(I've decided as a writing exercise to write 550 words everyday for two weeks and see what I come up with. The subject matter and narrative will not be limited to anything, and I will only be allowed to edit what I write once)
*I realize that yes, I missed a day. Will make it up eventually
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Part V --- The Way Home
First I must mention that I quit my job last week. And to be honest, it's probably one of the best decisions I've ever made. When I gave my notice at my last job, "Super Libretto Pizza Land", it was a sad moment for me. I'd worked there for a long period of time and realized one day there was nothing left for me there. It's hard to say goodbye to a place you respect and people you like, knowing that you can't be a part of what that wonderful thing is anymore.
Quitting this job was nothing like that. I imagined the moment of quitting constantly to keep myself going throughout the day. I won't get into the many specifics of what was so rotten about this gig (and why would you want to hear it anyway) but lets just say life is too short and fleeting to be trapped somewhere you don't want to be.
Anyhow! The only aspect of this job I am going to miss is the journey to get there/get the hell away from there. I'm a bicycling enthusiast, and while my job is in the Eglinton/Yonge area I live in the midst of East York (Greenwood/Coxwell-ish). It doesn't stop me from riding there when I'm willing and able (a.k.a. all the time) and so I shall take you along with me on such a journey, which according to Google Maps is about 9 km. We shall be starting from Yonge/Eglinton instead of my house, as that is a much more pleasant trip for me.
Here we are: Yonge and Sherwood, riding with the treacherous traffic south along Yonge. Let's make a left turn here at Erskine and avoid the certain doom of the many fast moving cars. The mix of apartment towers and impressive houses on Erskine gives way to another busy street: Mount Pleasant. Mt. Pleasant is more residential than the business oriented Yonge but the traffic level is still hazardous. We slide along Mt. Pleasant, past Northern and Eglinton and an army of convenience stores, until we reach Soudan Avenue, an east/west side street.
Wait for a gap in traffic and away we go. Soudan is lined with houses of all shapes and sizes, colours and classes, yet all of them have interesting front lawns for some reason. Soudan twists into Parkhurst Blvd, probably the straightest running street in this new neighbourhood. After a downward hill and many stop signs we come upon Laird, industrial in name and features. Yet this is a developing area: brand new strip malls adorn the left side of the road as we go, some of the stores not even open for business. This stretch has been designed to have everything from liquor stores to bulk-buy outlets to a cell-phone outlet across the way. The streets there are parking lots and the buildings indistinguishable from each other, but the newness of the place warrants further exploration.
(unfortunately I have exceeded my word-count limit. Come back tomorrow for the conclusion, and more!)
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