11 - Volume One - Birthday Pub Crawl (part two- The Horseshoe and Queen Street West)

So ...if I recall correctly, we left the Rex around 6 or 7 pm and headed to the Rivoli for dinner and to shoot some pool. After the Rivoli, we headed to the LEGENDARY HORSESHOE TAVERN, one of (if not THE) best places to see live bands. I'm guessing we got there around 11 pm, based on how crowded it was in the front bar. And ...again, if I recall correctly (a lot of beer had been consumed by this point!), the Something From Your Wallet journal was whisked away by Stephen and Kerri, maybe even Knob, to collect entries. Thus...most of these people, I did not personally talk to and honestly, I have hardly any recollection of them. Maybe Kerri or Stephen will pitch in a comment for anything they can remember.

Wouldn't it be funny to follow these directions and knock on the door of the house that is at that first driveway? And do you think that he was related to the band? or decided to see the band because they were named after where he was from? I do recall, that there was this one really tall guy at the 'Shoe. Guess this was him. He was really tall. 6'8" is really tall.

Part one of a mystery entry. Lift the little paper.

And....

Part two. "my hat"???? What kind of Irish humour is that?

How many tarot card readers do you figure there are in the world, who are MEN?

So... ya. This person apparently had a good time with whoever it was that accosted them for something from their wallet.

You can't really tell from the scan, but this is, in fact, and entire Frommer's road map of Ireland. it folds out to the size of a couch. It's nice and worn and well-used. She had it in her purse and had returned to Canada two and a half months earlier.

It's a two-fer. I'm thinking it's a couple. No idea who these people were, but this is probably the third or fourth donation of Canadian Tire money. Just like my brother, a whopping 5 cents.

I'm also thinking that there was a Leafs game on that night. Then again, maybe not. Leafs fans are so darned dedicated - any opportunity to cheer their poor losing team. This entry might win the award for the neatest printing.

A smashing endorsement for a Subway sandwich.

Since they are scammers, I didn't block out their phone numbers. Go ahead, give these numbers to all of your mailing lists - telemarket them like crazy!

What an odd entry.

Another flip entry. Part one (sounds like a cool event!)
And....

... there we go. Guess it WAS a great event. "utopia night" ... wow.

Now this one I remember. The guy who gave me this is the guy in the centre of this photo. This is a photo of his nephew, I believe, on the day he was born. He has kept this photo in his wallet for more than two years and gave it to me to add to the journal.

BOB! Our favourite bartender at the Horseshoe. I asked him for something from his wallet, and in his terminally grumpy way told me he didn't carry a wallet. So he grabbed this from amongst all the crap stuck to the wall behind the bar. Poor guy who lost his wallet and keys at the 'Shoe, probably years before.

Half a buck from her Dad....awwww.....

Could get the award for the worst hand-writing. Not even quite sure what it says, but it's quite entertaining to guess.

Wow. Creative. Sometimes you end up just bugging someone to give you something from their wallet and they do it just to get you off their case. This might have been one of those.

Didn't cover up these numbers since they were just her guesses that didn't turn out to be the right number. Now... why would a person jot down some numbers to try to reach a friend of theirs, find out that they are not the right number,... but then.... keep the scrap of paper in their wallet? Love it.

Belgian guy number one. "here for Daryl"???? "kisses"????? Very puzzling.

Belgian guy number two. "Speak to Anthony"???? Weird. What was the story with these guys??? I hope that Kerri or Stephen remembers.

ANDY. So classy. Similar to Bob, he did not have a wallet on him. Oh, I should mention that Andy is our un-favourite bartender (me and Kerri) from the Velvet Underground. So Andy has no wallet and he turns around and grabs something off the bar. He said he brought these cards (he took this one from a whole pile) back from Las Vegas. Good ole Andy.

That's the last entry from the legendary Birthday Pub Crawl ...

10 - Volume One: Birthday Pub Crawl (part one - The Rex)

For my 40th Birthday, I invited friends and family to join me in a Pub Crawl along Queen Street West. We started at The Rex, then moved on to the Rivoli, then the Horseshoe and lastly, Velvet Underground. Only Kerri, Liz, Knob, Stephen and I made it to the bitter end, but a great time was had by all, regardless of how much of the Pub Crawl they took part in.

This blog entry is comprised mostly of friends and family who were at The Rex, at the beginning of the Pub Crawl. My next blog entry will include the entries made after we left the Rex.

My rocket scientist nephew, Jaime. He is on scholarship at UC Berkeley, doing his Ph.D in something more complicated than my brain can handle.

One of Jaime's McGill friends, Andrew, who joined us for the Pub Crawl.

My niece, Becky (Jaime's sister).

Hey, look at this! A duplicated entry!! These are the entries of my sister-in-law Debbie, and Jaime's friend, Liz. Both of them happened to have the business card of this health centre in their wallets! Total coincidence, totally cool. Not quite sure about the "STD" slogan.

