Toronto The Good

This past Monday my friend Cortina and I were downtown touring the city. She's only here for a few more days and wanted to play the tourist. Since it was a stat holiday I bought a TTC day pass for $10. It's good for two people for unlimited travel on weekends and holidays (on other days it's only good for one person).

We started the day at the ROM where Cortina wanted to take some pictures of the Michael Lee Chin Crystal. After that we went through the U of T campus and over to Queen's Park. Later we walked to Chinatown for lunch and the nearby AGO for some more photos. Next we hopped back on the subway and dropped by the Harbourfront. It was packed with people enjoying the beautiful weather. Finally we ended this part of the tour at Nathan Philips Square and Toronto City Hall.

In the evening we had planned on heading over to Ashbridge's Bay to watch the Victoria Day fireworks. I wanted to take the streetcar straight across Queen to Woodbine and get off there. At that point I figured we could grab a bite to eat at Lick's before finding a spot to settle down to watch the show.

Well things didn't work out exactly as I had planned. After finishing at City Hall we waited for the streetcar at Queen and York. I figure since it was a holiday we might have to wait a little longer. Though I did hear they were increasing service to and from the Beaches for the Victoria Day festivities. I saw a westbound streetcar stopped near the Eaton Centre east of Bay. It didn't seem to be moving for some reason. In the distance we (me and the other riders at the stop) thought we saw a westbound streetcar. It didn't seem to be moving any closer either.

Five or ten minutes passed when a lady walked by coming from the east. She stopped and told us that there was a power outage and that the streetcars weren't running. We groaned at our bad luck and two of the six of us waiting at the stop left. The rest of us stayed trying to figure out how we could get out there. A fellow coming from the west in a taxi told us some more details when they were stopped at the red light. After that a fellow on a motorcycle came by and told us there was a fire out west and that the roads had been blocked off when he was stopped at the lights. Cortina and I left at that point. I decided we should take the subway up to Bloor and head across to Woodbine and take the bus down.

This story just reinforces my view on how friendly and helpful Torontonians can be. When three total strangers come up to you in a span of five minutes and let you know that the transit service had been interrupted it restores your faith in the residents of this fair city. I really think we're still Toronto the Good.