Answer the question!

Ok, I realized that I didn't really answer the question of my last blog post...

I think it's a little early to say I actually heart Toronto. But I'm definitely keeping busy, trying to get to know the city, go to as big a variety of places as possible and discovering that there is a lot to do here....even if I don't want to do it all.

When Sarah was here she asked me what I liked about Toronto and I really struggled to answer. I've been thinking about it a lot and here's what I've got. I love the location of my apartment. It's an easy ride to work in the morning and 9 times out of 10 when people are going out to a bar or club (at least the few people that i know) they're coming to my neighborhood or within a 10 minute walk. That never happened in London. Or maybe like once, but at any rate, it's kind of awesome to be right in the heart of things. So that's one big thing.


Second, there are a ton of events - like craft fairs, book readings, special screenings, charity functions, tons of live music...I know these go on in every major city but they seem really accessible here. Maybe that's because, again, they're pretty near where I live and this is kind of a small city, but it seems like if I start going to these community things, it could get pretty interesting.

People are friendly. It's cliche to say and it is a kind of surface friendly, but I feel completely confident that if I got lost or needed help in some way, a stranger would assist the best they could. It's kind of a little thing, but when Beth and I were trying to rent a car, all the car rental places at the train station were sold out for the day (we didn't exactly plan ahead - a rarity for me, I know). Anyway, so we were going to explore the option of a bus and the lady we asked had been the same one an hour before who had directed us downstairs to the rental car offices. She asked what happened and when we told her they were sold out, she told us about another car rental place, one building over, that was open on Sundays but didn't get as much business because it wasn't in the train station. And voila, a car was ours! I guess that's a pretty minor incident, and could happen anywhere, but it was really appreciated.

Lastly, again back to location, it's great to be able to walk from my apartment to all the touristy things (CN Tower, St. Lawrence Market, Hockey Museum) and most sporting events (Rogers Centre, Air Canada Centre). My street car runs 24 hours a day. It's super easy to get a cab almost anywhere anytime. So anyone who wants to come VISIT me will have a very easy time getting around.

Hmm, what else...I'll keep you posted, but that's a start, right?

Things I don't like, aside from the surprising number of (to quote Sarah) cracked-out hobos...equally hard to pinpoint. It's more expensive than I expected, is probably the biggest one. I mean if I ride the street car to work both ways (which I usually do) that's $5.50 in tokens per DAY. It just seems a little crazy when I could get to and from work in London for £2 on the bus. And, I'm really craving an evening at a pub where we can just sit around and chat and drink and chat and drink...but I think that's just because the crowd I've fallen into seems to favor clubs and cocktails over a beer and talk. It's just not really my style, but they're all so fun and such good people, I'm trying to open up to it.

Oh but if anyone has tips for great things to talk about over really really really loud music that are both easy to communicate and make me seem charming and hilarious, pass those along.