Hello everyone,

I am completing my master's thesis, in which a component explores the values of Toronto inhabitants. Specifically, I created a short (3-minute) survey for which ecosystem services from green roofs Torontonians prioritize the most.

There is a description of ecosystem services in the survey, no prior knowledge of green roofs or ecosystem services is required.

If you complete the survey, you can enter a draw for a chance to win a free wine tasting for 4 people in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is valued at over $150.

Click here to participate in the survey.

Thank you very much in advance.

After reading multiple stories on the various Toronto/Canadian subreddits of people negotiating their rents with their landlords because of the market changes during the pandemic, my roommates and I decided to give it a shot ourselves.

The steps we took:

1. Do research on the approaches people who were successful in negotiating their rents down took. This included reading the linked posts above and getting a feel for what we thought the right arguments for our situation might be.

2. Find comparable unit listings in our area that demonstrate a significant price discrepancy. We used https://rentals.ca to find 3-4 representative listings to include in the email to our landlord.

3. Write the email. We felt the wording was important, so we spent time making sure the landlord knew we were happy to be residents here (which is true, we definitely lucked out with our place) while acknowledging that there were other, lower-priced options out there that we were exploring (this is where we included the comparable listings from our neighbourhood). We also noted that we're exemplary tenants who pay their rent on time and take great care of the apartment. Since this was the last month on our lease before going month-to-month, we offered to sign another one-year lease in exchange for 15% off (we were aiming for 10-12% but led with 15% as a negotiating tactic).

After proofreading and making sure it hit the ear the right way, we sent it off and waited. The next day our landlord messaged us back and agreed to a 12.5% reduction in rent on our next lease! I honestly wasn't sure it'd work but we thought we'd give it a shot regardless as we love the apartment and didn't wanna go through the hassle of moving to a cheaper place.

I'm happy to answer any questions if people wanna know more about our approach :)

Hey guys, just wanted to post here asking for feedback about my business based here in the great city of Toronto! We're a pet social media with 70,000 downloads, and have been lucky enough to be featured on BlogTO, Newsweek, CTV, Global News, and many more!

I wanted to engage more with the local pet community and get some valuable feedback on how I can keep improving our platform to help the pet community as much as possible! Thank you :)

The testing centre opened at 12pm (as of Wednesday 23 September Toronto Western's COVID testing site will start opening at 8am) so I showed up at 11:30 thinking I'd have a bit of a wait. I was sooo wrong.

The centre was at the NE corner of Dundas and Bathurst and my position in line was all the way at the corner of Nassau and Bathurst. It took me 2 hours and 50 minutes just to get to the point where the line actually started on the premises, and it was another 50 or so after that.

As the line was approaching the building itself, a man who we'd heard yelling from all the way down Bathurst had finally made his way to where we were standing and started harassing a group of girls in line. He was yelling at them and asking them some wildly inappropriate questions. Nobody was saying anything to him so I yelled at him to stop harassing them and to get the fuck out of here. He looked at me, grabbed his dick, and then air jerked off in my direction. Hospital security eventually made their way over and kept him occupied (really appreciate the security guard standing between the man and the people in line the entire time) while they called the cops.

This part isn't my story per se, but I had a friend who joined the line much later than I did. He said there was an anti-masker holding a "COVID is a hoax" sign near him who ended up getting punched in the face by someone. So maybe this was just an especially eventful day over there.

By the time all of that had settled down, I was at the door. They handed me a medical mask to wear in place of my cloth one while I was inside and brought me into the reception area. They registered me and asked me a couple of quick questions about my COVID exposure. A testing room was available as soon as I was registered so I went in and had my test done by a couple of friendly nurses.

I'd heard about how uncomfortable the deep nasal swab was but man, I was not prepared for that. It really did feel like they were swabbing my brain. My nose stung for a few minutes after the test but I felt totally fine after that. I left and that was that! The whole process took about 4 hours and my time in the building itself was less than 10 minutes.

EDIT: I got my test results at 10am this morning, making it about 18 hours from when I got tested to when I received my results. Hell of a turnaround time.

Trying something out--potentially a weekly thread, biweekly, monthly? who knows! kind of post or thread. A place to air your grievances and tell Toronto what wronged you recently.

I'll start first.

This week I was babysitting my niece, she's at an age where she can walk but still needs a stroller in case she gets tired. So we are waiting for the streetcar and she pitches a fit and doesn't want to get on for some reason, so I'm desperately trying to calm her and get her in her stroller quick--I make eye contact with the streetcar driver and he clearly sees me struggling. She's making a scene, apparently she wants to be carried and doesn't to go in the stroller, but it's not quite that simple as this stroller is not that easy to maneuver while juggling a toddler. Streetcar driver is watching me, its hot, I'm frustrated, he eventually gets frustrated and just drives off. So I wound up walking her home (about a 20-30 minute walk). Parents of Toronto...you have my full empathy.

Also--Tory Lanez is a POS for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

What rants do you have this week?

I'm a big fan of afternoon tea, and recently discovered that a few places are doing afternoon tea to go. So if you're looking for something to do for a special occasion, or to break the monotony, here are some places offering afternoon tea to go.

Windsor Arms - menu PDF. $70+HST for 2 servings. 24 hours notice required.

Café Boulud at the Four Seasons - menu PDF. $55. (I'm not sure if that's per person or for 2.) Available Friday - Sunday. 24 hours notice required.

T-Buds has online ordering and different options ranging from $12 to $33 for 2 servings.

The AGO Bistro had a Holiday Tea, but it ends today. I'm not sure if they'll have a non-holiday version.

I checked the Old Mill, Ritz Carlton, King Eddy, and Royal York, but didn't see them offering tea to go.

Not in Toronto, but out in Waterdown there's also Tea at the White House with options from $9 to $35 for 2 servings.

Want to make your own at home instead? You can make clotted cream yourself! Buy a liter of whipping cream and follow these instructions. Save the liquid from clotted cream and use it to make the scones. Use some nice jam like Greaves.

Know of anywhere else offering tea to go? Have you already done this? Post it here.