Protection.

I spotted this sign today in a local McDonalds. Whatever its intent I'm sure the night shift workers are glad for anything that makes cops visit more often, as such visits will deter robberies.

I'm hoping to post here on a more regular schedule during 2010, but don't hold me to it. I've been wrong before.

Oops.

This sign currently visible on the billboard at 22nd Street and 3rd Avenue has a grammar error. An apostrophe followed by an s indicates possession, not plurality. Plurality is indicated by just adding s. Taxis is the correct plural of taxi, while taxi's means something that belongs to a taxi, such as in the sentence "The taxi's front window was cracked." If I were paying a bunch of money for a sign I would want whoever designed it to know their grammar.

A Winning Hand.

As someone who plays poker online I quite like this sign for Anderson's Transmission with its quad Aces theme. After all there are few better hands in many types of poker than quad Aces. Yellow on the other hand isn't a colour I associate with poker.

Decay.

An abandoned and boarded up house on 22nd Street that is currently being overrun by trees planted in front.



Several lots over this car sits abandoned in an empty lot. Presumably it was abandoned by the owners there, as the police would likely have removed it if it was a stolen vehicle.

Remembrance.

This is the cenotaph in front of Saskatoon City Hall, commemorating those Saskatoon residents who have died in military service.

Bright Red.

No, the price of gas hasn't taken a huge leap in Saskatoon. This sign, located at the corner of Broadway Avenue and 8th Street, was turned on this week in advance of a new gas station opening. The several decades old Shell station located on this corner was knocked down earlier this year to be replaced by a completely brand new Shell.

Back In Action.

Following up on a previous post here's the front of Esteem For The Home, which is now open again. As you can see they've once again responded humourously.

Mr. Bush Visits Saskatoon.

This is the kind of post I'd like to do more of, one dealing with a current event the day it happens. However, I doubt the next one will be this ambitious.

Former US President George W. Bush came to Saskatoon today to speak before a paying audience at TCU Place, aka the Centennial Auditorium.





It will of course come as no surprise that there were both plenty of people who wanted to see Mr. Bush...



...and plenty who didn't. These were amongst the earliest arrivals, spouting the usual stuff about the September 11th attacks being an inside job, and also mentioning the Bilderberger Group.



This guy was probably the most odd of the protesters. He kept to himself, and kept telling people to read the Book of Revelation and that they were supporting Satan by attending Bush's talk. Not surprisingly at least a couple of times when I was in earshot people asked him to take off his mask. He refused.






As the crowd waiting to get in swelled, so did the number of protesters.





All this went on as traffic continued to pass on 22nd Street.



The protesters largely congregated on a block of Pacific Avenue set aside for them. This placed them across from TCU Place with 22nd Street in between.







These two women did protest on TCU property early on, but from what I could see were eventually asked by security to move.



The local media were of course out in force. Did I count as one of them for today? I'll leave that to the reader to decide.







External security was provided by both private security guards and members of the Saskatoon Police Service. I didn't see any of the members of the RCMP or US Secret Service involved in the operation.





The protesters were loud at times but otherwise didn't interfere with the proceedings, at least while I was there. Those waiting to get in largely ignored them.

Humour In Adversity.

On the afternoon of October 10th a vehicle crashed through the front window of Esteen For the Home, located in the College Park Mall.



Although the accident forced them to close up shop until further notice they did manage to find a humourous way to address their misfortune.

A Heads Up.

For some reason Blogger cuts off the right edge of pictures if they're above a certain size. So if the pictures look a bit off centre or otherwise odd click on them to get a correct view.

Failure.

The rage for condo-ising existing apartment buildings in Saskatoon in recent years has led to some odd choices.



This building on 9th Street and Clarence Avenue sat empty for years due to the ground around it being contaminated by a nearby gas station. So it was a surprise when work began to convert it into a condo in 2008. Unfortunately an explosion April 28 of this year brought that to a halt. There were already two units occupied at the time, but no one was hurt. It is suspected this was caused by arson. Here's the current appearence of the front of the building.



