Floating convenience store appeared in Toronto Harbour
This quirky story is an absolute delight and brought a smile to my face. The ingenuity of some people has to be admired. A floating convenience store suddenly appeared in Toronto Harbour a couple of months back from nowhere. It made boaters excited to cruise from the mainland to buy their favourite snack. There was, however, a drawback. They were not able to purchase their favourite snacks and can of pop! Yet still they kept coming by in droves to take photos and investigate the unique floating convenience store.
The installation, titled Global Convenience, was a public art project moored in Harbour Square Basin on Lake Ontario near Toronto’s waterfront. Created by Toronto artists Trevor Wheatley and Cosmo Dean in collaboration with design studio Puncture, the store is designed to resemble a neighbourhood corner store stocked with products from around the world.
The project was developed to coincide with Toronto’s role as a host city for the recent 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the store itself was ‘stocked’ with international foods and beverages.
“We transplanted an entire urban typology, a convenience store, into an unexpected environment,” the artists said in a blog post.
The installation remains on display through October and can be viewed from the waterfront promenade along Queens Quay West and Harbour Square Park.
Grit City Workboats animated series aims to inspire new generation of maritime professionals
Let’s face it, we have a skills shortage in many areas of the marine industry. That’s nothing new. How do we connect with the next generation of maritime practitioners of all types? Well, Silverback Marine may have found a great way to do just that. They are launching Grit City Workboats in an attempt to connect with youngsters.
Grit City Workboats is a new animated entertainment brand bringing the world of working boats and maritime adventure to children and families. Inspired by the real vessels, people and experiences found throughout the maritime industry, Grit City Workboats follows a colourful crew of hardworking boat characters as they solve problems, help their community and explore the waters of the Pacific Northwest.
Through short, animated adventures, young viewers will encounter themes including:
– Teamwork, courage and problem-solving
– Maritime careers and skilled trades
– Search-and-rescue and public-safety operations
– Shipbuilding, navigation and marine technology
– Ocean exploration and environmental responsibility
– The importance of helping others and serving the community
It’s a great idea, and I believe this is an innovative initiative and one that deserves to succeed.
You can watch the short 13 second animated video that introduces the entertainment brand on YouTube.
Bargain of 2026: Flagship floating wind site snapped up for just £1
Now, I have heard things in the renewables sector have been challenging in recent years, to say the least. But this story is remarkable, and what a bargain too. At £1, I’ll have two wind projects, please! Let’s dig a bit deeper into this story.
The 32MW floating TwinHub wind project, being developed by Swedish firm Hexicon, was to be the first floating offshore wind project in the Celtic Sea. It was going to be developed off the southwest coast of England, but ‘a combination of significant increases in inflationary pressures and supply chain costs’ forced the company to back out, according to the EU NASDAQ.
Unconfirmed media reports at the time of writing suggested that Singaporean marine engineering contractor Seatrium has snapped up the site. The NASGAQ statement said, “Under the agreement, Hexicon has divested its entire 100% stake in the Project, including associated assets and liabilities, for a total consideration of GBP 1.”
Hexicon ‘progressed significant work to re-permit and adapt the site for a floating offshore wind farm’, but in 2025 ‘recognised an impairment on the Project’.
Gosh, what a story. It highlights the not insignificant challenges and pressures of unpredictability, but what a bargain!
Giant floating island appears on BC reservoir – then vanishes
What a cracker of a story this is. Hard to fathom it out really or make sense of it.
It seems that a tree-covered island the size of a Walmart store was formally confirmed by satellite imagery drifting across Williston Reservoir in British Columbia. BC Hydro still doesn’t know where it came from or where it went. That means that an entire chunk of forest appears to have broken free and gone missing on a man-made British Columbia reservoir.
The seemingly newly formed island was estimated to be approximately 70 metres wide by 140 metres long, covering about 9,800 square metres, or 2.5 acres. The surface area is roughly the equivalent of a Walmart store, as mentioned. Despite it seeming impossible for such a large object to appear out of the blue, the island disappeared shortly after it was first spotted.
Local boater Rocky Avery received photos and video of the island and shared them on Facebook, where they quickly went viral.
No one knows where it is now, including the locals who spotted it or BC Hydro, who are responsible for the hydroelectric dam.
So, given the reservoir’s propensity for creating and moving debris, will the newly formed island reappear? Quite possibly.
So, there you have it. If you know the whereabouts of this mysterious island, be sure to message me!
The shipwreck that just keeps on giving: Titanic survivor’s lifejacket sells for £670,000
Like many, I suspect, I have retained an interested fascination with the Titanic disaster for most of my adult life, and stories like this one stoke my curiosity yet further.
Titanic memorabilia continues to attract huge interest from around the world. A lifejacket worn by Titanic survivor Laura Mabel Francatelli during the ship’s 1912 sinking has sold for £670,000 at an auction in England, way in excess of its estimated value and making it one of the rarest maritime artefacts ever to be auctioned.
The 114-year-old flotation device was sold by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes to an unidentified telephone bidder. The cream-coloured canvas lifejacket is believed to be one of only a few Titanic lifejackets still in existence and is the only known lifejacket worn by a Titanic survivor to have been offered at auction.
The lifejacket was worn by Francatelli when she boarded Lifeboat No. 1 after Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic during its maiden voyage from England to New York. She was 22 years old and travelling as the secretary to British fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon and her husband, Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon. All three survived the disaster.
Andrew Aldridge, managing director of Henry Aldridge & Son, described the lifejacket as one of the most significant Titanic items to come to auction.
More next month.
Mike Schwarz
Chief Executive Officer