you have an hour and a half to kill for a trip that really would take at most 45 minutes.  After typing in my starting destination of King and Sherbourne, and my final destination of Dairy Queen at Broadview and Pottery Road, I was given choices of how my route may look:

Leaving at 10:16am from			PRINCESS STREET AT ESPLANADE
Using these routes			65 PARLIAMENT TO CASTLEFRANK STN
			94 WELLESLEY TO OSSINGTON STN
			5 AVENUE RD TO EGLINTON STN
			100 FLEMINGDON PARK TO BROADVIEW STN
Arriving at 12:15pm at			BROADVIEW AVENUE AT HILLSIDE DRIVE

The most logical route of a simple streetcar ride to Broadview at queen, transferring to the Queen streetcar north to Broadview station then a choice of 3 buses north to Pottery Road-was not an option.
Is this tool intended to take riders on a tour of Toronto, to reinforce the fact that the better way is indeed in need of  some retooling?  I fear for tourists that may find this trip planner and attempt to use it.. They may end up at IKEA in Vaughan when really they only wanted to go to the CN Tower.
After much hype 2 years ago from the initial developers of the the 1 Bloor Street East site which ended after losing financing, the site has a new life ahead.  I was afraid that the corner of Yonge and Bloor would sit vacant much like the Yonge and Dundas AMC building site did for years before funding was secured.  The new developer has shaved some floors off the original plans which was touted as being the tallest residential building in Canada after completion.  If this project actually does get off the ground in the next 2 years.. it will be a miracle.
And finally, a night out isn't just your run of the mill dinner and a movie anymore.  Looking for a spot to have your first date with that special someone you just met, look no further.  Liberty Village has just the spot you crave.  Mildred's Temple Kitchen is the all-in-one location where not only you can wine and dine but also see if a second date is worth the trouble.  Promoting a little fun in the washrooms is on the menu here, and the city of Toronto health department has no issue with it as long as the sex remains in the bathroom and not in the kitchen...  I can only imagine where this "trend" is going to go, and how long it will take before someone is charged.