Article first appeared in the June 4, 1998 issue of XTRA!

They traveled around the world and kept careful track of what they hated. Then they found a nice house in the ghetto and banned all the annoyances they'd lived through elsewhere.

David Blaire says that's how his bed and breakfast won Xtra's best-of readers poll (for the forth year in a row). "Besides the fact that we're anal retentive!" says the retired vice squad cop - who may well have been the first Toronto police officer to have spousal benefits extended to his same-sex partner.

Blaire retired after 30 years on the force. "I walked away from it. As I was walking away, I knew I was a has-been. That it was time for a change. "I don't know why we opened up a B & B. It's like being in love. You can't help who you fall in love with."

But part of it is that he loves company. "I can't stand seeing people single!" he laughs. His partner, Warren Ewart, just left his own job. And that leaves the two of them in a seven bedroom home. Together. All the time. "It's a big house," laughs Blaire. And the two of them, he adds, are madly in love. "I'm so lucky."

There's a dog - Winney. And tenant Joseph helps out around the house. It all works out perfectly. "We get correspondence from Thailand, Australia, all over Europe," boasts Blaire. The guests want to keep in touch.