The Garden City Refugee

A Good Deed

May 16, 2026

This morning, I joined other locals in checking out the soft reopening of Sunset Sewage Beach, which had been closed for months on account of renovations. To say the least, I was underwhelmed when going through the park and along the beach. Worse yet, they had taken a step back by removing the new bike racks which had been put up not long before they closed the beach. I wasn’t the only cyclist looking around for a place to lock up my bike.

Among the other two-wheeled visitors was a guy who came by as I was taking some shots at the boat launch. We were talking about the renovations and I noted how the bike racks had been removed. He said he wasn’t aware of that because he had only been here for a year and a half. When I asked where he had moved from, he answered, “North York. Typical.” When I mentioned I had come from Winnipeg, he replied, “That’s not typical.” And when he asked if I missed Winnipeg, I answered with an emphatic, “No!”

As we spoke, he told me he had just gotten into cycling recently because he needed the exercise. “No cartilage in my knees,” he said. That’s when I mentioned that I had gone to Buffalo last week and briefly described my bus-bike journey on both sides of the river.

“Go Canadian,” he said.

“I go over the river more now because my government doesn’t want me to,” I replied.

“Have a good day,” he said as he turned away.

Clearly, he didn’t want to talk anymore.

I must have pissed this guy off. No doubt, he was a CBC-loving Liberal.

And in so doing, I did my good deed for the day.