These poor plants sit dead in their pots, and the door is boarded up.



Damage is obvious on the Clarence Avenue side of the building.



A closer look shows the balcony railing of one apartment bent by the explosion.



As you can see from this notice from a property inspector the days of this building appear to be numbered. There is no sign any attempt is being made to repair the damage.

If anyone has more details about the history of this building and its problems please feel free to leave them in the comments section to this post.

Personnel Carrier.

An SUV used by the Canadian Forces recruiting office in Saskatoon, which is located on the corner of 22nd Street and 4th Avenue. This photo was taken on 22nd Street.

A Reminder.

When I see this sign on 8th Street it tends to remind me of the Human League. Phillip Adrian Wright was a member when the band had its commercial breakthrough with the single "Don't You Want Me?", as was vocalist Joanne Catherall, who remains a member to this day.

Metal Canvas.

These cabinets are found in various areas of Saskatoon. They contain control equipment for traffic lights. The ones in the downtown area, on Broadway, and in a few other places have been painted by local artists with the permission of the city. This one, located on 4th Avenue, features a portrait of the late Tommy Douglas, who in 1944 became the Premier of Saskatchewan as head of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation party. The CCF thus became the first socialist party to form a government in North America.

Survivor.

This McDonalds, located on 8th and Louise Streets, was the first one in Saskatoon, opening in the early 1970s. Although there have been some changes to the interior layout exterior of the building remains largely as it was when it opened and the restaurant continues to operate. The fast food market in Saskatoon now is far different than when it opened. At the time the only competition it had was Dairy Queen and Kentucky Fried Chicken(Saskatoon being one of the first cities in Canada to have a KFC.) Burger King was years away from setting up shop here, and franchises like Arby's and Wendy's weren't even a gleam on the horizon.

Urbanites.

Yeah, two days of posts on here in a row. I hope this will become more common.



Although these compact rodents are technically Richardson's Ground Squirrels they are without fail refered to as gophers by the general public in Saskatchewan.



These particular gophers live by the train tracks on Warman Road, just behind a bus stop, across the street from a 7/11 and Canarama Centre shopping mall. Not surprisingly they are quite tame, allowing me to get fairly close while taking pictures, although the use of the zoom feature on my camera makes them seem closer than they actually were. This bus stop is near where this previous photo was taken. CN Rail apparently doesn't consider their burrowing much of a problem, as they've been residing there for several years.

'Tis The Season.

Like the rest of Canada Summer is garage sale season in Saskatoon. But it's not just your neighbour that wants to get rid of the junk they've got lying around. Each year the local outlet of Mother's Music has one. This year it took place on Saturday, July 4th. This year's offerings ranged from some nice equipment to parts from cheapy beginners guitars. I didn't buy anything, although a Roland monitor amp was tempting.

Shopping In The Sun.

A regular fixture of early July in Saskatoon is the 2nd Avenue Sidewalk Sale. 2nd Avenue between 23rd and 20th Streets is closed off to vehicle traffic, allowing local businesses to set up shop. This year's edition was held July 9, 10, and 11th. Rainy weather made the opening day dodgy, but the Sun came out for the 10th.




DJs and other forms of entertainment are a perenial feature, and this year the South American group above performed. I didn't catch their name unfortunately.

Swing.

With the end of June once more upon us it's time for the annual Sasktel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. Besides the various concerts there is a lot of free music to be heard. Here we have the Doug Boomhower Trio performing on 21st Street just in front of trendy perveyors of overpriced exercise wear Lulu Lemon during the lunch hour today.

Here's a guitar shot, just because I play guitar and like guitars.

Keep It Clean.

These large recycling and garbage bins can be found in Saskatoon's Downtown as well as the main business area of Broadway Avenue. This example is from Broadway. Of the billboards used to advertise for the sign company that operates them I like this one the best. Somehow I doubt I will encounter this young woman walking the streets of Saskatoon, assuming she's even Canadian at all.

Posting this today was inspired by this post of Randy McDonald's, which features a photo of a very similar garbage bin/billboard in Toronto.