We went walking, of course. This new 'hood, while on the cusp of fancy, is also on the cusp of industrial. Basically, if you walk 2 blocks in one direction you get mansions and if you walk in the other you encounter a wasteland. Serious wasteland. But the sky was so pretty that even the factories looked good.
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| Somewhere in TO I've never been before! |
It took about 45 minutes to get there from here. Along the way we walked some distance on Geary Ave. This place is so ugly, right across from the garbage-strewn train tracks, and yet there were people sitting out on benches and on makeshift folding chairs. Somehow this place is totally "happening". (Also, Torontonians in spring are sort-of crazy and I'm not being glib.) You will find the most niche, most awesome artisanal shops of the coffee and booze variety along this desolate strip. When I walked by Blood Brothers, on the way back from the synth shop, it was lively with people drinking flights of beer and having crazy snacks. I almost wished that I liked beer because I could tell something special was happening. Happily it wasn't a wine place or I would have got lost there for the afternoon!
Apparently, this derelict section of town - and no joke, peeps, it's freakin' derelict; in the rain it's like the worst slum imaginable - is apparently rather niche. It's where they host memorable raves in some of the boarded up buildings that are, no doubt, unsafe. Aren't you happy to be introduced to the seedy underbelly of this frankly unattractive city?*
But the coolest part of my day was discovering a level train crossing?!?!? I didn't even know we had these in the city. Other than in the Junction proper, this is the only one I've ever seen. I walked down an unknown street and there it was! (Note: For me to walk down a TO street unknown to me is a tremendous thrill. This happens to me once every 5 years, maybe. Guess I need to get out more!)
PS: WTF are level crossings doing at the edge of a population-dense neighbourhood with children and pets??
Today's questions: How do you define beauty (of the geographic variety)? Does rain make you happy because it predicts buds and cleans the streets? Do you find grey-grit heartwarming (in the way I can only find that feeling in the sun)? Oh, and how about this question: Are there places you would never consider living only because of the weather, or do you think those who fuss about weather are, well, silly. Let's talk!
*I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this on the blog, but I have a theory that the reason southern Europe is so fantastic is 90 per cent due to the weather (though, admittedly, that's my bias). Have you ever watched a Euro movie where it rains all the time? It's freakin' ugly, despite the (sometimes) gorgeous architecture. This is one of the reasons I couldn't acclimate to Ireland (pun intended) and why I left boarding school in England as a teenager. I don't care how awesome something looks in the sun, if it's depressing in the rain, to me it's depressing - especially if it rains most of the time. And, so, my friends, Toronto is ugly - even as it's one of the most awesome places to be from May to October. Of course, it lacks the enticing pedigree of all of the Northern European rain-zones, but then, apparently I'm not living here for the weather or the history.
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Funny, because I'm the opposite. When we went to Ireland I was disappointed with how sunny it was the whole time. And honestly, if you want to talk about shitty weather, Kansas has it in spades. Gusty winds, wet freezing winters, blazing hot (and humid) summers, tornadoes...I'm really not sure why I still live here--oh yeah, low cost of living and space away from other people. ;-) I'd love to live in Ireland, but frankly, I don't like people enough to want to be smooshed like that. And I'm not willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money to live in a postage stamp apartment with no yard. So I'll just be happy with my shitty weather and hope that I can move to the country soon (because even in my small town my neighbors are too close--if I can't get my mail in my undies with no one to see me, I'm not far enough out.) :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious! And it's interesting to me that you found Ireland so populated. I felt it was very light on population in the scheme of things. I didn't spend much time in cities but I was surprised by all of space given that it's a small country with lots of peeps. I really wish we could have swapped weather on our trips. The landscape was so beautiful when the sun came out (for that 10 minutes! :-)) Of course, to those who love rain, it is beautiful much of the time!
