Can’t Go Home?

City of Kitchener clock tower

Sorry about the delay in posting. I began writing this post while I was enroute back from London. Once home however, life got in the way. I’ve finished it now, and I have another three more posts that I want to do! I have now set myself a goal –Find the time to write one blog post a month. Starting NOW! We’ll call this one September…

August 26^th:

“Who says that you can’t go home?” Thank you Bon Jovi for making a very good point. I doesn’t matter where you go, or who you are – you can always go home. That’s what I’ve spent the last month doing.

Possibly the best porridge I've ever eaten!

Now, before I go on and on about my last month, let me draw your attention to my current location – one of my favourite places (although infrequently visited) in the world: first class car on an East Coast train. Enjoy it. Love it. Hot tea or coffee five minutes after departure, hot and cold breakfast (I’m having the porridge with banana and honey –yes fresh banana and real honey from a jar. The porridge is delicious too as it is made with real milk), there is lots of leg room and every seat has a table. There are also plugs for charging phones and laptops at each table, although for some reason they’ve not set the ones in my car to on, but c’est la vie. I’d rather sit here and enjoy my beautiful morning with my large and currently unshared table than move to another car in search of additional power. I find that sometimes it’s better to be content with what we have, especially when what we have is pretty damn satisfying for only twenty pounds more than standard class tickets and I get waited on. I mean for such a minute price difference who wouldn’t travel first class?

When everyone of my friends, most of whom are now spread across the vast expanse that is Canada asked if I was coming to visit all of them, I felt of course loved, however the thing is it’s so much harder, and more expensive to travel in Canada than it is in England (with the very real exception of taking taxis in London –holy cow!).  So in my 26 days back in my home country I spent a lot of time running all over and doing a lot of things, both of business necessity but also of personal pleasure – most of which I did from my home region of Waterloo. Well, when you’re young and broke, what else are you suppose to do but bounce from friend to family to friend and spend as much time with the people that you haven’t seen in year and eat as much of their food as possible? I mean really, isn’t that what family is for?

Second of Toronto waterfront

I must say though, as much as I’ve enjoyed the last two years in the UK, it really was good to be back in Canada for a while. There is a comfort that cannot be defined that one gets from being with people that they have been close to for a very long time. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how long you have been away, some things never change. And those things are the relationships that you have with your closest people. Now ideally one could get said people to come gallivanting around the world with you when you go so that you don’t have to settle for seeing them every few years, but we all make our choices. And really, if we couldn’t and didn’t make and stick by our own choices what would we be? Would we enjoy our time together as much, or would we all just resent each other because we just did what someone else wanted us to do? No, no, no – choices are a good thing. They are something that makes us unique. Really, who wants to be boring?

Other than spending as much time doing as much as possible with as many people as possible (which we all know with me means spending as much time as possible sitting on someone’s couch just relaxing with said person) what else have I been doing? Answer: visiting all the cool places from when I was younger.

October 5^th:

I went to Toronto, as you do when applying for a work permit, and spent a good deal of time just wandering around and revisiting random places from my childhood trips there. My day started with me departing from the GO portion of Union Station and having to figure out what exactly was going on with the whole downtown Toronto construction situation. Construction, as it is in Ontario, was extensive and confusing. What I knew to be Union Station was quite confusing, but with the help of a very nice gentleman working at the token booth, I managed to not only purchase my day ticket for TTC but also find out where exactly I needed to go.

So, a quick subway ride down to Bloor Street station, I depart and walk past the ROM to the office building that now houses the visa application centre office. This took a great deal lesson time than I anticipated, so I spent forty minutes sitting at a Tim Hortons walking people.

This was a nice experience, since when I spend time in coffee shops these days, its usually when I do extensive reading sessions when I don’t feel like being in the house. This does not leave much time for people watching. It was good fun. From sitting in this particular Tim Hortons, I learnt that there was a sports camp not far away (I suspect only across the street) considering I could see a stadium outside. The camp leaders came in one at a time which suggests this camp runs over lunch and only one is permitted to leave the site at a time in order for adequate supervision to be maintained. I also saw people walking around taking pictures (which I later also did). There was one particular individual who must be a serious photographer as they stood for several minutes staring at something across the road, then lined up a shot, took a few, inched over and then took a few more. The whole process was at once boring and amusing.

Once I finished my application appointment, I had a lovely afternoon just wandering around in Toronto. I enjoyed an ice cream in front of the ROM just as we used to in the summer as a family after our day long trip to the ROM. Trips to the ROM are only complete if you do two things: get lost in the ancient coins from around the world area and eat ice cream sitting either on the steps or on the wall. That made me both nostalgic and satisfied with my trip to Toronto. This was not, however the end to my trip to Toronto.