My two brothers, Jim and Keith. Jim used the little circle stickers that Canada Post graciously includes with holiday stamps (my Birthday is December 26th and we did this pub crawl on December 29th).

My other brother, Keith, is fixated on colonoscopies, and gave me a related business card, PLUS a generous donation of 5 cents of Canadian Tire money. Awwww........

Dorothy, the girlfriend of my brother, Keith. They had just purchased, the previous fall, their 30 foot Catalina.

KNOB! Knob (Mark K.) and I went to High School together, and then ended up being the only two people from our high school (graduating class of 17 of us) to go to McGill. He drove into the big smoke from Ottawa to partake in the 40th Birthday Pub Crawl. He was toying with the idea of parting with his McGill student ID, but decided to keep it (pack rat!).

This is one of the members of the band that was playing that night at The Rex. Currently living in Toronto, but originally from Israel.

Another one of the members of the band that was playing that night at The Rex. Currently living in Toronto, but originally from New York City.

My sister, Anne, who has already made an entry, already given me something from her wallet. More double-dipping!

Another double-dipper, my friend, Stacey that I work with. I chose to sit in the middle of her department after sitting in the middle of her department for almost two years because there was nowhere else for me to sit. But now, sadly, I have to go and sit with my own department. I will miss sitting in her department.

Stacey's husband, Andrew. Very odd that he had this rather feminine looking hair salon business card in his wallet.

9 - Volume One: New York City (part three)

On the Saturday night, our last night in Manhattan, we went back to the Channel 4 Irish Pub, feeling like regulars.



Diego was a nice young guy who worked somewhere nearby, stopping in to his regular after-work pub for a drink. I seem to recall that he had a very large thick wallet. This is a concert stub from three months earlier. He thought it was really funny that he was giving me a stub for a Def Leppard concert. They were in their heyday probably before he was born.



George, and his wife Celeste spent a good deal of time hanging out at the Channel 4 Pub, chatting with us and other patrons. They had been there a year or two before on Thanksgiving weekend and Greg, the bartender, remembered them and even remembered what they ordered to drink! Her daughter used to work at the Marriott on Times Square and so that is why they visited the previous year (or two), and they were back this year to visit a son, I think it was, who lived somewhere north or west of Manhattan. They were spending some time in Manhattan while they were in the area.
George and Celeste were in their 50's and an adorable couple, lots of fun.



One of my all-time favourite entries!! Tuesday (no, really, her real name is Tuesday) gave me her name-tag from a busted button (the name tags at TGIF). She worked at a TGIF nearby and was just an awesome cool chick. Very funny, very friendly, great attitude. A regular at the Channel 4, knows Diego, enjoyed talking to us and to George and Celeste.

Celeste, wife of George of two entries ago.

Celeste spent a bit of time talking to this guy (both are teachers) and called me over to get something from his wallet. Celeste told me little bit about him while he made his contribution. He has spent a lot of time with kids in New York, making a difference. One of those people that makes you reflect on your own contributions to your community. Really like his sign off: "Life is love and learning".

I believe this entry and the next were collected in an Irish Pub other than the Channel 4. When the Channel 4 closed for the night, Greg, the bartender, told Lisa and I to join him at another Irish Pub that was open until a later time. We met this guy who was into quoting movies. I remember being a bit leery about taking his benefits card, but he assured me that he didn't work for the same company anymore.

This is Danny, a guy we met at the other Irish Pub. He is from Australia. And that is about all I remember! It was a late night, and we had to get up in time to make our flight home the (next/same) morning. It was a great trip to NYC!!!

8 - Volume One: New York City (part two)

On the Saturday afternoon of our long weekend in Manhattan, Lisa and I went on a Literary Pub Crawl.
Here is their link:
http://bakerloo.org/pubcrawl
At the end of the Pub Crawl, we asked several of our fellow crawlers, as well as the guides, to give me something from their wallets.



One of the Pub Crawl guides, Justin. His girlfriend met up with the group at the end of the pub crawl. For a moment she thought that she still had her movie stub from Bee Movie (they saw it together in Florida), but she didn't. Would have been neat to have the same thing from two different wallets. I am still aiming for that idea one day.

The other Pub Crawl guide. This was only her second time doing the Pub Crawl. The guides not only describe the historical significance of the pubs and other buildings along the route, but they also tell wonderful little gossip-y stories about famous authors and recite poetry now and then. Very entertaining pub crawl, highly recommend it.

This is Lisa's entry, with a very good little saying.

These are two girls we got chatting with on the Pub Crawl. They were British and Lisa found out that one of them was from the same town in England as where she was born.

A British family were on the pub crawl - I think this was the Mom. I believe her comment ("from the educated to the educated") was in reference to a discussion we had about my iron ring.

