Photo: "dancing at sunrise" by louise@toronto, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

Just how sketchy has the Annex become? It's certainly seen a shift toward being a destination for cheap eats and booze, and along with that has come dirtiness, drunkenness, and violence. In an interesting roundup of opinions, Adam Vaughan takes a jab at the 905 mentality, local shop owners talk about the rapid fall, and chicken wings take some of the blame.

Police in East York responding to an armed mugging of a fast food chicken delivery guy discovered a loaded gun that is believed to have been stolen from the Detroit Police some time ago.

Toronto-area drivers that suddenly get questionable 407 ETR bills (in the tune of hundreds or even thousands of dollars, mostly accrued interest) shouldn't rely on the provincial government to do much about it. According to Transportation Minister Jim Bradley, the 407 "is responsible for establishing its own business practices," and he's "not aware of anything" Queen's Park can do to change it. So what's to stop them from simply holding onto unpaid invoices, sending out notification after waiting for heaps interest to accrue, and then seeking payment?

The normally rather peaceful neighbourhood of Bloor West Village experienced what appears to be one of those bling-bling bang-bang types of shootings. Several shell casings have been found, but no victim has turned up yet, after an altercation between occupants of a black SUV with tinted windows and slick rims and a white four-door sedan.

The media are making a whole lot of noise over nothing serious. H1N1 vaccinations have a very short shelf-life, and at the end of each day a few may require disposal as a result. Collectively this represents "hundreds" of doses but overall it's less than 1% lost.

And for those of you who were caught up in the Santa Claus parade crowds this weekend, or just out and enjoying a couple of beautiful falls days rather than sitting in front of a glowing computer screen, here's what blogTO was up to:

• Christoper tried to test-drive a $500,000 car.
• June Too dined on yummy Filipino food at Remely's - in a strip mall in Scarborough.
• Charlotte uncovered some local design finds at Bluebird Handmade in the Annex.
• Tim announced the closure of I Deal Coffee on Queen St, and pondered the potential fate of Madras Pantry.
• Matthew reviewed the Bellwoods showcase show at Lee's Palace.