Monday, November 23, 2009

Your quick Toronto recap

So my brain is completely fried...a combination of trying to complete and assignment and some sleep deprivation. But let us see what two days in Toronto can bring in terms of writing observations.

1. As we are out near the airport we are, as the Newfoundlanders might say, in the arse end of nowhere. That made trying to get down to Queen Street West and Spadina an interesting challenge. Trying to figure out Toronto's convoluted bus system in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday morning wasn't in the cards. I tried for 15 minutes, gave up and decided to get a cab to the nearest metro station in Kipling.

Sadly, I didn't realize how far it was away and I'm apparently completely spoiled by Iqaluit's $6 cab rides. So the $27 for a ride from the hotel to the station was quite the shock to the system. It's expensive and takes a long time to get anywhere in Toronto. Go figure.

2. I think one of the differences from when I travel alone and when Cathy and I travel together is I'm more willing to take the odd blind leap of faith and willing to get loss. When I travel with Cathy I like to be sure where I'm going. When I'm solo, if I make a mistake, oh well, it's an adventure. When I got off at Spadina I hopped on a trolly by the station saying Spadina South. I wanted to go south, so it made sense, but who knows. Toronto's weird. It might have been coming from the south.

3. I've said this before, but the two smartest decisions I've made in my life were asking Cathy out on a date after we saw the first Harry Potter movie and the day I followed a friend and former co-worker Murdo Messer into the Muse office. I had lunch with two of my Muse friends. John Boggin I've seen fairly recently, just last year. However, I'm sure it has been 17 years or more since I've seen Stephanie Flemming.

Yet both of them insisted on seeing me when I was in Toronto, took time out of their day and hung out and had lunch with me. And it was like no time had passed at all. It's the thing I love about my friends with the Muse....we can go years without seeing each other and when we do it's like no time has passed at all. That paper has bonded us for life.

4. One of the drawbacks of prolonged living in Iqaluit is that it makes you skittish around large crowds after awhile. I went into the Eaton's Centre and managed to barely last long enough to hit the Apple Store and Chapters. After that I was practically running for the doors.

5. I've been accused of doing Death Marches when on vacation. Having been burned on the cab, Death March Toronto was on. I walked around Queen Street West for a bit, then headed to the Eaton Centre, up Younge Street until it hit Bloor, then stayed there until it hit Markham when I went to the Beguiling and after that walked for another 15 minutes or so until I found the next metro station.

I have no idea how long that is, but I suspect I walked a few kilometres yesterday.

6. Who knew that micro mini-skirts with wool tights were big in Toronto this year?

As for today, most of it was spent working on my assignment. However in the morning we went to the Dixie Curling Club. We wanted a practice game and Bob Edmondson was gracious enough to give us one. Bob's a multiple Ontario senior men's champion and I believe he's won the national senior men's championship once or twice. Oh, and Fran Todd of the Canadian Curling Association, who has played in an international championship, also came out to shoot lead against us.

So it was a good game. They were winning 7-6 after seven ends and it went down to last rock. Ed didn't have much to shoot at so they ended up winning. However, it was a great game, we all played well and enjoyed ourselves. But it's also given a boost to our confidence. These were all good curlers and we hung in with them. So hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the week.

Tomorrow is practice at St. George's, some photo shoots, team meeting and a banquet. We start curling on Wednesday. We're pretty pumped. Let's see if we can keep it that way.

Last Five
All from 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day

3 comments:

merlyn said...

Toronto is crazy. I remember being there for the very first time when I was in my 1st year at Carleton U. Small town girl from St Anthony hits the big T. I fell instantly in love with it. It's just big and sprawly and not what you'd expect somehow.

It's been years since I've been there and since then I've seen many many cities from all over the place but Toronto has a sweet spot in my heart for reasons I can't ever define.

fiona

Steph said...

I don't think you're skittish necessarily -- everyone here complains about the crowds at the Eaton's Centre.

Dooner said...

Your death march was, yes, really long, and also directly above the subway almost the entire way, which would have taken no time at all. But it's also a pretty interesting walk.

If you happen to be heading downtown again, look for the 427 rocket, a TTC bus that goes right down the 427 highway to Kipling subway station. It's the best/cheapest way. That is, if you can actually find a bus stop near your hotel. Which may be near impossible.

Good luck curling!