news
Take that wood-sawing inside!
The best thing about visiting family (aside from playing hide-and-seek with 3-year-olds whose best hiding place is under a towel in the middle of the living room) is far and away the random weird crap that is invariably found lying around other people’s houses.
In this case, Torontoist discovered a bizarre little Reader’s Digest publication from 1973 at our cousin’s house. Written by the titteringly named Dick Hyman and entitled “It’s Against the Law”, it is a slim little collection of bizarre and outdated laws and bylaws from all over Canada, accompanied by vaguely politically incorrect line drawing illustrations. A few unlikely Hogtown rules include:
-it is an offence to bump into someone on the street (we assume this means physically, and you can’t be punished for randomly running into, say, Cameron from high school on Bloor Street)
-“pedestrians are required to use the right side of the sidewalk and give a hand signal before turning.” (how dearly would we love to see a police crackdown on this one!)
-it’s against the law to either saw wood or wash your car in the street
-bathing suits must cover everything from neck to knees (this is just begging for a photo op)
-“if a motor car meeting a horse-drawn vehicle scares the horse, the driver of the motor car must stop and lead the animal by the head past the car.”