Same < Different

Today the power went out and I was forced into the sunlight mid-morning. Pooch in-arm, tote on-shoulder, I explored my community on foot for 6 hours. What I noticed about my ‘hood was the lovely conversations you can have with strangers in your community when you slow down. And what I noticed about myself is my love of contrast.

Two blocks from my place is a whole new world. Cross Spadina, and you are taken from apartment buildings and the foot traffic around St. Clair West Station to multi-million dollar homes and empty streets. Its perfection feels so cold and isolated from humanity and freedom.

What I love about everything west of my block is the authenticity. The people I know from walking my dog in the park that will walk up to me in the grocery store to say hi (even if you don’t see them first or know each other’s names). The hawaiian shirt guy who sits on the park’s bench every day. The dude that perches on the stairs outside my window, Skype-ing with his girlfriend. The couple with Chinese Crustids and haircuts that match their dogs. These are people in my life.

Those giant homes manicured like mini-hotels feel so distant from me. And though I don’t have anything in common with them or even desire to live there, I am glad they exist. It’s the blend of such contrasting things together in one general neighbourhood that makes me smile. A block in any direction and you get something different. I love that.

I sit now with an exhausted dog to my left after a productive day, and I feel he loves the bustle of going west as much as I do. I could be imagining it, but with masses of children petting him and treat-giving shop owners at every step, how could he not?