The skate park at Coxwell Ave and Lakeshore Blvd East

I have to say, every time I swing by this park, I smile.  I know what you’re thinking and no, I am not some crazed cougar prowling for prey…By the way, I call myself a LOCA (lady of a certain age), but you know cougar is okay too. Own it, as I always say.  The reason I love this park is for the simple fact that the city of Toronto built it.  You can pass by this place at any time during the day, and you will see kids hanging out on their boards, probably ditching school!  It’s as though the city is encouraging bad behaviour!  And why is this a good thing?  Because as an ex-Montrealer, I am tired of defending Toronto and its puritanical ways. Sometimes it’s embarassing like years ago, the mayor banned the Bare Naked Ladies from playing at city hall because their name is offensive.  I pretend it doesn’t really matter that that the cheese curds in our poutine does not squeak (this is actually heartbreaking for me), but we can turn right on a red light, though!   There are so many rules and  unspoken social mores  here in T.O.  In Montreal, a man can walk into a corner Depanneur wearing a speedo and no one bats an eye…the best part is, he can buy beer! It gets so oppressive here that a LOCA such as myself in order to rebel will purposefully disable a grocery cart at Loblaws by pushing it over the invisible locking line in the parking lot.  The skate part is a symbol of hope, a graffiti’d beacon for slackers.  And here they are…and some of them are wearing helmets, you can’t take the good completely out of Toronto: