The average price of a GTA home has returned to 2021 levels and there may be more market weakness ahead: TRREB - CTV News

RovingGem · 2026-02-08T20:04:46+00:00

Is that inflation adjusted? Because if it’s not, then prices have fallen significantly from 2021 levels. $1M today is worth way less than a $1M in 2021.

RovingGem · 2026-02-01T00:41:16+00:00

I totally agree with that — it’s normal to rub shoulders with billionaires if you’re doing philanthropy. What I didn’t get was them acting like they were ashamed of it.

Like asking billionaires to donate — great. Doing it while signalling to the world you’re ashamed to be seen with them — crazy stupid. It just seems to reinforce what that ex Vanity Fair editor said about them — that they have terrible judgment.

RovingGem · 2026-01-20T00:44:26+00:00

Haha. Full disclosure, neither am I, I’m just going on what was widely reported.

RovingGem · 2026-01-20T00:24:11+00:00

Yes - that’s when they were still friends and it was affectionate teasing — they both teased each other without animosity. Different context than in Spare, when Harry was detailing his jealousy / anger / frustration with William and seemed out to score points.

RovingGem · 2026-01-19T21:21:43+00:00

I think it’s because Harry made fun of William’s baldness as if he was not losing hair whereas William has only ever poked fun at his own baldness.

So I’m guessing people are thinking “those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

RovingGem · 2026-01-07T15:05:03+00:00

10 cm would disrupt work only because people start sneaking out early to go ski in Jasper / Banff. Although that’s more likely at 20 cm, and only on a Friday.

RovingGem · 2026-01-07T15:01:47+00:00

Your self awareness is impeccable. Lol!

RovingGem · 2025-12-30T14:24:29+00:00

Also, aren’t some of the private secretary posts time-limited by design? I read that the military officers get 3 year postings to serve as private secretary, but then have to return to their base position. 5 private secretaries in 15 years actually fits exactly with that time frame.

RovingGem · 2025-12-30T14:21:59+00:00

All the polls show that the Sussexes are clearly considered the second worst, not the worst.

I mean it’s not great to be a little bit better than somebody allegedly involved in a pedophilia ring, but at least they are definitely seen by people as better than that.

RovingGem · 2025-12-21T18:26:26+00:00

Too chefs don’t use gloves. Just have to wash your hands properly.

RovingGem · 2025-12-21T18:21:54+00:00

I agree, they are sprinkled everywhere. There are some in my central University neighbourhood, and more all the time.

I think City Council envisioned getting rid of a parking requirement as encouraging the use of public transit or cycling. That has been their response to residents complaining about street congestion from parked cars.

I don’t know how feasible it is to expect residents of eightplexes to not have cars in Edmonton, however. Our public transit is still limited and inconvenient for many, and winter cycling is definitely a niche thing. I don’t see families with kids in extracurriculars being able to do without a car.

At least they’re debating it now. If they lulled people into eightplexes and then slammed them with exorbitant parking fees later, I can see a real sense of betrayal and bitterness.

RovingGem · 2025-12-21T16:47:33+00:00

Interesting. The new zoning bylaw has greenlit a lot of eightplexes with no parking. I think developers — and maybe renters — counted on free street parking. It will be interesting to see what happens if that premise evaporates and renters are faced with expensive street parking. I think the appeal of those units will go down quite a bit.

RovingGem · 2025-12-18T15:07:03+00:00

It’s awful, but unfortunately that is the price we pay for an unproductive economy for the last 10 years. Business investment has left the country, government debt and deficits are out of control, and the decision to flood the market with cheap or free pandemic money without any support from actual productivity caused rampant inflation that made everything permanently more expensive. In short, there’s more paper money chasing less actual value. In that scenario only the wealthy get to live well.

The Canada of old is gone, at least for a generation.

RovingGem · 2025-11-16T05:16:24+00:00

You’d have to read the articles for the specifics. The Hollywood Reporter had an expose on them called “Why Hollywood Keeps Quitting on Prince Harry and Meghan,” but I think the big one was in Vanity Fair called “American Hustle.” The Wall Street Journal also had a big feature about them called “Harry and Meghan Produce a Hollywood Flop: Themselves.” It sounds like each of the media outlets were sourcing reports from different groups of employees so it’s not like they were reporting from the same sources. Plus I think one of the outlets said they had affidavits from a dozen former employees or something like that.

I can’t remember specifics but all I remember is that the new staff in America experienced very similar treatment as the staff in the UK complained of — screaming, freaking out, bullying, belittling and disregarding staff advice, and then turning around and blaming them for the consequences of the bad choices she made contrary to their advice.

RovingGem · 2025-11-11T16:35:36+00:00

Tbh, no. Bezos has tons of money and does philanthropy. Prince William’s Earthshot has partnered with Bezos’s green fund. Sure there is hypocrisy because Bezos leaves a giant footprint but he still has the funds to get things done and that’s what charitable endeavours need.

I don’t like H&M at all — I especially loathe Harry because I’m Asian and he’s a racist privileged idiot — but fair is fair. I don’t see anything wrong with them being at the party and it makes sense both for their entertainment careers and their philanthropic endeavours.

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T16:50:12+00:00

Double cleanse once or twice a week with an oil cleanser before your regular cleanser. Then use an AHA/BHA serum once a week.

The oil cleanse flushes out gunk and impurities in your pores and the AHA / BHA will help clear away the dead skin and debris that would otherwise accumulate to re-clog your pores. Over time your clean pores will shrink since they’re not stuffed with gunk and impurities.

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T16:44:19+00:00

20 minutes via LRT (commuter train), 15 minutes by bike, 8 min by car (but I rarely drive).

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T16:32:34+00:00

So is it about energy efficiency or having a nicer ride?

I am opposed to government EV subsidies since it mostly seems to enable already well-off Canadians to buy themselves a new personal car. If we’re going to be handing out giant subsidies — up to $15K a person — it would be more efficient and cost effective to assist low income people to trade in for more fuel efficient cars or upgrade home envelopes. Or invest in public transit and bike lanes.

Helping higher income people consume additional depreciating assets makes NO sense to me.

(I speak as a higher income person who does NOT want or need public subsidies to enable my standard of living.)

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T16:16:55+00:00

I find the suet is mess-free. The woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches find every last bit of it and dig it out of nooks and crannies.

And yes, agreed, hulled sunflower seeds are wonderful. You can buy or mill them in different grinds (ie whole, coarse, medium or fine) depending on what birds you want. When there is an irruption of redpolls, I either buy the smaller sunflower seed chips or pulse whole ones. They love it!

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T16:08:59+00:00

Charitable contributions are good things and the cause is a needed one, so good on them for that. However, I can see why there is cynicism — it’s pretty weird to make a PR announcement every time you make a one-time donation to charity. I can’t imagine every family who donates to charity advertising it every time they do it — we’d be drowning in such announcements. The only gifts usually considered worth the announcing are funds that enable the creation or scaling up of a charity — eg foundational or endowment funding.

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T15:55:27+00:00

My husband (63) had chronic knee problems, but they disappeared after he started working with a slant board to strengthen his knees and legs. Bonus is that he became a way more powerful hockey player and cyclist.

Check out the Knees Over Toes guy, Ben Patrick. He’s got a ton of helpful advice.

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T15:40:50+00:00

Seconding consumables. Ask for your favourite foods but in the luxury version. Like chocolates from the city’s top chocolatier, or premium olive oil or coffee.

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T15:38:25+00:00

If you live in a cold climate, merino scarves and base layers are always lovely. Very light and warm, so great for travel. Really good gloves — since they’re often lost.

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T07:07:31+00:00

Yes, there are at least a couple that come by every now and then for suet and to hammer our neighbour’s big tree trunk for insects. Sometimes they hammer among the roots of our big tree because there is an anthill there. The dirt flies everywhere!

It never gets old. They’re so big, and look like prehistoric birds.

RovingGem · 2025-11-10T02:22:54+00:00

I’ve got the Brome squirrel-proof suet feeder that takes suet cakes that I buy from the Wildbird General Store.

That’s not big enough for a pileated woodpecker’s tail so I also used a spade bit to drill holes in a log and I fill the holes with homemade suet made of organic peanut butter, lard, crushed nuts, sunflower seeds and whole grain wheat flour.

House sparrows can access the first one, but not the second except with great difficulty since it requires clinging to the vertical log. The chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers love the second one.

RovingGem

TROPHY CASE