On Sunday, another beautiful day with bright sunshine and shorts-wearing weather, I sat in Dufferin Grove eating a vegetarian roti from Vena's Roti and enjoying the Fall foliage. I thought about Ottawa and its advantages such as home-cooked meals, spending time with elderly relatives, helping out, and receiving help as well (if my knee troubles worsen).
I would be giving up live shows (music, dance, theatre) and conveniences like local shops and restaurants if I leave Toronto. Selfishly, I thought that it was losing them anyway. The mom-and-pop businesses I preferred were either being gentrified out or their owners were near retirement. But now the pandemic was destroying every else's livelihood too including cultural venues like bars and concert halls. Toronto will always be a vibrant place but it may take a few years to recover and in the process likely become something different. Younger folks will scoff at my nostalgia and older people will claim that Toronto was already past its best in the 90s or 80s.
But with my various strolls I realized I will lose something unexpected: parks and trees. Toronto has intense densification with all the condos in the downtown core. Even its older neighbourhoods teemed with people, even if residential housing are considered low density compared to European cities. Yet there were tree-lined streets and parks everywhere. I haven't touched on the truly big areas like the Don Valley or Humber River. Could Ottawa be less green despite its supposed active lifestyle and bike trails?
I certainly don't recall spending much time sitting around with friends at a picnic. So I pored over Ottawa with Google maps, aerial, and street views. There were a few large, "destination" parks like Britannia Beach and Andrew Heydon even if they were not on par with Trinity-Bellwoods, Cedarvale, or the huge High Park. But generally most neighbourhoods don't have an outdoor space. And in photos, the few that existed rarely had people or contained any benches or tables.
There's a quip that "Toronto goes out for fun, Ottawa stays in" because Toronto people enjoyed living it up at bars and clubs while Ottawans preferred dinner parties. But maybe it's also that there's nowhere to gather publicly in Ottawa. It wasn't just about having less restaurants and cultural events; you literally couldn't even sit outside. During these anxious times, I really appreciate having the option to just sit at a tree, with the comfort of other people nearby (but not too close), and decompress.
In any case, it wasn't all about weighing gloomy options this afternoon. There used to be an old man who roamed around feeding squirrels. Well, I've recently taken over his noble work and make my daily rounds including today. I hope to grow into that role because city squirrels can live into their 3rd decade. Another thing I would miss about Toronto.
I ran into my old landlady by the playground. Since her husband died, she has moved away while her daughter has taken over the house management. She was sad because she was alone most of the day with her grand-kids at school and their mom at work. Unfortunately, she couldn't really live on her own though I would love to have her back in the house instead of all the recent boarders. Also, she thought that her recent health troubles were caused by her late spouse's restless spirit. I reassured her that her knee problems will improve with the doctor-prescribed exercises and massage therapy.
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