I had forgotten that one side of the ROM looks like a spaceship.

I wandered down Bloor Street to enjoy some window shopping. Bloor Street has some fabulous shops that I’d never dare go in, but it was fun to pretend and look in the windows. From Bloor I decided it would be good fun to walk down Church Street since I was hungry. I saw some great places to eat but couldn’t decide on anything so eventually I settled on an ice tea from David’s Tea and then kept walking. I took a turn through a little park. It was refreshing to be reminded that yes, even a city as big and busy as Toronto does have green spaces still.

Eventually I ended up down on the waterfront. It was gorgeous there that day. I wasn’t too sunny to be hot but it was pleasantly warm. I enjoyed a calm walk along the water front and then took a rest near the ferry terminal. 

"Jack's got your back" Stronger Together Jack Layton Memorial

I hadn’t realised that they ferry terminal had been renamed after the late Jack Layton, but it was cool to see the impact that he had made that it had been. The area outside of the terminal was fairly busy. As ferries came back in and unloaded passengers I saw groups of children all wearing matching t-shirts with teenagers leading them shouting “keep together!” Some of these groups had very small children. I couldn’t help but thinking how cool it must be to go to a day camp that takes a field trip on a ferry to an island. It is something that must be unique to cities that are set up like Toronto, but hey, how cool is that?  

From the waterfront, I decided that I wanted to visit the Princess Gates because I knew I wouldn’t have time to visit the CNE while it was in action but I could at least drop by the site and remind myself what it looks like. Boy was I in for a surprise. There was a project undertaken sometime between when I was a child and now, to put an art instalment (for a lack of a better word), in front of the gates. This I thought was pretty cool. This instalment was in the form of granite slabs that have been laid in the ground with each province of territory’s motto inscribed. At the head of each slab is a seat made of polished granite (at least I think it was granite), these had a carving depicting each provincial/ territorial tree. Some of these carvings showed the leaves of the tree, or pine cones or acorns that are created by the tree (dare I call it fruit?). I haven’t been to the CNE or the Princess Gates in years, so I really enjoyed going there again.

For more (historically correct) information on the Princess Gates, see this link:

http://citiesintime.ca/toronto/story/princes-gate/

Ontario's Eastern White Pine

Gearing up for the CNE!

Ontario's provincial Motto: Ut incepit Fidelis sic permanet = Loyal she began, loyal she remains

Granite seats - one for each province and territory.

I was in a Toronto a second time, again on visa business. I decided because it was a beautiful day, and I was again early for my appointment that I would walk from Union Station up to the centre. Along the way, I found most of the way down Young Street a busker festival! I was pumped! I love buskers! This was the biggest collection I'd ever seen of buskers. I got to watch some great music. This is the band that I enjoyed the most:

Another food I can't get here. I miss these amazing cookies!

Yes indeed, Toronto was good fun. While back home, I also indulged in some very unhealthy things that I can’t necessarily get in West Yorkshire. These things are very obviously mentioned to anyone who has ever had a fast food craving that can’t be satisfied simply because they live away from a source of said fast food: Harveys and A&W. After three years of no Harveys’ Flame Grilled Angus burgers, I enjoyed a well-deserved burger that was delicious! I also ate poutine and chubby chicken strips from A&W more times than I care to admit to anyone –including myself. I was very happy to find though, that A&W’s meat is all hormone-free. This made me especially happy since there are so many people now who find that they are having serious health issues due to the hormones that are now added to so many meats. We all have our own natural hormones, we don’t need it added to our food! Our food doesn’t need to be produced bigger – if we ate a healthy amount of food at each sitting we’d likely find that we don’t need supersized chicken breasts from chickens who can’t even hold their own weight off the ground because they have been pumped full of so many hormones just so that they produce more meat! But hey, rant over – I was happy because it means a dear friend can still indulged in a little naughty eating every once in a while without ended up on her deathbed from pain (I’m hoping that I exaggerate, but I suspect that I am not based on the stories she’s told me).

Hmm, what else is there to say about my time back in the land of ice and snow? It was comforting being able to cross a road and know exactly where to expect people to be driving and from where they could be turning. It was nice to have street signs that make sense and lines painted on the road that cars stop at –these lines also are not past where pedestrians cross, they are before so that people are not run over. I enjoyed being able to go for a run around the neighbourhood where I grew up. I ran past where I used to go to Summer Playgrounds as a kid. I did not once see a single child outside playing there, so I wonder if perhaps that site has been closed down. I ran past where we used to go to church. I also ran part of the trail that we ran in Grade 8 for our cross country unit. I’m happy to say, I could run it much faster than I did then, despite being much bigger and heavier, I’m much fitter – who knew?

