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Published: October 19th 2012
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As I write this we are sitting in the Panorama Lounge at Union Station in Toronto, waiting to board our train home! It's been an amazing trip, and we are tired and ready to be home.
Our visit to Toronto was cut a bit short, due to Katherine having a severe allergic reaction (read: couldn't breathe) to friend Susan's cats. We had planned to spend three days with Susan, but had to leave her place last night or spend the night on the balcony. Fortunately we were able to find a room at the hostel. But by that time we'd also looked into coming home two days early and booked that. Technically we could have stayed the three days at the hostel, but I think the decision to stay with the early trip back is a reflection of how tired we are. Katherine's cold had been starting to abate before the cat dander revived it; Roberta is still in the middle of hers, lots of coughing and nose blowing going on here.
Still, we managed to enjoy the single day we had here. It was eerily similar at a couple of points, to the day we boarded the train
in Edmonton over a month ago: it involved waiting for a late-in-the-day departure, killing time at a movie in a mall (Stories We Tell, by Sarah Polley– excellent!), dinner in a restaurant, some time on our computers at the hostel, lunch with Susan at Cantina, some rides on Toronto streetcars and buses. And it was a beautiful day most of the day today! Tonight it has started to rain, but we are warm and dry and looking forward to boarding our train in less than an hour.
I hadn't been in Toronto in many years, and spending time downtown brought back a lot of memories of times I spent here when working for Informart and BNR in the 80s. Sitting in a coffee shop this morning, I observed it was full of besuited people having earnest conversations with each other. I can remember having been one of those people and as I watched them I felt very glad to no longer be a member of that clan.
Toronto continues to grow apace – there seems to be construction everywhere. Susan has a delightful small apartment, 400 square feet, on St. Patrick, with (for the time being, until a
new building in front her completes construction) a view of city hall.
It was great to spend time with Susan, too. She has been a friend since I first came to Canada in 1968 and is one of those people that I feel I've never been apart from whenever I am with her. Next time we come east, I want to hit Toronto first while we still have high energy, so we can enjoy spending more time with her.
Is this the last entry in the blog for this trip? I have no idea. I guess it depends on what happens on the train!
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