Went to the gym and when I went back upstairs to shower, somebody was setting up in the road below, testing a megaphone. I could see the Extinction Rebellion flags. After my shower, I found my daughter had arrived and she wondered why police were blocking off the street at Sherbourne to the east and Huntley to the west. The last time they did this, they detonated a suspected bomb in front of our building.
The guy with the megaphone had moved into the middle of the street along with maybe ten other people. They weren’t making much noise but they were disrupting traffic along Bloor Street. I ate my lunch then got ready to go out. My plan was to walk up Yellow Creek to St. Clair and pop in to Book City to buy a Christmas gift for my mom.
I packed my camera bag with a view to taking macro shots in Yellow Creek, but when I got downstairs, realized the Extinction Rebellion people presented a different kind of opportunity. I paused to pull out my camera while a passing woman yelled at them in her prim English accent: “Get a life! You don’t even understand what you’re protesting. Do some research.” A girl holding a flag bore the yelling with equanimity and smiled at a second girl, another of the protesters. Meanwhile, three men engaged with a passerby who seemed sympathetic to the cause. They stood by a ladder that straddled the centre line and supported flags and signs. I approached the girl and asked if she’d mind me shooting some photos. She said that was fine but pulled up her mask with its discreet message: “Fuck the RCMP.” I observed that the pandemic was convenient that way, giving the protesters an extra reason to conceal their identities. I shot quickly, then headed for Yellow Creek.
