Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike'd #104

Episode Date: January 8, 2015

Mike chats with an Australian who recently moved to Toronto about what he really thinks of our city.

Welcome to episode 104 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from Toronto Mic'd, and joining me this week is Ozzy Ray. You know, I was thinking, how do I follow up the Strombo episode? Because everybody loved that episode. And I'm convinced it's my finest work to date. But how do I follow it up? And then I thought, for this episode, 104, I do something completely different.

So this is my very first episode featuring someone who's neither a friend, or a friend of a friend, or famous. I'm speaking with someone born and raised in Australia, who recently moved to Toronto and promises to honestly answer all my questions as to what he really thinks of my city. So welcome, Ray. Thank you, Mike. I'm excited to be here. And yeah, I think the Strombo episode was your finest work as well. I loved it. You have to say that after that introduction.

You're obligated. No, I actually, I have a few people I trust not to bullshit me. And they all, to a T, they all came back and said of 103 episodes, and they liked a lot of the episodes, the Jeff Merrick, the Aaron Davis, the Mad Dog. There are lots of interesting, humble and Fred, but they all said to a T that the Strombo episode was the best episode I've ever done. Yeah. Well, as somebody brand new to Toronto, well, I've been here six years. I've learned how to say Toronto. I learned a whole lot and I learned a whole lot about, I mean, Georgia's obviously in the public domain and I love hockey. So I've,

I've seen a few of that, but I learned, yeah, a lot of history and, uh, and some very interesting stuff. So yeah, very enjoyable. So are you catching up now from, uh, like, are you learning about, Oh, there was this thing called CFNY and there was a spirit of radio. Like, are you basically learning the backdrop of what you jumped into here? Well, I listened to your interview in my car with my wife, Christine, who, who grew up in, uh, or Etobicoke, as I've called it for many years. Yeah. And she was nodding her head and she remembered all the shows and she remembered all the names. And so I'm just nodding along. So yeah, I'm kind of catching up as I go. But it was a good history lesson all in one, I guess. Very good. So let's do the quick Ray bio here. So tell me where you were born and raised and how you ended up moving to Toronto.

Okay. I was born in a little town called Swan Hill. It's a city, actually, in Victoria. And Swan Hill is a city of about 10,000 people. And interestingly enough, the population never changes because every time a girl gets pregnant, a guy leaves town, weirdly enough. And when I got to the age of 20, I moved to Melbourne, which is about four hours east or southeast down on the coast on beautiful Port Phillip Bay.

And I fell in love with Melbourne and worked there in real estate. I've always been in real estate. I met a – then I went travelling in the 80s. I met a girl from Mississauga in the mid-80s. These kind of things happen. That'll do you in, meeting a girl from Mississauga, especially in the mid-80s. Well, look, I haven't got any regrets. It was a lot of fun. And traveling through Europe with a bunch of Canadians and Australians and even some Kiwis was a lot of fun. And some Americans who, interestingly enough, I always thought they were Canadians because all the Americans

put the maple leaf on their backpacks and their jackets and stuff like that. I've heard this, yeah. So that's true. That's kind of weird. It's because Europeans treat them like garbage if they don't have the leaf. That's what I've heard.

I've heard you get treated completely differently if you have that maple leaf on your backpack. Well, that is clearly evident because that's exactly what I witnessed in Europe. So yeah, so the story, my wife and I separated in about 2005 and she wanted to come back to Canada with our three kids. And it was only going to be for a couple of years. So I said, sure, no worries. After year three, no sign of return, and I'm missing my kids like crazy. Year four came around, I thought, okay, suck it up. I'm going to move. Come what may, just want to be with my kids. That might be the greatest reason I've

ever heard for moving to the other side of the world. Well, it was tough, Mike, because I'm the eldest of four boys, close family. My parents are getting on and they're great. I miss them too, a lot of friends and obviously all my business as well as in Australia too. So it was hard but I've got no regrets. I'll do it all again tomorrow. Okay, so I'm kind of glad now hearing this story. I have two kids from a previous marriage and we have a deal

where you can move anywhere as long as it's a 50-minute drive from the other person. That's our deal. i moved like i had a little my radius was pretty small but where i could basically go uh and and she has the same rules set so uh i don't have to worry about her going australia well in the gta i've noticed 50 minutes doesn't get you very far that's actually that's right maybe it's 15 minutes if you leave at like 3 a.m. Something like that. You got to be careful. Now, you mentioned the backpacks got the leaf on it. I remember Lisa went to, Lisa Simpson went to Europe,

and I remember she actually stitched a maple leaf on her backpack. I didn't see that episode. Is that right? Yeah, and I'm just playing this because I have to warn you, most of what I learned about Australia growing up came from two sources, okay? Crocodile Dundee, primary first source for everything I learned about Australia,

and an episode, I say early because I don't know, relatively speaking it was early, but an episode of The Simpsons where The Simpsons went to Australia. This was the closing theme for that episode, the Australian version of The Simpsons theme. So I just wanted to warn you up front that that's, you know,

I've learned a lot since then, but that's basically when you grow up, that's what you learn about Australia. The first thing I'm going to do when I get home is watch this episode. You do, because we were raised thinking that when you flush a toilet in the... That's a didgeridoo there. I like that. Can you do that again? No, because I can only start from the beginning of the soundboard. I can't do it again. But yeah, we heard a lot of that.

I guess there was a survivor went to Australia and there was a lot of that sound. And then, of course, you had an Olympics in Sydney. So, you know, these are the big Australian touch points. But what about the crocodile hunter? Oh, yeah, you know, a little bit. Sure, of course, of course, of course, of course. But, you know, that crocodile... When I look look back that uh okay so i was speaking about the toilet

so we were raised no it's okay we were we were raised uh thinking some urban legend that the southern hemisphere the toilet flushed in the opposite direction or some nonsense like that and then i remember uh bart testing that out when he went down to australia and what happened it was it turns out this was an urban legend. Okay. It spins the same way. Apparently. Weird.

It's crazy. All this nonsense we were raised with. But I digress. So I want to ask you, what kind of temperatures back in Melbourne, what kind of temperatures did you expect in the winter? Coming to Toronto? Well, I guess I'm asking from yesterday. So yesterday was, I think with the wind chill,

it almost hit minus 30. Yesterday was nasty. Yeah. Yesterday was nasty. I just knew it was going to be cold. And I've got to level with you, Mike. Seriously, after minus 5, I can't tell. It gets to minus 10 and I can't feel my face.

And I know it's cold at that point. I can only tell when I bike. This is the only way I can tell. I can tell the difference between minus 5 and minus 15. To me, biking, it's a dramatic difference. It's savage. Yeah. So yesterday, I knew enough not to even try.

