This morning around the G20 perimeter: Not much coffee, but plenty of police.
Torontonians looking for the simple Saturday morning pleasure of coffee, newspapers and a hot breakfast were mostly out of luck if they were out in the zone near the security fence.
As police officers unrolled yellow security tape to cut off the intersection at Wellington and Yonge streets at 8 a.m., a handful of people looking for their coffee encountered "closed for the summit" signs at Tim Hortons, Starbucks and other major chains in the area.
At the Great Canadian News Company in Brookfield Place near Front and Yonge streets, a security guard asked the young employee if she knew where he could get a cup.
She shrugged.
"Try McDonald's?"
For stores that chose to remain open, business was hardly booming.
The Great Canadian News Company employee, who asked not to be named, said that although her store was open, they hadn't seen many customers. She said she had only sold three newspapers since they opened an hour earlier. A few blocks away, the manager of an Express to Go convenience store said he hadn't sold a single newspaper that morning.
The Tim Hortons at Bay and Richmond streets was one of the only open coffee shops near the security zone, but only two people were inside at 9 a.m. Manager Nabil Beshay said the shop would normally be 20 times as busy on a Saturday morning.
"Yesterday, today - so quiet!" Mr. Beshay said.
By 10 a.m., hardly a person could be seen on Queen Street West, normally a bustling shopping scene. At Cafe Crepe, the counter was lined with jars of Nutella but the chairs were empty. Jennifer Lanza, the manager, said that on any Saturday the restaurant would be full. She said she had already sent home most of her employees that day.
"To be honest, I didn't expect it to be this slow," she said as she looked at the empty booths. "It's only 10 in the morning and already it feels different from yesterday."
The police officers patrolling the perimeter said they were happy for the quiet.
"Queen's Park is where the action is," one officer said as he paced in front of the chain-link fence outside Royal Bank Plaza. "They might splinter off but no one is getting past here," he said, banging his hand on one of the fence poles.
Some officers said they were expecting 10,000 protestors to storm the area later in the day. Sergeant Steve Mitchell said his unit was in a "holding pattern," waiting for whatever may come. He and his men leaned against the office building, seeking shelter from the steady drizzle of rain that had started an hour earlier.
At 11 a.m. the officers were in similar positions at the corner of the security zone on Front Street West. Sergeant Clayton Campbell said that some protests had begun on University Avenue, but so far nothing had come close to the fence. Raising one corner of his mouth in a smile, he said he didn't think the rain was playing a role in subduing people.
"It's getting the police wet, I can tell you that."
Meanwhile, police at Union Station saw some action. At 11:30 a.m., a man was stopped as he stepped off the GO train from Whitby. He was wearing metal body armour and carrying jousting equipment, a graphite sword and a bow and arrow. Brian Barrett, 25, was on his way to a combat-based fantasy battle in Centennial Park, in the city's west end. Police seized his equipment, but were not laying charges.
They said it was a case of bad timing.