This is Toronto. 70 year old buildings next to 20 year old buildings and everything covered in snow. It's nice; I like the blend of the old and the new - it would be prettier if it was a little older and a little newer, but it doesn't matter. Everything is prettier when the snow gets dumped on it. Until, that is . . .
It turns to motherfuckin' slush. Look at the sorry state of this footpath. The City of Toronto's a fucking beast in terms of which footpaths get cleared and which don't. The footpaths around my office, for example, on the quietest (and most expensive) side streets, are shovelled religiously, despite the car traffic the pedestrians have to brave being nothing more than a few Beamers and Benzes purring gently around. The Don Bridge, over which harried commuters speed (and drivers in Toronto, while not as insane as in other cities, are remarkably shit), has a footpath whose maintenance you see here.
Fuck you, City of Toronto. Moving on.
This is also a picture of the Don Bridge. Again you can see the cables barring the footpath from the void; this used to be Suicide Central. It still has suicide hotline numbers posted at each end next to phone boxes, although it would now take a great deal of doing to throw yourself off. Now, I've never been really tempted to throw myself off a bridge (although on frigid days I sometimes wonder if, in the event of me peeing off the side, it would freeze before it hit the ground - you've thought about it too, admit it) but I imagine that the graffiti scrawled on to the concrete in the background would put me off from doing it here. It lacks a certain gravitas.
11 commenti:
That doesn't look like a nice walk on the Don Bridge at all with all that traiffic speeding right beside you. I wouldn't be worried about people jumping off as much as about people being hit by cars. Not pretty.
Definitely not pretty, but that graffiti's fab! And I agree that it would probably deter people from considering suicide there. In fact, that would just piss me off if I was suicidal.
And I can honestly say that I have never wondered if my pee would freeze before it hit the ground if I peed over a bridge! Of course now I'm seriously wondering...thanks Mistress...
It is a bit of a slap in the face, isn't it? The longest English word in creation, and Toronto's Finest are too incompetent to stop it from getting sprayed next to two of the busiest roadways in the city . . . nice.
The cops are so fucking incompetent in this city, it's a real testament to basic human goodness we don't go around shivving each other over parking places.
Not having a car is the best way to keep a zenlike quality in the middle of a chaotic city.
You're right, I can't even imagine the aggravation that would represent.
Actually, I was thinking more of the Pollyanna quality to that word - I start singing it in my head and picturing Mary Poppings and the Dick van Dyke dude dancing around like fairies all happy and carefree. That would soo piss me off.
Does that mean you're not getting a car in the near future Sugarplum?
I wish. Not my decision. I decided to buy a scooter so the car is in the dude's court. Since I made a helplessly selfish decision to own a toy, he can decide to buy a car and which kind whenever get gets sick enough of walking and can justify it income wise. Apparently the shopping has begun.
Well, I'm sure the dude will shop sensibly and use his toy sensibly too (why does that sound dirty??).
You'll have a hard time using/housing a car in Toronto unless you live AND work in the sticks.
Hey I just did that stress test thingie - I'm at a 50% chance, mainly because of my Grandma dying I think. But I'm pretty at peace with that since she had such a horrible quality of life so I don't think that score really counts..
Hard to say. I know with Grandpa, I can't be sorry on his account he died since he was such a vigourous man for 95 years and then struggling so hard with his body for the final two years, or so. But it's very hard to see the effects on my mum and my family of losing him. Who knows. Stress is fine, anyways. It's how one deals with it that counts, I suppose.
Posta un commento