Like that's how smart I've become in my old age. It's so cool. Well, you can get things like in your basement, you can get a machine where you can just sit on your bike and... My regular co-host Elvis tells me it's called a trainer, right? There you go. I just think it takes all the fun out of it. Like, the whole fun is to get out there and kind of

see what's going on. That's true. But Canadians are bred for this. I mean, you're going back generations of coldness here. We're not in Australia. One thing I learned here, a friend of mine said, you know, when I first moved here, I actually lived in Dundas down in Hamilton, which is a great little valley town. I love it. And awesome mountain biking tracks down there, by the way, too. And I said to him, oh man, it's so cold here. He said, dude, in the morning, get up, have a hot shower and get your

thermals on and stay warm right from the start. And I started doing that. And I stopped complaining. And life is good. To me, because I hear I get ridiculed by people like, what are you doing going for a bike ride in minus 12 or something? That was two days ago. Crazy. And honestly, it's layers, man. You just layer up.

And I think I have a process. But if I do the math, it's probably like six layers on my upper body anyway. And three layers below. And two pairs of socks. And I got a balaclava. And you just put on – I have biking gloves, but they don't do the trick to keep my fingers. So I have mitts that go over top of it. And you just layer up and you get out there. Now, haven't the U of T developed a special fabric?

Or isn't there a new age special thing coming out? Seriously, like in the last week or so, I heard on the news. Okay. So I might on the news. Okay. So I might have to look that up. No, I'm going to have to look that up too because we need some more innovation in this department. It's a highly typically innovative Canadian idea, but it comes out of the U of T, and I think it's going to be awesome. I want one. No, I want one too. I've also got this theory before we move off weather, if we ever do, that Canada was actually discovered in the summer because if they'd come here in the winter, I would have said, dude, it's too cold.

Well, that's the thing. So yesterday we're all bitching and complaining about minus whatever it was. I don't know, minus 27 with a windshield. And then there's people in like Winnipeg. Winnipeg. Yeah, that's called January. Like this is how it is all the time. And then you always have the same thought, which is why would you live there? But there's somebody in San Diego right now shaking their head and wondering why would you live in Toronto where it could actually hit minus 27? Well, Toronto's got an awful lot going for it. I don't need to tell you that. But we're only three and a bit hours from Jamaica. It's true. Got to look on the bright a bit hours from Jamaica. It's true.

Got to look on the bright side. That's true. That's true. Hey, let's talk about Toronto here. So when you first moved to the GTA, you mentioned Hamilton area. So when did you move to the GTA and whereabouts did you? December 2008, I left Australia. And I remember because President Obama had been elected but he hadn't been sworn in.

That happened in January 2009. So I clearly remember around then. And I rented a house in Dundas in Ontario where I was for a few years because that's where my children lived. Gotcha. And then a few years later when i met christine she was living not far from here actually in port credit yes uh which is an awesome part of the world and um we don't have those bars and restaurants and things down uh down that well not that i could see anyway so but uh that was a little far for me so we ended up in oakville which

is kind of the happy medium so that's where we are at the moment. Yeah, that's close enough. When you tell people at home where you are, it's probably Toronto. I just say Toronto. Yeah. You know, Port Credit, I think it's by far the prettiest part of Mississauga. It's gorgeous. And the jewel of Port Credit, as far as I'm concerned,

is the Burrito Boys on State Park. Oh, yeah. Have you been there? Yes, I believe I have been there at some point. Yeah. I've had the veggie, the chicken, the beef and the fish just for the halibut. You said veggie, right, not Vegemite. No, no, no, veggie.

Actually, I went to California a few weeks ago for a conference and I asked my friend that I was meeting there to bring me out a couple of jars of Vegemite, which he did. And I went to take them back on the plane stupidly as carry-on and because they're kind of liquidy, they said, I'm sorry, sir. That sucks. And yeah, I was not allowed to take them on the plane

so there's like $20 of Vegemite. Have you ever had Vegemite? No, I never had it. Okay. It's an acquired taste, but awesome on toast, as every Aussie listening to this will understand. Awesome on toast with some avocado. I've heard everything I know about it I learned from,

is it Men Without Hats? No, that's a Canadian band. Down Under, Men At Work. Men At Work. There's a song, Vegemite Sandwich. I come from the land down under. That's right, that's right. So it sounds like all of your history of Australia is established through TV and songs and pop culture.

Yeah. You know, it doesn't get a lot of like in school, for example. There's not a lot of time. You learn. We learn that like it's part of the Commonwealth like us and we have similar histories. We read on the map. Yeah. Yeah.

We know that like our histories are similar coming from,, coming from getting our freedom from England without having to go to war like the States did. And we learn that the similar, like we have this history, a similar history, but we also learn that it's like your island was started by prisoners. This is like the history lesson we get. Don't mess with us.

Yeah, seriously. And that's about it. It doesn't get a lot of... What's the population of Australia? A little over 20 million. I think we're 22 or something like that. I think we're like 35 now up here. But I mean everything I see and hear is pretty

fantastic. It sounds like the kind of place I would enjoy visiting. I've been fortunate to travel a little bit and I've noticed that of any two countries on the planet, Australia and Canada are probably the most similar. Obviously, some differences. We like to drive on the other side and I experiment here with that from time to time, which is a little bit of fun. And obviously,

we have a little more surf and it's a little bit warmer. But apart from that, I could plonk you in the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne right now and I'm sure you'd be very much at home. That's what I hear. And then you guys like your beer. We like our beer. Correct. And you have a similar parent. We're like siblings, right?

We are siblings. I'd say we like beer. I think in Canada, beer is more of an obsession. I think it's a pretty strong calling for all Canadians that I've noticed in my observations anyway. Yeah, I mean, I'm not a huge beer drinker, It's a pretty strong calling for all Canadians that I've noticed in my observations anyway. Yeah. I mean, I'm not a huge beer drinker. And when I drink beer, it's usually from like Amsterdam.

Okay. That'll be my beer of choice. It'll be like a Heineken or something like that. What's your favorite Canadian beer? Molson Dry maybe. Okay. You know. Okay.

I like a cold can of Canadian. I'm a can guy, not a bottle guy. Gotcha. But I mean, everybody's like uh in canada you identify yourself via beer it seems like a very big part of the uh cultural makeup seems to be yeah so on that note though uh did you like hockey i was on monday night monday night what is this now this is thursday so monday night i was at the gold medal game world junior championship canada versus russia yeah It was like the most amazing experience.

I take it that's probably less of a big deal in Australia. It probably doesn't get the same television coverage down there. No, not at all. But, boy, Canada is hardwired into the – hockey is hardwired into the DNA of Canada and Canadians, and it is a wonderful game. It's one of those games that – because not all games are great to watch. Hockey, now that I can – I mean, when I first started watching hockey, I couldn't work it out because the puck was so fast.

That's what I hear from Americans. They tried to add some glowing effect to it. That's right. That was an interesting experiment. So back to that game on Monday night. Was that – because I really enjoyed that. Would that have been one of the better hockey games that we've ever seen? Absolutely and the best hockey game I've seen live

and I've seen prior to that I was at a Leaf game we were up, we were down 5-1 I believe we were down and then we came back and won an overtime 6-5 and I was like I can't believe this game but that game Monday night for a couple of reasons mainly it's getting up 5-1, watching it disappear quickly

and then holding on for dear life. It was just thrilling. And also, there's something about a winner-take-all one game. You just can't duplicate that. This isn't a best-of-seven. This is one game to decide the champion, and that is it. You can't duplicate that. I kind of felt we were also watching history in the making

because it'll only be a matter of time, if not already, that these guys are household names in Canada, which is pretty exciting. And then we're going to watch now as that unfolds who gets picked up by which club, et cetera. Right. Well, McDavid, for example, Connor McDavid, already a household name.

