Photo: "the rain dance" by tomms, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

Bill Clinton is apparently a tough sell. Hoping to add some big-ticket power to the CNE, organizers made 25000 tickets available for the former president's appearance, but as of my last check only about 9000 had been sold. That's pretty damn low, but it can't come as that much of surprise: carnies and Clinton are an odd match, but the former are probably more entertaining. The biggest PR nightmare this poses is that taxpayers may have to foot the bill for many of the unsold tickets.

Talk is back on about a downtown relief line for the subway, but the question is where will it operate? Will it reach far east so that it can accommodate Beach residents? Can Union station handle another subway station? All of these are important questions. But before they can be answered, I want to know where the money for such a project will come from? I love the idea, and I think it would be an amazing addition to the city, but it all sounds like a pipe dream to me.

Anti-Miller sentiment still runs high, and a group called the Toronto Party is starting an early campaign to unseat the mayor come the 2010 election. The yellow signs, which have been spotted on a few residents' lawns, read simply "David Miller is an idiot." While that may be true, the same could be said of the brains behind the signs. Sure they're funny, but no one's going to take them seriously come election time.

Christmas in August? Now this is getting a little ridiculous. Shoppers at a Costco in Scarborough are getting annoyed by the fact that the retailer has already started to stock Christmas items well before Labour Day. Apparently the decision to do so relates to the cool summer and its low sales, but whatever happened to the 'back to school' shopping frenzy?

And, on a sad note, more Catholic schools are set to disappoint teenage boys across the city by banning female students from wearing the once traditional kilt as part of their uniform. Apparently too many students are hiking the skirts up to 'inappropriate' lengths. My prediction: the 2009/10 school year sees record grades from male students!