Something Old, Something New

Despite living in Toronto for decades, I don't share in its collective memory of city-wide events. During the 1999 snowstorm (when the army was called in), I was living in a walk-up on a main street. So I didn't have to contend with piles of snow that clogged up the smaller side streets. The massive blackout of 2003 occurred just as I was leaving for a week-end camping trip in the Wasaga beach area. My own experience comprised of walking home from a sweatshop job and staying up late that night to watch a rare Toronto sky full of stars. During the Christmas ice storm in 2013, I was already in Ottawa visiting family. Similarly, when COVID-19 swept through Toronto, I was also back there for 4 weeks of remote work and vacation.

I have finally been back in the city for 2 weeks. But with the initial panic subsiding, Toronto simply felt like a week of Sundays. I am lucky that I can work from home with a quick venture out to get lunch. I have also re-discovered my love of reading, underused in recent years from smartphones and other digital distractions.

So lately it has been reminiscent of my first few years here. Back then, I would only transit between work and home. My only urban experiences were week-end walks, repertory movie houses, and the comforting clatter of a street-car as I kept my nose buried in a book inside my apartment. Yet it was enough of big-city living that I didn't want to trade that for a suburban backyard.

But unlike then, I can now download newspapers and books right at home. I even took an online Yoga class on Sunday. There were close to 20 people participating since this popular instructor has a large student base. Without the studio's take, they may even make more money with these virtual sessions. But not everyone is as lucky: musicians, bar staff, small business owners; the list of economic casualties is extensive and the damage could take years to heal. I think about a conversation I had with a stranger as we waited for our take-out at a local Ethiopian restaurant. "The Buddha way," he declared, "Life is nothing and this too shall pass."