He's 17, undrafted. He's the de facto number one pick in June, whoever is lucky enough to win that lottery, if you will. But yeah, it's fun to kind of see them at this point in their development and then watch them become pros. At least half of that team will play in the NHL. Yeah, yeah. Gee, it was so exciting, though.

But tell me, though, so how did you take to hockey? Was it a slow burn? Has it taken? I'm just curious. As an adult kind of jumping into a hockey hotbed like this. Well, my son Charlie, when he moved to Canada, and he would have been – Charlie is 16 now, so that would have been when he was probably 7 or 8 going back. And he – living down in Dundas,

it's hard not to get caught up in the hockey culture. Dundas is a big hockey town. They hosted Hockeyville recently. I think only a couple of years back, the Kraft comp, and had a couple of big teams play at the Great Mire Arena there on Market Street. Anyway, Charlie was big into hockey and we started going to games and things kind of grew from there. And he started playing with the local Dundas team and really got into that and progressed and got better and better.

I think he tried his hand at football and a few other things but always came back to hockey. So that was kind of my initiation. Your gateway drug. It was. It was. And there's just – it's a gorgeous feeling and a great experience to go into, if you're rugged up, to go into some of these hockey arenas and watch the game,

especially if your kid's playing. I mean, obviously. No, I do it every Saturday. It's the best game really is when your kid's out there. It's amazing. Yeah, it's awesome. And that kind of went a step further when one day Charlie's asked me to take him to a game to see Hamilton, the Bulldogs, play.

Yeah, of course. And this would have been about, I want to say, 2010 and around about there, 2009, 10, 11, something like that. And he had this one player that he wanted to go see, which was P.K. Saban. Of course. And he had the card and he said, oh, Dad, I think this guy's the next big thing. And I didn't know too much about anything. I said, sure, son, whatever you like.

Let's go along and check it out. So after, he said, the game finished and I remember that day P.K. got a hammering. The team lost and it was all a bit of a downer. And he said, can we hang around and maybe get an autograph, get the card signed, blah, blah, blah. And anyway, we did. We waited 40 minutes or something, and eventually PK comes out of the rain. He's just like a shower, but he was pretty tired.

But he was terrific. He spent, boy, 10, 15 minutes chatting with us, talked to Charlie, was really engaging, like his family were there and other people waiting to see him. But he gave us a lot of attention. So after that, we were big PK fans, and that's how I became a Habs fan. Okay, so you're a Habs fan. You know, that'll do it.

I got to say, of all the players not currently wearing blue and white with the Leafs, he's the one I always have the most envy. Like, why couldn't we figure a way? And I know once you draft a guy like that you don't let him go but um i would love to see pk suban in a maple leaf uniform it would be amazing i think he's fantastic well is it history repeating um am i right in thinking and you'll be able to tell me that there was a time in history when w gretzky could have been signed by by the lace and that didn't sure oh yeah that That was later in his career.

I guess before he went to New York, I'd say, sort of after St. Louis, before New York. Yes, that's history. But that wasn't Gretzky in the 80s. That was still a fantastic player, but another stupid bonehead move by the Leafs, though. Perhaps not in his prime. Definitely not in his prime. But even Gretzky in his last seven years was still a fantastic, like, 100-point guy. Yeah.

That's the great one. No one will be like him again. Driving here today, I was thinking if you ever ask me this question, and I'll help you ask it. Go ahead. Who do Australians consider the most famous Canadian? Yeah. I'd say it would be Wayne. Oh, good.

Yeah. Well, we're a… That's a great question. I should have asked. We're a mad canesporting nation, obviously. But you're… Okay. So, Australia, big in rugby. Well, we're a – That's a great question. I should have asked. We're a mad can sporting nation, obviously. But you're – okay. So Australia, big in rugby, huge, right? Rugby's big.

I'm from the south, from Victoria. And rugby is not anywhere near as big in the southern states like Perth, Adelaide, South Australia, West Australia, and Victoria, Melbourne, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and even Tasmania. Australia and Victoria, Melbourne, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and even Tasmania. Rugby league is a bigger game in Sydney and Brisbane. So New South Wales and Queensland, the biggest states. There's a national comp, but Australian rules football, I think the latest stats is does twice as much in cash as all the other codes combined.

Interesting. So rugby and Australian rules football are different. That's a silly question, right? No, I'm serious. I actually, I guess I knew that, but I'm not sure I knew that. Yeah, well, rugby is a game where you have offside and you can only pass backwards. Yeah, I learned a lot about that from the documentary

of the South Africa versus New Zealand, 95, I guess it was the world cup when nelson mandela tried to unite yeah yeah brilliant game don't get me wrong but when when you're raised in the south and uh you know you know you know you grow up playing a game and loving a game i love the way as well that like i find it pretty hard to watch american football because you get about three minutes of action i'm with you man then they sit around and smoke cigarettes for the next 15 minutes and talk and throw the Gatorade over each other. What's that about?

It's style oversight. It's an American thing. CFL's not much better. We have an extra down. I mean, we have a less down, so it's a lot more turnover. I know that song, One Less Down. One Less Down.

I actually, football's fallen out of favor with me. I watch a lot of basketball, a lot of baseball, a lot of hockey. Those three a lot. And at different other sports at certain times. But football is the one where I used to watch it every Sunday, and I don't watch it at all anymore. I watched my first football game of the year last weekend,

Dallas Cowboys versus Detroit Lions. I watched the last half of that game which by the way was an exciting game but it's all i've watched all year yeah and i don't know what it is it seems yeah you're right it's like four hours of telecast in like three minutes of action well australian rules is 100 minutes 425 minute quarters and yeah there's a long break in the middle but when it's on it's on right and uh it just goes until it stops sure so there's no uh timeouts or uh sometimes the umpire will blow his whistle for a penalty or a free kick or whatever but uh it's like soccer right uh soccer would be like that you just play 45 minutes and it's just constant and then you take your break

and then you do 45 minutes right yeah there's a lot of theatrics in soccer. Really, if you want to go there, that would not be tolerated with the Australian rules code. Gotcha. So that's a lot like Canadians because in hockey, you know, you dive or whatever in hockey. It's like the code is violated. It's awful.

That's why hockey is very real. You'll never and you rarely see a Canadian-born player doing it because they're raised with this code and they're like, I'm going to follow the code. So are you saying only Americans do that? I wasn't going to say that. I was thinking certain European countries. I won't name them to protect the guilty. Yeah, well, I like the way that football works

and that's probably a little bit about why I follow the Hebs because I grew up following the North Melbourne Football Club and it's an Australian rules team. If any Aussie listening to this will know. And we have not been the most successful club over the years. In fact, in the 80s, heartbreak comes to mind. Okay. Sounds like my leafs. Okay.

