I took a walk yesterday, into the sprawl. An exercise in clearing my head. A chance to relish autumn’s fleeting colours, and feel the crunch of leaves under my shoes. A recent assessment of what I like to do when I travel left me realizing that I don’t take enough day hikes when I’m at home, and it’s something I’m trying to change. A few years ago in Montreal, I hung out a bit with the Montreal Psychogeographic Society and had a lot of fun.
The Don River is a slow moving river that marks the edge of Toronto’s original boundaries, and separates the inner city neighbourhoods from the inner suburbs. When I first came to visit apartments, we rode the subway, and it rattled across the tracks as we crossed high above the Don Valley, the subway briefly emerging from the subterranean tunnels. The 20th century brought heavy pollution to this waterway, as 31 separate sewage treatment facilities were built along the river. Over 20 places in the valley and adjacent ravines were used as landfills for garbage and industrial refuse.
Sounds like a lovely place, doesn’t it? Continue reading
It’s really not a huge secret. I’m not a huge fan of Christmas. To say that the holiday spirit is lost on me is kind of an understatement. I tolerate the holidays, I go through some awkward outsider’s version of the motions, but I don’t really carry with me the same kind of sentimental attachment most people have with this time of year. Continue reading
I realized this week, with absolute horror, that I no longer notice the distinctive sewage and garbage smell that I have long associated with Toronto. I realized it this week when I got a whiff of that enticing aroma.
I’m not sure when I stopped noticing that smell. I’m certain that Toronto did not magically plug in some Febreeze noticeables and become a charming place to live. This can only mean one thing: I’m getting used to living here.
It is a positively shocking revelation.
I thought that relocating to a new city would have me posting a lot more. It’s sort of like travelling, only it’s not a foreign country, I speak the language, I’ve been here before, and I don’t have rose-coloured glasses. OK, so it’s not really like travelling, except that I was getting lost on my way to work for the first few days, and there are a lot of restaurants for me to slowly discover. Continue reading
