It doesn’t take long when I’m somewhere else, to start comparing ‘there’ to ‘here’, and after a few days TORONTO nearly always comes out the winner. On a recent trip, I made a list of 20 things about this city that cost us nothing or maybe just a little.
1) Fifty ice rinks, city-run
2) Single-screen neighbourhood cinemas
3) Riverdale Farm
4) Multiple street festivals
5) One-of-a-kind bookshops – TORONTO still has them
6) University of Toronto’s St. George downtown condo-blocking campus
7) A night-landing at Pearson International
8) Laneway surprises
9) Philosopher’s Walk in all seasons
10) Eccentric streetscapes – plenty of those
11) Ten lines of streetcars
12) The SPIT & Lake Ontario
13) Ever-changing development
14) Original juxta positioning
15) Street artists and muralists
16) Food, antique, night, paper, vintage clothing & farmer’s markets, indoor & outdoor
17) The ravine network
18) Our outstanding public libraries
19) Bird songs, even on frigid winter days. Sparrows never give up.
20) Four distinct seasons
#21) FOR GOOD MEASURE – raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, coyotes, skunks & foxes
AND so much more . . .