Well, when I came to Canada, people said, who do you follow? Who do you follow? And I took a few years to work it out. But I didn't want to – at the age, you know, like in my 50s now, I didn't want to start another career of following a team that was going to break my heart. And the Habs, I mean, you look, even the playoffs, I think they punched well above their weight at the end of last year,

last season. So I'm not expecting them to win the Stanley Cup, but I want them to have a go. If I was a Leafs fan, I'd want them to have a go. But you know what? I don't understand why you would not adopt the home team for all the benefits you get, which is basically when things are going well, there's a buzz in the

air, your colleagues, your neighbors, everybody's like, go Leafs, go. Should you happen to actually win a playoff series, you know, you can drive to the fun and celebrations on the street. If we should ever win a championship, can you imagine the parade this city will have? Well, 92 and 93 win the Jays one. Yeah, exactly.

So to me, and I don't think I really had a choice. It was pumped into me as a kid that you're going to be a Jays fan, a Leafs fan, and when the Raptors arrived, I had no doubt I would adopt them as my team. But huge advantages to rooting for the home team. I tried to talk to Strombo about this last week. Like he just decided to be a dink and root for the Habs because Toronto hated them. Like to me, that's the worst.

That's an awful reason to adopt a team. What a dink. Room for the home team, man. Yeah, I guess so. We are lucky living in Toronto because if the Leafs aren't doing well, you've got the Raptors and you've got the Jays. So you've always got a plan B to look at. And this goes to my, you know, like Canadians are the nicest people on the planet.

And I think when it comes to Leafs fans, a little too nice. I think that with crappy season after crappy season, the Leafs should be marching in the street with their fists in the air. I mean, okay, a little bit of action yesterday with the coach being removed, et cetera. Randy Curlough. Maybe. That's the start of things to happen.

Maybe. Or maybe not because we got trounced last night. That's for sure. It's an awful game. Well, that wasn't great, but I can sense there's a little bit of a change in the air. I think that Brendan Shanahan is going to make some big changes. I'm hoping anyway.

I mean, I love the Leafs. Who doesn't love the Leafs? Okay, this is good to hear. I just worry that you decided if you're going to be a Habs fan, you're going to hate the Leafs. I just like being a little bit controversial. You're like Strombo here. I've heard this before.

You mentioned that Canada was the nicest country in the world. Is that true? Dude, you've got four-way stops. No one else has that. If that was in Melbourne or Sydney. Every man for himself. I love it here. You pull up at a four-way stop.

You go. No, you go. No, you go. No, you go. No, you go. No, you go. So, you know, that's the living, breathing. The best is when you both stop at the same time and you each wave each other on.

And then you have this like fight over, no, I'm waving you on. No, I'm waving you on. That's the best. I'm going to be nicer than you. Right. Exactly. Or the holding the door thing. I always have this thing.

I hold the door for people behind me. And sometimes there are an awkward distance behind me and then they run quickly to the door so I don't have to hold it longer than I should. So essentially I've made this poor guy or woman, I made them hustle their butts to the door just to relieve me of the duties of holding it. I sometimes wonder maybe I don't hold that door. They're far away. They can open it themselves, but I always hold the door. Courtesy is an art form, alive and well here in Toronto and here in Canada. That's good to hear. I wrote down a couple of notes, and one of them is,

what do you love about Toronto? Boy, I love a lot about Toronto, actually. Every time I go downtown, I discover something new. There's so many awesome bars and restaurants and live music, and it's just such a happening scene down there. I love it. I've only been to the hockey once. So Christine and I last – at the end of last season,

we saw a Habs game on the spur of the moment. Oh, cool. We sucked it up and – Yeah, that's big bucks, right? It was fun though. And you know what? We were in the nosebleeds but it was just awesome to be there. I would love to see – my goal for the next year or so is to go up to Montreal

and see a game because everybody tells me that's awesome. It's on my list. Have you seen a game? I have it on my list. I've got to do that too. Maybe we'll go together. Well, that would be cool. I've seen a couple of games in Buffalo, which is great,

and they're nowhere near as expensive. By the time you drive down there, pay for a hotel, et cetera, et cetera. I don't know. It's all great. I think Toronto is terrific. I'm not mad about the traffic, but it's a huge city, and it's kind of blocked on one side with Lake Ontario. So what do you do?

Yeah, so traffic. And I think maybe I've just grown accustomed to it, having always lived in Toronto. But this 401 particularly, as you know, I'm in the south here. I'm against the lake here. And so kind of like if I have to go to downtown, first of all, if I can bike, I'll bike. And then I will take the TTC often.

But sometimes you need to drive for whatever reason. And I just jump on the QEW and just wait it out. But whenever I have to go on top of the city, like the 401, I hate it. That 401, I don't know what you think of the 401. I find the 401, especially anywhere close to rush hour, is just horrible. I've learned to avoid it.

And you know that app on your phone where you can look. I don't think I've ever seen that not red. Right, yeah. I just don't even look anymore. But there's a pretty good public transport system here as well. I mean, from where we are, we can jump on the GO train, and it's pretty easy. You can be downtown.

It's a great ride, and it's fun. I'm tainted. My buddy Elvis lives in Oshawa, and he works downtown, and he's been taking the GO train. And every day on Facebook, he complains about it. Really? Yeah. And I actually, this is kind of remarkable,

but I've never, ever been on the GO. I'm a TTC, but I've never ever been on the go. I'm a TTC guy because I've never lived outside of TTC areas. So I always am subway, bus, sometimes streetcar, but I've actually never been on the go. And now we've got Uber here in Toronto. Have you done that? No, never. That is awesome. And on the app, you can actually see when the guy's about to pick you up.

Like you can see his car approaching.'s about to pick you up. Cool. Like you can see his car approaching. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's cool. I've been following some of this Uber talk because there's some legislation issues and stuff. Well, I don't think they have insurance. I don't think I'd want to be in an accident, which means I'd need to avoid the 400s. But I know the scare tactics that the taxi guys, like this whole like they're safer because this, that.

except the taxi guys, like this whole, like they're safer because this, that, and it sounds like the same scare tactics you get from the beer store where they tell you like you can't trust your like 15-year-old not to pick up his beer because, you know, it's just such a sad, ridiculous, archaic. You can buy beer in Australia. You can go into like a supermarket and buy a beer. Is that right? Almost.

No, the supermarkets need to be licensed, but the liquor laws are privatized, uh, kind of different to here. Um, and, uh, yeah, these, these rules here, they are what they are, I guess. I can't actually ever see that changing because you'd think the government would be addicted to the tax. Probably. But I mean, when you mentioned going to Montreal for a game, like I know in Montreal, you,

But I mean, you mentioned going to Montreal for a game. Like I know in Montreal, I believe they don't have the same beer system, right? No, no. Well, no, it seems to be totally deregulated from what I can work out. And because I know people bring great wines back over the border at a fraction of the price of what you pay at the Lickbo. So yeah, interesting. What are your favorite neighborhoods in Toronto? at a fraction of the price of what you pay at the Lickbo. So, yeah, interesting. What are your favorite neighborhoods in Toronto?

