Going North

This week I am working in one of our offices located in the north end of the city. I'm not a coffee drinker but I needed some extra tea today. I went to the local Tim Hortons with a work friend who is working at this location with me. We got our tea and a Timbit (one crueller and one old fashioned) and headed back to the office.

Near the entrance door by the access card reader, I found a 2003 dime.

Total find 10¢.

Lucky Friday

August 2011, I met some friends for dinner in Little Italy. We met at a place called Cafe Diplomatico. What's great about this restaurant is the patio and in the summer, a patio is where you want to meet friends for a good meal. I parked my car on Clinton Street (checked the street for parking restriction signs and all seemed good). But sometimes free parking is full of surprises.

Courthouse Coin

After a few hours of good food and good conversation, it was time to go. We left the Cafe and headed to my car. I was giving one of my friends a drive home and when we started to drive away, I noticed something on my windshield. I stopped, got out of the car, pulled the piece of paper out from under my windshield wipers and was shocked to see a parking ticket. Seems that Clinton Street has a hidden fire hydrant and I found it. And do you know what the fine is for parking in front of a fire hydrant? It's $100. I never saw the fire hydrant when I parked the car. I went back the next day with camera in hand and took photos of the fire hydrant that was situated behind a short iron fence on someone's front lawn and difficult to spot. There were no signs that a fire hydrant was there. The next day at work, I bitched about this ticket to my workmates. We went on google maps found photos of this hidden fire hydrant. I decided to fight this ticket.

Here we are 18 months later - my day in court. I came equipped with photos. The officer that issued the ticket didn't show so the judge dismissed it and I was free to go without needing to show my photos or to pay the fine. I was so happy.

Now you're probably wondering what does this have to do with street coins. I parked my car in a lot near the courthouse. When I was paying for parking, I noticed a penny (1984) near the parking meter. This was a lucky penny as I found it before I went into the courthouse and then got off the parking ticket.

Total find: 1¢.

Going West

I'm still working offsite but this time in the west end of the city. There is a Costco walking distance from the office I am working at so I decided to venture there during my lunch. I didn't need to buy anything but I hadn't been at a Costco for a while and wanted to see if they had anything new.

I wandered aimlessly up and down the isles and didn't see much. I was getting thirsty so I went to the snack bar to get a drink before I headed back to work. I have to pass the customer service desk en route to the exit door. Near this desk I found a 2011 dime.

Total find today 10¢.

Going East

Here comes the train

Snowbank fun

Last Friday (February 8) Toronto got lots and lots of snow (about 30 cm or 12 inches). It's been a while since we've had so much snow. School shut down and many hibernated.  I went to work that day and have uploaded of picture of the train coming into the GO station and of my daughter and dog in the snow pile on my street.

In the Beaches

All this snow has made finding lost coins quite difficult. I finally found one today - a 1993 US penny. I've been working at an off-site location this week. The office is located in the south-east end of Toronto. I park my car in a lot located on Eastern Avenue east of Coxwell. Near the parking ticket machine I spotted my only find in a week.

Total find: 1¢ US

Site Cents

This morning, I had to work at an off-site location. When I was done doing my thing there, I headed back to my office. En route to the subway station (Lawrence West)  I spotted a 2011 penny. It was on the south side of Lawrence, west of the station. Actually it was near the gas station which is just west of the station.

It was lunch time when I reached my work location. Since I did not make a lunch today, I decided to pick up a sub and that's when I found my second find. I picked up my sub and headed back to the office. The second cent (a flattened, salt stained penny, year difficult to make out) was spotted in front of a construction site on west soft of John Street, south of King.

Total for today - 2¢

Lucky Tuesday

So yesterday (February 4), the Royal Canadian Mint officially stopped distributing pennies (seems they cost more to produce than they're worth). I was momentarily worried about my blog: will my finds be scarce? Or non-existant? Will I have start travelling abroad in search of lost coins? Will I have to come up with a clever eulogy for the penny?

Between the cart and the post

Seems I don't have to worry about that just yet. Today I found four coins. Yes, a cold January day and I found three pennies and a dime.

Under the metal

Two of the coins were found during my brisk lunchtime walk back to the office. The first one (a 1999 penny) was found near the corner of King and John (on the southeast side). It was just past the light post and the hot dog vendor.

Do you see it in the crack?

The second one was found in front of the doors that lead to Metro Hall (off of David Pecaut Square). There is some scaffolding there and the 2007 penny was near the scaffolds.

Penny number three (a salt stained 1987 US penny) was found on the sidewalk (on the northwest side of Wellington and Peter) in front of the Soho Hotel. I found that one after work, on my way to the parking lot where my car was patiently waiting for me.

Poochie protecting the find

The fourth find was found during my evening walk with my dog. We were on my street (literally, in the middle of my street) a couple houses from home when I spotted a glint (reflected off the street lamp). I looked and much to my surprise, it was a 2007 US dime. (Got my pooch to sort of pose for the picture).





Total for today: 2¢ Canadian, 11¢ US.

Sunday at the Zoo

Today was a lovely, frosty winter day. If you believe the groundhog's prediction, these days are numbered and spring is around the corner. Guess the groundhog has a 50/50 chance of being right.

Highland cow ready for her close up

Since it was such a nice day, I decided to take my dog for a walk to High Park Zoo. Can't believe Rob Ford doesn't support the zoo. For a frosty winter day, there were many families with young children visiting the animals. I have fond memories of visiting the zoo as a child and have taken my own children to this zoo - still do (my 17 year old joined me and the dog today).

My dog loves the zoo. Last time I took her, she wanted to play with the Highland calf. Today, she wanted to play with the young llama. Llama was interested (they were nose to nose) and then the dog barked and the llama lost interest and wouldn't pose for a picture.

After the invigorating walk, I stopped off at the grocery store to pick up a few things, one of the things being a bag of Party Mix. When I pull out the bag of chips, a 5¢ Canadian Tire bill fell out. I wasn't at Canadian Tire but will use it next time I'm there.

Total find today: 5¢ Canadian Tire (not a coin but still counts).

Happy February 1

It's nice to start the month with a find. I'm fighting a cold and decided to drive to work - didn't want to cough all over people on the train (although I'm sure the coughing and nose blowing would have scared people away from me and granted me lots of space).

They are filming in the area around my office tower. Not sure exactly where as I've not seen the film crews only the various trailers. On my walk from the parking lot to my office tower, I pass these trailers. I spotted my only find of the day (a 1989 penny) near the trailer parked on the north east corner of Wellington and John.

Total for the day: 1¢.