Anyone who was around when I wear gearing up to head back home heard me complain endlessly about having to spend most of my summer holidays dealing with visa things instead of just relaxing, blogging, cooking, knitting, travelling and running –but here’s the thing, I still got to do a little bit of all of that. All in all, it was a pretty decent summer. It was good to be back home. And it’s good to be home too.

Saturday Time

With such a busy job, I find that Friday after Friday, all I want to do is go home and sleep. Thanks to charming coworkers (one of whom is leaving) I broke my lazy Friday habit of going home and laying about being unsocial and sloth-like. I didn't stay as long as most, but being out and having a chat outside of the workplace was a wonderful experience. We didn't talk about anything that we wouldn't normally talk about in the workplace, especially considering some of the lunchtime conversations I've witnessed, but a change of atmosphere, the fact that we all went home, changed and had met up with the intention of celebrating and being social made all of the difference.

Although this soiree meant that I was up past my typical wishful Friday bedtime of eight pm, I woke up this morning feeling rather refreshed. I had so much energy in fact that I decided to get out of bed instead of laying in and that I would go to town in search of buttons for the cardigan that I finally finished knitting.

A quick bus ride into town and I found myself amidst all of the Saturday shoppers. Some were in a hurry, some were just out for a leisurely (if you can call shopping that) day of wandering the town and browsing in and out of shops. Now me, I was one of those people who was on a mission. I am not the biggest fan of shopping and since I was after something specific, I didn't want to be in town all day looking for it. So I swiftly walked from my one bus stop to the other and headed back out of town towards my favourite yarn shop, Baa Ram Ewe. With the buses being pretty efficient, I was there in less than forty minutes from leaving home, which is not bad I think. 

The wonderful woman in the shop helped my attempt to select buttons. We weren't successful in finding the right buttons, but we figured out what I was after. She gave me a suggestion of where to look in town and off I went again!

What we decided that I was looking for and what I did not find:

This is where my day gets a bit silly. Four yarn, haberdashery, and sewing shops later, I've not found the correct buttons. I've found approximations and buttons that would be amazing for other, future projects, but I didn't find my buttons in the right colour. I did however have an enjoyable day just being in town.

While I was there I was reminded of all the different types of food you can eat in town. As I wandered from shop to shop I saw Japanese, Indian, Italian, Thai and others. I felt hungry even though I had eaten a sufficient breakfast. I saw the interesting and colourful ways that young people choose to dress and was once again amazed by some of the strange fashions (I swear I never dressed quite that strangely when I was that age) and I saw some amazing street performers. 

As I was walking up the bustling pedestrian-only shopping area I heard the steady and driving beat of hiphop music. Walking closer to its source, I found a gathered crowd that was watching a female trio doing a dance. My first thought, being ever the strange person that I am, was 'how did people their age get a permit for street performance?' And then I remembered, who cares??? It's a nice day and they're doing something that they love - stop thinking about it and enjoy it!

When I moved past the crowd encircling the dancers, I stumbled upon a statue I had never seen before. It was a living statue. I was amazed at how good a job this street performer was doing. He was absolutely, perfectly still. It was really convincing and impressive. He was crouched into a seated position; he looked like he was seated upon a chair but without the chair. It was splendid! It was also unsettling to see. By all logic he should have fallen over considering his centre of gravity couldn't have been above he feet, but there he was sitting on nothing! I was quite impressed. I wish that I had had a charge on my phone and had been able to take a picture, because I'm really not doing him justice at all with this description. 

All in all, my little trip into town, although not achieving my mission, was certainly fruitful in terms of entertainment. Today was a really refreshing experience for me. It reminded me that although I have not traveled as much in the last little while, there is still so much that I can do and enjoy right on my own doorstep. 

Canal Walks

Something that I was oh so familiar with in Canada was walking. I grew up walking. I walked to school, to the library, to the store, to friends' houses, to work, you name it. Here walking is less popular. It is generally thought of as a nice way to pass a sunny afternoon. Which, yes does happen in Canada as an activity as well - I just never really considered it as a regular thing to do (outside of a very small social circle that I had).