I like Port Credit. I like Oakville, but it's kind of not me. Downtown Oakville, the old downtown there, because on the bike path I hit this part of Oakville that I find very pretty. It's like a downtown. It is gorgeous. It's kind of expensive. Oh, yeah, well, that I find very pretty. It's like a downtown. It is gorgeous. It's kind of expensive. Oh, yeah.

Well, that's what I hear. It's frightening. Christine and I were walking along the lake the other day, and we saw this house for sale. Nice-looking house on the lake, but, you know. Well, on the lake, right there, you're in millions of dollars if you're on the lake. Try 8, 8.6.

Yeah. I was thinking, oh, maybe 2. Anyway, yeah, interesting scene. 8 million bucks for a home. I think where you are around here, I really see that your neighborhood here, this is an up-and-coming part of the world. I like Port Credit Inn. I've got my eye on that coffee time on Lake Shore. As soon as it closes down, I know my property value is doubling. There you go.

Yeah. Got my eye on it. Exactly. The beaches is awesome. There's a lot going on there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think there's a lot of terrific areas. So I'd love to live downtown, actually.

I think that'd be cool. I'd probably be sick of it in six months, but I think it'd be fun. I spent a couple of years living living at it's technically charles street and young but really close to young and bluer which i guess like literally it's uptown but i mean now we just call that downtown yeah i've noticed we've decided yeah yeah so uh and it wasn't what's amazing is just like going for a walk at night like today i go for a walk i'm a nice beautiful trails along the water but there it's like just down young street it's just like action packed it's just exciting there's a buzz in the air like there's just just fun to be in the heart of it all you know i don't know how

long you could do it before it becomes annoying but uh i personally for that two years it was amazing yeah yeah and it's funny here you know mike people say uh i say oh where do you live and i'm expecting a suburb like they're gonna say etobicoke or the beaches. And they say I live at Finch and something or Eglinton and something. Shepparton, yeah. Yeah, and now I just go, oh, yeah, sure, sure. Yeah. But I'm getting – I look it up on a map and I'm starting to work out. So it's interesting, like the micro suburbs within Toronto

are actually these intersections. I'm at like where you told me, et cetera. So, yeah, I kind of work it out. Yeah, I think there's like 50 neighborhoods in this city or something. Just look at the number of wards we have. What is it? 40. When we had the Toronto Councillors, there's like 40-something just in Toronto.

Yeah. It's interesting talking about the wards and the whole Merrill thing. Things are pretty quiet now that Rob Ford's not in the newsroom. I was going to ask you, okay. That was crazy, wasn't it? You know, in the last four years, I've actually done quite a bit of traveling, primarily Europe. So like France and Italy and Netherlands and Germany and stuff.

And I got to say, like, you know, you talked about the most famous Canadian, Wayne Gretzky, which I was happy to hear. But for the last few years, these people know about our mayor. Like they know about our mayor in Europe and around the world. And I was wondering what, what you thought of this last four years. We just,

and you're right. Beautiful, calm, municipal politics should be boring, but it should be boring. I've noticed the calm when you have like a, a dependable, sensible man,

city manager, essentially. And we have that right now. So tell me what it was like living here for the last four years and what your brothers and people said back home about this. Well, who is this guy and what's he doing? So it was in all the national papers in Australia and people followed it. It was on current affairs and obviously it was topical

and I don't really know too much more than that. It was interesting. Everybody had their opinion. But they all wondered why you elected this guy, or essentially, why would you even consider re-electing him? That was the big thing. He can't possibly get re-elected. And at the time, before he got sick, you couldn't really say with confidence that he would not get re-elected. Absolutely. Absolutely. But the fact is that he's run a business, I guess.

That was my thinking. How many other politicians have actually run a business and need to turn a profit every month, which is the city of Toronto is a big business in this province. Yeah. So I don't know. I guess at what cost, I guess. But, I mean, I just – I suppose when you have your political scandals back home, it doesn't quite – I don't think anyone can really match what we had the last four years.

It's pretty unprecedented, right? Yeah. What I found was interesting from an observer's, from a New Torontonian's point of view, was this nice kind of society where people are pretty reserved. There were Facebook friends unfriending each other, friends of mine, right? I've lived this, yeah.

Along these sides. You pick a side and you're so passionate. I have people, Queen says… It was a side I hadn't seen of Canadians. And that's what i dislike the most about rob ford and his ford nation if you will is the divisive nature of it i've never seen this city divided like i did under the ford you essentially pitted and he did it like a suburbs versus downtown thing but it was essentially like uh at some point you know uh the fact you were a

member of ford nation became very um uh the connotation was that potentially you were you know homophobic you were racist you were small-minded you were stupid i mean it became super divisive and they started labeling educated people as elites which to me is like like how dare you you know try to educate yourself and try to do well in society you you friggin elite. It's the most divisive nonsense, and I'm so glad it's in the rearview mirror. I guess so. I guess so.

But it's a democracy. This is where you tell me now you're a big Ford supporter. It's okay. I've got to tell you, Mike, I don't know enough. But like I said, it's a democracy, and people elected him. That is true. The majority of people must have thought he could do the job. And, um, if he hadn't have become ill, maybe he would have been

reelected. We don't know. We'll never know. Uh, although I like to think John Tory would have beat him if he was healthy and ran, but we'll never know. I guess, I guess not. You mentioned, uh, that you bike. So tell me, um, what are the great trails you cycle on? There's some great trails around Oakville, the Bronte Creek. I've got a buddy that we ride down there, Justin. He's a real estate agent in Burlington, and he's quite good on his mountain bike. He showed me some awesome trails. Some of the best trails that I've found are up north. We've got a

little place just up past Mount St. Louis. Oh, yeah, yeah. And where we like to sort of- Is that, where is that, near Collingwood or am I in the wrong area? No, no. I'm in the wrong area. You want to head to Barry on the 400, and the 400 is a lot clearer up there, except this week when it shut down because of the snow. But we're about 20 minutes north, just

where Mount St. Louis, the ski resort is. Okay, yeah, yeah. We've got a little place in there you can tell i don't ski but if if you're into biking there's some awesome trails you're more a road bike bike it's a hybrid so uh it's uh i don't you're right i'm not going off and looking for like a hybrid you could go in the hov lane is that right that's right that's right i go anyways um yeah i but i basically, you mentioned poor credit. So like a typical lunch hour for me is I'll go around the lighthouse. I'll literally bike around the lighthouse.

Like it's a mental thing in my head where it's like some OCD thing where I need to go around the lighthouse or whatever. And then I'll loop back along the waterfront trail. Do you have that app on your phone where you time yourself? Oh, yeah, of course. Every single ride. That's the other thing too. I record every single

ride and it's right. It's like I don't know. Back in the day I did this and I never recorded anything but today I would feel like naked if I didn't record my ride and have it on my map and then I can see what I did and how fast and all that. What's your PB? What's your personal best time-wise? For time-wise?

I know that today like in a cold day like this, I'll probably go something like 24. And on a nice, warm, fast day, I would go average about 28 to 29. Okay. And then I'll peak out around a little over 30 when I get going for a run and then, you know, make your turns or slow down for some person on the trail or something like that.