DeleteWe hit up the more rural areas, but it was still pretty crowded for my "forever home" preference. To be fair, I spent half of my life living literally miles from anywhere. The nearest town that had a gas station (and not much else) was 20 miles away--50 to the nearest Walmart. My nearest neighbors were over a mile away, and while I didn't appreciate it at the time, I'm ready to go back now that I've lived in a town for a while. Pizza to my door is nice, but I miss listening to the crickets and the bullfrogs, with that lone oil pump popping it's single cylinder on summer nights when the wind was from the east...
DeleteYou are a serious country-girl! I have never been that isolated, even on vacation. You could probably live off the grid with your farming skills and the fact that you don't mind not having another soul around for a hundred miles. I want to live off the grid in the city but it costs too much and I don't have enough land - or the extra zillion bucks to do it.
DeleteI can't stand rain---I'm a prairie girl. I don't think I could ever live in Vancouver. Give me snow and bright sunshine any day. And I say that as someone who doesn't like cold one bit. I'm still grumpy for the crappy August-through-November we had last year. And I didn't like Calgary because the summers don't get hot enough. Yeah, blah-blah the winter is mild, it's still winter and when a "hot" day is 25C? That's barely enough to work up a sweat. By the end of August i want to hate the heat as much as I hated the winter before.
ReplyDeleteWhich is to say that I think I have something akin to Stockholm syndrome when it comes to the weather. ;)
I have generally loved my visits to Europe and the picturesque old eastern cities. I've never been to Toronto outside the airport, though, so I can't comment. ;)
You are a girl after my own heart. I'd live in frozen places with sun, any day, before rainy places with temperate temps. But part of me wonders why I don't live in a sunny temperate place :-) For me, hot starts at 32C. Sitting under a shaded patio, drinking a glass of wine and eating something delicious - that is perfection! You're not missing any natural beauty here - but it's a very interesting cultural centre, is TO. If ever you come here, we're going to go out and have a great time.
DeleteI would love that! I find it much more fun to see a place with a native guide. 🤣
DeleteIn the Bay Area, all of the railroad track crossings are level with the street as far as I can see. And around me, which has seen student suicides on the tracks in recent years, there are private guards posted at every crossing during train hours now...
ReplyDeleteWow! That is so disturbing. I mean, I know that suicide can happen a zillion ways, but young adults (away from home for the first time) can be very unstable for brief moments. They shouldn't have that opportunity. Of course, I come from the regulation capital of North America!
DeleteOne of my few memories of my English grandfather is from his visit here in '57 (I know, I'm so old) -- I was 4, but I remember him somewhere between bemused and appalled when we stopped at a level crossing for a train to pass, right in Vancouver. And although that crossing is no longer used, there's still at least one that crosses busy streets to get containers to and from the port -- more recently, as CN seems to be flexing its muscles for a variety of political reasons.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/dramatic-increase-in-train-traffic-through-east-vancouver-1.3922308
ReplyDeleteOMG - I am off to read that article. You know, that train on our tracks was a CP train! I was all, well isn't this train big-time! I'm glad to know that I'm not alone in my being really concerned about big trains going by a neighbourhood crossroad. I mean, I am so about the safety (though I am fascinated by rail tracks) that I would never put myself in harm's way - and just the freakin' gates could have killed me! (Drama, I realize.)
DeleteYeah, plus the ones that go through the Vancouver neighbourhood (gentrifying, adjacent to infamous,very troubled Downtown Eastside) are often carrying some scary shit. . . .
DeleteIn the small island city we used to live in, people regularly (every few years) got struck by trains at level crossings. I get what we owe to the railway -- Go Confederation and all that -- but grow up, much?
I know of your troubled east side. All of the cities have those troubled places but it's particularly strange in a city that is so lovely and functional mere minutes away. I love the trains because they are COOL - and they have connected this country in the most excellent way - but honestly, after Megantic (and I was in QC when that happened, like an hour away), I'm so concerned by what an instant of lost concentration can lead to. What really amazes me is that I'm SO provincial in my own freakin' city that I don't know what's happening 30 min. walk away. When you don't have a car, and everything is set up on your walk, you might as well be living in a small town!
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