Although walking is less popular here (although perhaps popular isn't the correct way to describe, people don't walk to travel here they drive, train or bus for travel) I think that maybe is should be considered one of the important pass times in England. I have been more than one place in the country in the last two years and many of these places have been very popular with walkers. I've been to the moors and met more than one hiker and dog walker. I've been to Scotland and met many a tourist and slightly off-hinged person (such as myself and my hiking partner) who felt it entirely necessary to climb Arthur's Seat. I have been to little Yorkshire villages where people walk around the roads in the countryside. I have also been to some very nice towns that have walking trails that lead out of town and you can follow over several days all the way up to the Lake District!

So my question is: why is it when someone asks what the English do for fun that all you hear about is football, gardening and going to the pub? Clearly, there is a large walking community here in this country, for why else would there be so many popular and well-cultivated trails?

In fact, the other weekend when the weather was exquisite and I couldn't decide what to do, someone suggested that I walk along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. At first I thought that they were crazy. I wondered why anyone would want to walk along a canal.

What I saw in my head when someone said canal.

But I agreed to it since it was a nice day and I didn't really want to be inside. Let me tell you, it was a good thing that I did. The image that I had in my head was far from what I actually experienced.

My walking companion and I set off from a part of Leeds called Rodley. It's a quaint-looking area village area that is very lush and well-cultivated. We stopped for a quick ice cream to help cool us as we walked seeing as it was one of the warmer weekends that we've had here so far. With the sun shining, I was rapidly missing my hat but fortunately I remembered to put on sunscreen before setting off so I didn't end up roasted.

As we walked along the canal, we encountered many other walkers. There were families walking their dogs, young people that looked like they might be on dates and teenagers out with friends. We also saw several older, fit-looking couples that looked like their walked for a living. They motored along in their activewear and look as happy as anything. For the amount of people that we saw along our Sunday walk, I really think that walking should be considered a more important pastime here.

That being said, it wasn't excessively crowded. There weren't enough people to be able to compare the amount to the people that you would expect to see in town shopping on a weekend. That in itself is both a shame, but also a comfort as I hate to walk along somewhere and feel like I can't have my own personal space in which to enough to quiet sounds of outside and the serene views. Here are some of the pleasant views that I enjoyed that weekend:

I had such a pleasant time, and it cost pretty much nothing (picnic plus ice cream made it very cheap) that I can't wait to go for another lovely canal walk. There are so many different sections of the canal that I imagine I can do several canal walks before I get bored. So next time I tell myself that I want to spend a sunny day sitting on the sofa inside, I need to remind myself how lovely a walk there is not far away and go!

Getting Distracted

This evening I remembered that I began a blog and have been neglecting it of late. This is not due to the fact that I've nothing blog-worthy to write about. This is not because I've had some tragic accident where I have lost the use of my fingers. Finally, this is not due to the fact that there has been a technology crisis in West Yorkshire and I can no longer access the internet. Au contraire! I have simply been distracted- sometimes in a positive way, but not always.

Not so long ago I made a comparison (likely an unfair one) between myself and people that I follow on Youtube and various other social media websites. For some reason, I found myself lacking. I felt disappointed in myself. I thought: look at what all of these people have done, and they are not all that much older than myself. What have I been doing with my life?  

A good friend then pointed out, that anyone can do something great with their life. How you measure it should be by how happy you are. Not how famous, how rich, how many friends you have, but simply by happiness. So, without further ado, here are some pictures of things that I've not posted before, but have made me happy in the last little while:

I'm not going to explain each picture, as I think for me it would ruin some of the enjoyment that I would then get out of them. So rather you can peruse and enjoy, or not -it's up to you. 

Waking up and going into work today with still a lot to do before my day began properly had me worried that today would be a very stressful day. I was pleasantly surprised though. Today I was a lot less stressed than I typically am. I relaxed into what needed to be done and had a very pleasant day. Looking back on the day, I have to ask myself: what was so different from today than other days? Reflecting I think a big part of it is simply some of the underlying stress that I've had in my life recently. It has had my constantly on edge, which has impacted a very large part of my life. I think that frequently we forget how much stress can impact us, even when we're not focusing on the source of the stress. And thanks to small changes in my life, I feel as though a big weight has been lifted. I'm looking forward to the next work day and what it can bring, rather than thinking of it as a chore, which in fact is a very positive thing since work is such a large portion of my life. 

So not avoiding any cliche metaphors -sometimes that glass is half full, but not always. Instead of questioning whether it's full or empty, decide whether you really felt like you wanted to effort to drink a half full glass - sometimes you only just want to empty your cup so that you can wash it. Indeed being half empty can be a good thing. I've said this to multiple people in the last couple of days: think outside the box.