Has it ever ended in tears? Any – didn't get stuck in the side, in the street car tracks or anything like that? Yeah, no, no. I've, that's the thing. And I now carefully, when it's wet out or it's icy out, especially in the snow, I map my route so that when I do fall,

because I will, you will fall when you bike with the ice. At some point you will fall. I just map it so that I, first of all, A, I always wear a helmet. It's not even negotiable. Iable i'll have a helmet on and when i fall it's going to be me against the concrete it will never be me against a bus or a truck or a car or a streetcar or something like that because i'm not interested in dying on my bike ride so i have basically the routes are such that it's quiet streets and waterfront trail there's not a lot of no i try to stay off the busy streets when it's

snowy and icy yeah yeah because i don't i don't have special snow tires on my bike so it's uh you gotta be you gotta slow down on turns for sure and you widen your turns there's like an art i've got after a couple of winters of doing this now where i can but i will eventually fall you wear the clip-ins yeah oh i don't have the – I get made fun of this all the time. I have the old school clips. I don't have the clipless. You're talking about the clipless where you have the special shoe? Yeah.

Yeah, no. Not yet. Maybe this spring. I remember the first time I got the clipless, I was on a mountain bike ride. I was living in Queensland. And I was meeting with a bunch of people and I pulled up on my bike and my clipless was brand new and there was this bunch of women there, gorgeous girls that were riding and we eventually went riding with and I just went to stop and it didn't come

out. Oh yeah, I haven't jumped there yet. Totally embarrassing. That's funny. Smash. Humor. Canada's humor, they say, is a hybrid of the American humor and the British humor. This is due to the America being our big neighbors, and we watch all their TV and movies, and they're right there, the big giants.

And, of course, we come from England, and we have some of their Monty Python, some of their dryer satire. So tell me what you think of Canadian humor and how it compares to Australian humor. Canadian humor and how it compares to Australian humor? Well, difficult question, I guess. But you'd have to say like some of the funniest people. I was a big John Candy fan back in the day. He was a funny, funny man. And I felt kind of robbed when we lost John.

I'm a huge Mike Myers fan. And we've got, who do I want to say, Bill Murray? He's not ours, no. I would like to claim him though because he's funny. I'm thinking Dan Aykroyd. Dan Aykroyd from Kingston, yeah. I'm sorry. I knew you'd correct me there.

So you'd have to say Canada punches above its weight when it comes to funny guys. The humour is, I find it actually very similar to Australia. People seem to get my jokes anyway when they can understand me. So, yeah, it's pretty similar. By the way, I've understood you perfectly. Your accent, I know it's there and I can sense that. Obviously, it's an Australian accent, but completely understandable. One of the things I get is when I introduce myself and I say my name is Ray, they say Rye.

So one out of two Canadians will say Rye, Rye. And if somebody asks me if I'd like a Coke with that Rye one more time. That's right. So my buddy Jeff, who's a Newfie. Are you allowed to say Newfie? Yeah, I think it's still okay. We're losing it soon. Don't worry.

Soon the political correct police will ban that one too. I don't think so. I've never met a Newfie who's taken offense at it. I don't think you have to take offense anymore. Can we make a new rule right now? We're allowed to say Newfie? Newfie's okay with me. And do we spell it E-Y or I-E?

I-E. I-E. Okay. I grew up with, I had a book of Newfie jokes. And there was a book I had as a kid. A big book of Newfie jokes. And yeah, I book I had as a kid, a big book of Newfie jokes. And yeah, I don't even know if you could like get away with it today. I'm not sure what, but I think that might be, you're allowed to make fun of certain

groups still. Like Rednecks, I noticed is still okay to go at Rednecks and you can still go at Newfies. Like there's certain pockets you can still go at. Yeah. You were talking in your interview with George. Was it the R word? Yes, the R, which by the way, I don't know if you could tell in the interview. I didn't know what the R word is.

I didn't know either. And I had this like, I don't know. I thought it was redneck. Was it redneck? No, it was, I guess I could say it was retarded. But it took me 10 seconds or so. I guess I even asked him, like I was trying, I told him during the interview, I couldn't. He said, he was talking about the R word. And I started thinking in my head of all the swear words that you can't say, like the seven words you can't say on TV or whatever. And I wasn't sure what the R word was. Then I did click in like 10 seconds in.

I knew what word he was talking about, but it wasn't immediate. Okay. Because we don't call, I don't think we, you know, I don't use that word for the same reasons I don't like that word either. I don't think it's fair. And somebody out there has a brother or a son with Down syndrome or something.

Of course. It's disrespectful. Of course. it's not a word that needs to be used but my point was I didn't know what you guys were talking about. That's what the R word was. This is some kind of special Toronto code that I don't know what's going on. But I guess he gets a lot, you know when they say in the YouTube comments and like on Twitter and stuff I guess people saying that's retarded they'll say. And George and many others don't like that. No, well, I don't think they should either. And I think it's probably wise not to use it. But,

but getting, getting back to the Ray thing. So my wife, Christine said, well, you've really got to address this. So she gave me some linguistics coaching and taught me to say Rye. So, oh no, Ray. Ray, there you go. So she said, when you introduce yourself, just say, hi, my name's Ray. So now I say, hi, Mike, I'm Ray. So that's your Canadian accent right there, Ray. Do you like it, eh?

Yeah, not bad, not bad. You would probably do a better Canadian accent than I would do an Australian accent. I would just do like, dollar shrimp on the barbie for you, mate. Yeah, see, that sounds English to me. Yeah, I see. I think it slipped into English. Yeah, throw a shrimp on the barbie. In fact, we call them prawns.

So when Paul Hogan did that and they screened the ad on TV in Australia, people said, what the bloody hell is he talking about? I've never heard of what a shrimp is. Yeah, he was marketing that to Americans, that's for sure. That was an American thing, yeah. You mentioned I went into a shrimp is. Yeah, he was marketing that to Americans, that's for sure. That was an American thing, yeah. You mentioned I went into a British accent. Just because over this break, this holiday break, I've watched so much British television.

I started to speak of a British accent because I did the, Mike, what's the name? Broadchurch. It's like eight episodes maybe. They got a season two going right now in England, but I don't have it yet on my streaming service but uh then i went into luther which is a detective series out of london england and was starring the same guy who played stringer bell in the wire or what that's uh and the actor's name is idris elba oh there we go so you guys are talking about interest as well yeah we uh well he

and i had no idea i guess now that you're here and I want to talk. So the reason I know you exist is because you wrote me an email, I think last week or something, about how you wanted to find out how I do the podcast because you are doing a podcast. Yes. And you were kind enough to respond and hook me up with Andrew. Yes. So Andrew Stokely, audio guru, I call him.

And he helped me buy all the hardware you see here. And I had him help you, which he was happy to do. Yes. And then you mentioned that you were an Australian. And as an adult, you moved to Toronto. And I was thinking, I would love to listen to somebody speak to a new Torontonian about what they like and dislike about, because we'll get into what you dislike in a moment, other than the traffic.

But now that you're here, you see that I surround myself by things that I'm passionate about. There's a Public Enemy t-shirt on the wall, and there's my I Own the Wire on DVD. You can't see from there, but the wire is there. I can see.