This was someone else from the British family. Can't recall if she was a daughter-in-law or a daughter. This is another example of things people carry around with them for such great lengths of time. I guess it was nostalgic for her to hang onto, and here she was, giving it away to me (love how she put it - "I'll surrender it")

The British family were all along this big banquette along one wall, and this woman was sitting across from them. She is (was) the girlfriend of Justin, the Pub Crawl leader. She didn't have the Bee Movie stub, so she gave me her Dad's tongue-in-cheek business card.

The son of the British family. His family were bugging him to give me his membership card to a football club, I believe it is. He wouldn't give it up; he showed it to me, but he just could not part with it, it was too nostalgic for him! I really wanted to collect something from him, though, because he looked so much like Andy, a guy that Kerri and I refer to as our un-favourite bartender at Velvet Underground. (Andy's entry is coming up in a few more pages!)

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That was it for the Literary Pub Crawl. Great times, neat people. Coming up next, another night at the Channel 4 Irish Pub.

7 - Volume One: New York City (part one)

US Thanksgiving 2007

My friend, Lisa, and I spent the long weekend of US Thanksgiving in Manhattan. We ended up spending quite a bit of time in a little Irish Pub near Rockefeller Centre (the Channel 4 Irish Pub). We first went in there because we were stumbling around one late afternoon, freezing cold after shopping most of the day on "Black Friday" and we were looking for a place to warm up. On a very unassuming street (48th between 5th and 6th), with a very unassuming facade, was an Irish Pub and it looked warm, so in we went. And stayed. And returned another night.

The first couple of guys we spoke to were dropping in to their regular after-work pub. I can't recall where the one fellow worked, but I know that the other one worked at Rockefeller Centre, and his job was to oversee the maintenance of one of the Rocks (you know, like 30 Rock). He dealt with all the contractors (HVAC, elevators, cleaners, electrical, etc) and basically keeps the building running. And he was YOUNG - I was fascinated. He told me the schools he went to and I'm sure if I was American I would have recognized them and been very impressed. The entry above is not that guy (John), but the other guy (Ben) who I can't remember as much about. They had a great time teasing us about being from Canada. One of our discussions was about how much of Canada is French Canadian. Lisa was very impressed with our first chat-mates because they were two fun and funny and good-looking guys! They left after a few drinks for the long commute home to their wives and kids.



While we were chatting with Ben & John, the guy sitting on the other side of us, at the bar, asked us about the book and wanted to make a contribution. The only thing he could find was a winning scratch & win ticket.



Hey look, it's John, the guy who works at one of the Rocks. He didn't know what to write, so I suggested he write something about our conversation. Just like a geeky engineer, he wrote a list of the topics of discussion. So funny. I don't even remember half of these..... The second French province was Manitoba! Grateful Dead was a reference to a concert he went to in Toronto, I believe, the only time he had been to Canada. Scottish Bar.... no clue. Summer songs... yes, I recall a discussion about how there are songs that remind you of a particular time of year and it's just wrong to listen to them at the opposite time. I can't remember the song, but something came on that was just WRONG to be listening to during a frigid November night. Ex-girlfriend (insert spectacles) - my glasses reminded him of an ex-girlfriend, and I thought it odd that he said "spectacles" instead of glasses. UES and Bray ... no idea. Maybe he had some tie-in to Bray in Ireland, where Joe and I spent a day hiking, the week that we were in Dublin.



This is the entry made by the bartender, Greg, at the Channel 4 Irish Pub. The card is from another place he worked, in Fort Lauderdale, but he is originally from County Armagh in Ireland. He was a great bartender. It would not surprise me at all if I walked back into Channel 4 now, all this time later, and he would remember me. While we were there, other tourists walked in that he remembered having been there years before.



Don't actually remember much about this guy. It seems to me, though, that everyone sitting around the bar wanted to give me something from their wallet.

Irish guy in the Channel 4 Irish Pub who had barely anything in his wallet (the one for pleasure - read his entry, if you haven't already), so he carefully folded up a dollar bill and asked Greg, the bartender, for a stapler. A very unique
entry.

Gladys was the hostess of the restaurant part of the Channel 4 Irish Pub. Her "station" was right near where we were sitting at the bar, so she came over with this when she had a chance. I think that this is actually a coat check number from the restaurant. Okay, so maybe not technically from her wallet.....

Sarah was a striking looking girl (her heritage explains that) who came in with her friend for a quick drink. By this time (on our first night at the Channel 4 Irish Pub), Lisa was grabbing people as soon as they walked in, to get them to give me something from their wallet!

Laurie, friend of Sarah.

Another woman we met at the Channel 4 Irish Pub (another of Lisa's "victims" - I'm telling ya, she was grabbing people as soon as they walked into the pub!)
This is a neat entry because it is in fact her Disney pass. This is a little fan-fold of paper and the last part of it is a little sleeve or pocket and the ticket (a 2 day pass) is inside.