A camaro in its natural habitat
It's been statistically shown* that dog walkers are more likely to find dead bodies than non dog walkers. I hope we never have that kinda luck, but being out for walks** with the dogs means we notice lots of little things in our neighbourhood. Things like who uses pesticides on their lawns, whose gardens look great, how long a house has been for sale, and who is always arguing when we walk by, that kinda stuff.
Not far from our house is something in a yard which we both think is a perfect encapsulation of life in the 'shwa. I could write paragraphs trying to explain its socio-economic status, geography, and history, but for those not familiar with the area, we're practically a suburb of Toronto,*** but are still firmly entrenched in mullet country complete with big raging SUVs and trucks, white bread restaurants, and blue collar charm. I saw another minivan today that had spinning rims.
In fact, there's a perfect illustration of the 'shwa just a few blocks away. On the way to the P-A-R-K**** we walk past this: 
It's what I call a camaro in its natural habitat: overgrown by long grasses, rusting out, and on blocks. Sadly, the happy days where its mullet-sporting owner would blast the tunes on a sunny day windows down, drumming on the steering wheel, head banging to the beat, honking at "chicks" and flashing the devil sign with his tongue sticking out look like distant memories. Apparently the owner was a Zeppelin fan. I think the car has climbed its last stairway to heaven.
Ah the joys of living in the 'shwa.
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*I completely made this up, but so often when they discover a body on the news it's someone who was out walking their dog.
**Or runs, but lately detaching my ass from the couch takes tremendous effort so there hasn't been much of that.
***Safely the most multicultural city in the world. Unfortunately the 'shwa offers little in the way of diversity - last I heard it was 94% white.
****If it isn't spelled in this house the dogs whip themselves into a frenzy. I think the train of thought in their heads goes something like "Park? We're going to the park? Really? Park? Did she say park!? OOOH park! Park park park park park! we get to go to the park! Really! Park!"