And I got my Pulp Fiction poster back here, and my Leaf banner up there. And then sometimes my guests will see something and they'll be like, oh, I love that too. And then that sort of breaks the ice. That's what's been happening. So George, for example, his eyes saw the Wire DVD and I had no idea George Strombolopoulos was a Wire fan.

And then it's my favorite show of all time. Wow. Passionate. Love that series. Well, I've got to check it out because when- Yes,. Wow. Passionate. Love that series. Well, I've got to check it out because when you guys were talking about it, I actually thought it was some sort of online electrical course. Oh, the wire. Right, right.

I had no clue. So, yeah, more secret code going on with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes it gets inside baseball, we call that. Correct. Yes. But, yeah, there you go. You've got to try the wire.

And with Strombo, though, go you got to try the wire and with strombo though once i realized he loved the wire it was like uh just like an instant bond i can't even say that's it yeah you found it you found that common ground yes it was his favorite show of all time we have the same favorite show of all time now we can chat like long time buddies well i don't know who own the production and marketing rights to the wire but they need to sack their budget because all they need to do is talk to you. That's right. Anything for that series. They actually, on HBO, this year they have an HD version of The Wire that's airing.

And at some point I've got to get my hands on that because this is the actual 4-3 ratio standard definition that aired in the mid-2000s. The last thing that I really liked that was on TV, I don't know whether you saw it, was True Detective. I did watch it. Did you see that? I did watch it, yeah. That was awesome. It was very good.

Broadchurch reminded me of True Detective if the Brits made True Detective. Okay. And they're both excellent, both well-acted, both well-written. And I might suggest at this point Broadchurch was a little better. Okay. So try to find that. I don't know if you have a Netflix login or if you can access it. So Broadchurch is on Netflix Canada, which is the key,

because a lot of people want to see the Netflix stuff, but it's on the U.S. Netflix. I've noticed the U.S. Netflix, typically the options on U.S. Netflix, far superior to the Canadian Netflix. What's that about? It's licensing bullshit. We always get screwed over on that. But little things like ESPN put out these 30 for 30 documentaries,

and there's more than 30 now because they did multiple seasons. They're all available on U.S. Netflix to just watch on demand. These are amazing. I mentioned the 1995 Rugby World Cup. There's an excellent one on that.s netflix to just watch on demand these are amazing i mentioned the 1995 rugby world cup there's an excellent one on that okay excellent okay and one a great one on wayne gretzky too uh by the way uh but um you cannot access any of these on canadian netflix and there's a lot of examples like this there are a few times where it works in our favor a few times where canadians have something that i mean the

americans don't have and but don't we pay the same subscription yes you pay the same but the licensing is by country so you basically there's lots of things you can do to mimic a us ip address and access us netflix and i have done that in the past maybe but perhaps depends who's listening i don't think we have netflix in australia is that right yeah well i've been here a while now so i'm not sure i have to i have to check that out but i don't think we do so um uh that's a that's still something of a mystery to me so but it's pretty convenient um as long as there's fresh content on there i like it so but i'll have to check is the wire on there no okay there's nothing hbo on, which is one of the... Of course. You know, a lot

missing. I mean, if you step back and realize what are the popular movies and shows, then you realize. When you're in it, you're like, oh, there's lots here. And then you step back and kind of look at the big world and realize what's missing. You can't watch The Sopranos or Six Feet Under. I didn't know Mad Men's there because that's from another network,

but all the good HBO stuff is missing from Netflix. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. And The Walking Dead? I tried one episode and it didn't take, so I decided to abandon it.

And then I decided not to go back, even though people told me it's amazing because I feel I'm not a zombie guy. I decided I'm not a zombie guy, although I like Shaun of the Dead. A friend of mine said it reminded him of a lot of Leaf fans walking into the game. Yeah, that's like Shaun of the Dead. A friend of mine said it reminded him of a lot of Leaf fans walking into the game.

It was yesterday, but that was the quietest I've heard the ACC in quite some time. Hey, speaking of comedy, Flight of the Conchords is an HBO show that I loved. Yes. And they are New Zealanders who make fun of Aussies a lot. A lot of, I'd call it good-hearted, anti-Australian

sentiment throughout that series. There's a friendly rivalry there. There's a friendly rivalry between A lot of, I'd call it like good-hearted anti-Australian sentiment throughout that series. There's a friendly rivalry there. There's a friendly rivalry between Australia and New Zealand and I have to be careful because I've got some terrific NZ clients. No, don't be careful. That would be not fun. Yeah, I don't know how it's evolved.

It reminds me, you know what it reminds me of? The Canada-US relationship in some ways. Because you're close and similar and that kind of makes a natural rivalry occur. I was wondering basically what you thought of Newsy. I know you're saying you have to be careful, but because definitely, definitely it's funny the way they portray Australians and the way they dislike Australians. And I think at some point Brit has an Australian girlfriend or something like that

and it's just like traitor. And I think at some point Britt has an Australian girlfriend or something like that, and it's just, it was like traitor. It was like, oh, no. Yeah, selling out. I love that one at the party at the embassy. Remember that? Yeah, the prime minister's there. Taking the piss out of somebody, I thought, yeah. Yes, that was the best anti-Australian episode, I think,

was that exact one. Yeah, and they were bullying, so that was quite an interesting episode. What do you miss the most from us? What is the thing you miss the most from home? Oh, I miss the beach. The beach and the ocean. Sunnyside isn't cutting it for you

when you go to Sunnyside Pool and Windermere and Lake? Not quite, not quite. And a buddy of mine actually runs the Kerr Street Cafe and we haven't got into coffee yet, but are you a coffee drinker? Yes, I am. Okay. I make coffee every morning in my French press. Okay.

Well, you're a cut above because most Canadians, in my experience, Tim Hortons. They think Tim's is pretty awesome. And Starbucks is really bad. Have you? My wife's a big Starbucks fan. Yes, she is. I don't get that at all.

You know, I hated it for a long time. It tasted to me like burnt coffee for a while. And then she would always buy it for me, mainly in these hockey games. I watched my son play Saturday. And then I started liking it. I don't mind Starbucks at all anymore. I can drink a Starbucks and enjoy it quite a bit. I can't go there. We'll agree

to disagree, but we were talking about something that... Before coffee? The beaches? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're talking about Kerr Street Cafe and my buddy who runs the Kerr Street Cafe and brilliant coffee there in Kerr Street, Oakville. But he

is a Kiwi and he is a surfer. And he, I don't know today because it's kind of cool, but he has surfed in amazing conditions on Lake Ontario. And there's a few of them apparently. And they wear their dry suits and they go out and when the conditions are right, it's, yeah. Okay. I, and I'm repeating myself, but I but during this bike ride I do every day, I sometimes see in Marie Curtis Park, okay, which is like half of Marie Curtis is in Etobicoke,

the other half is in Mississauga, and there's this boardwalk. And I've seen people with surfboards in the summer on nice days, and I always wondered, like, what are they doing in Lake Ontario? Like, you can actually surf? Maybe they're just trying to impress a girl or something. It would work, I think. It would impress me anyways. Well, it's super cold, but I can't believe that they actually do it out there.

So you miss the coffee from Australia? Yeah, I do. Yeah. I don't know why there's such a great coffee culture in Australia, but you can pretty much get a good coffee anywhere. The corner stores, even the hairdresser, where I spend a fair bit of time. I'm bald by the way. He's bald everybody.

So there is some terrific coffee in Australia and I don't know why the coffee culture has developed so well but I think it's kind of nice that it has and I think that there's – have you been to the Dark Horse on Spadina? Yes. Terrific coffee. Yeah, yeah. Lovely coffee.

Yeah. And I'm sure there's a million other places as well. I just haven't found them as yet. There's a nice place in the distillery district. Why am I having a mental block of the name? It starts with a B-A. Basque. This is going to drive me nuts.

Not barista. No, it's terrible. I can join in a blank. Okay. Because I had a wedding in the distillery district a couple of summers ago, and we actually went and got their coffee for this. But it's right there. And they just said Baskles.

That's terrible. In your next episode, you'll have to remember it. You know, it's getting worse as I get older. I don't think I ever had that problem before where I could see. Because I can actually see the restaurant. I can see the name BA and I can't pull it out. It's like maybe it's early signs of dementia. Should I be concerned?

Maybe. Thanks. Anything else you miss from home? Coffee and the beaches? Look, I miss – yeah, I miss – Family? I've got a great lot of friends there in Australia. I've got a terrific bunch of clients as well. I miss my business partners. I kind of miss it all,

I guess. I've been terrifically fortunate to grow up in Australia. It's a terrific place. And I kind of miss the weather. I miss the restaurants. I just miss the whole life. I feel that I'm a very sort of Australian person. And I just love being there. But I love being here with my family and meeting new people as well. So every day is exciting here. Breaking news. I have found the name of the coffee place. Well done. So I've saved the episode. Balzac's.

Oh, right. Okay. I was close. I had to be a Balzac's. B-A-L-Z-A-C. Okay. Which I – Okay.

I don't know of it. Detour in Dundas is awesome as well. Have you checked that out? I'm still stuck on like where is Dundas compared to Hamilton? Like is it – part of my ignorance, but if I'm like going to – like where is Dundas compared to Hamilton? Like is it part of my ignorance, but if I'm like going to Hamilton, is Dundas a part – is Hamilton in Dundas? No. Or is it a separate – is that a city?

Because we have a street called Dundas. Well, it probably leads to Dundas. In fact, isn't that Highway 5? I don't know, but I know it goes a long way west. That's for sure. Yeah, I think that goes to the town of Dundas, which is just outside. They call it a valley town.

It's just out of Hamilton. If you're heading down the QEW towards Hamilton and you turn off on the road to Guelph, which is Highway 6, I think, it's kind of not far from there. I think Mark Hebbshire, I believe, he was on a recent episode. I think he lives in Dundas and he was talking.

I had the same, like, I'll pretend I know where that is moment. They make a lot of movies in Dundas because it's got this kind of very cute looking streetscape and it's a gorgeous town. Anyway, D2 Coffee are in King Street, Dundas and I know that they roast a lot of coffee for

a lot of other places right around Toronto. Thanks. Yeah. Cool. What, like if you could make Toronto a more livable, better city, what changes would you make to the city? Global warming. I think we have, well, we know of climate change.

We have to get our terminology. Climate change. I'm sorry. Let's be politically correct about that. I guess the city has grown so fast it's just getting around. People are scared to get in their car at the moment. And the highways can be quite dangerous when there's things going on. So you really have to be careful.

I don't know how we could make it any better. I think we could review the liquor laws for a start. Yep. For sure. I think that that would help. I think the draconian old world liquor laws are ridiculous and I think that that needs changing. I just think in a society such as this, there's no need for that. I agree.

That's totally wrong. Apart from that, I think it's pretty good. It would be awesome if the Leafs were a bit more competitive. Oh, my God. I would love that. I've never been alive for a finals appearance by the Leafs. I mean, there's the banner. It ends in 1967.

You're a young man. Mark this time. It's time. I keep thinking I have a nine-month-old upstairs, and we were watching last night, and I was thinking, like, I had the same talk with my 13-year-old. I remember when he was a baby watching a Leaf game and i remember thinking lucky guy you know you're you're gonna we're gonna rebuild this thing and when you're old enough to appreciate it we're gonna be competitive

and i remember having that whole thought i was 13 years ago i'm saying the same thing to my nine month old this is just a cycle well right now we're talking rebuild like nobody's safe let's see what we have and then you know dump kessel dump enough what are we gonna have left what what how many years we'd have to suck at a point where you could draft like a connor mcdavid because we're not gonna suck that bad this year it's too late but you've got one of the most um uh famous sporting brands on planet that is true uh so i really think it's only a matter of time before... We've been saying that since the 60s. That's all I know. Okay, well, I mean, sooner

or later, it's going to happen. By accident, it'll happen. And the other thing as well is that and somebody explained this to me and it's a good point. I mean, back in the day, there were only six teams. So of course, there was only six teams. It's like the CFL, you know. We're going to win a great cup by accident once in a while because there's eight teams in the CFL.

Yeah, now there's a gazillion teams. Yeah, 30 teams. Do you think that Hamilton will ever get a team? I used to think so and I no longer think so.

No, no. Because of the 100 mile rule from Toronto and Buffalo? that would be the big thing. Yeah, and I think like there's a list of cities

ahead of it. There's too many cities ahead of it. Like they'll put a team in Vegas before they go there. They'll stick a team. I think Quebec City gets a team before Hamilton. I don't think.

I don't have high hopes for an NHL team in Hamilton. Okay, such a big hockey town. I would have thought that they... Yeah, just stuck between... Maybe too close to the Leafs sphere of influence. It's too bad. They deserve a team. I like Cops Coliseum.

Ray, I want to say I'm glad we did this because it's fun talking to somebody who's new to your city where you've lived your whole life and just find out what they really think. I've never actually spoken. I don't think I've ever had a conversation this long with an Aussie before. Well, it's been a pleasure, Mike. I've really enjoyed it. I don't think I've ever had a conversation this long with an Aussie before. Well, it's been a pleasure, Mike. I've really enjoyed it.

And, yeah, happy to chat any time. And I learned a lot from your show. So it's been a real blast. So you really do listen to Toronto, Mike? I've listened to a few. Well, I only met you like this week. I only kind of met you online or whatever. So, yeah, I've listened to a couple of episodes.

I love the Strombos. So, yeah, I'm going to listen to some more. And it's a history lesson for me. I'm learning all about Toronto as we go. Yeah. My adopted city. I'm glad you like it. Thanks for that.

And that brings us to the end of our 104th show. You can follow me on Twitter, at Toronto Mike. And, Ray, are you on the Twitter machine? I'm at Ray Wood Live so Ray Wood Live live perfect Ray Wood Live

not Rye Wood Live no not Rye huh Ray Wood Live and Wood is W-O-O-D not like the Alice in Chains song it's negative see you all next week.