Wednesday 30 April 2008

Hobo squirrels

I thought Dennis my UK yob of a squirrel was rude but here the squirrels are actually a little frightening. They have black fur and less puffy tails so more 'rat-like' AND they go through the rubbish like old pro’s. They are completely unfazed by humanity often standing in groups and yelling obscenities at passing people.

I have passed several squirrels panhandling whilst walking West down Dundass and Bloor into the heart of Toronto over the last few days. It is a fascinating trek, walking through eddies of different cultures; Polish, Italian, Portugeuse, Chinese. Ramshackle houses become sturdier the closer downtown you get and shop fronts become more inviting but I quite like the strangeness of the edgier bits of town. Is it a deli or a fur shop? Hard to tell.

Yesterday I walked down Parkside to the Lake. On one side was was High Park and on the other the posher suburbia; large chocolate box houses with yellow school buses dropping off clean, healthy children herded home by shiny smartly dressed parental figures. It looked both idyllic and a little unreal as if everyone was acting on a huge film set.

Back at the apartment my friend and I sit through the entire series of The Office to remind me of what I am missing back in UK.
I go to bed subdued and depressed. I have not yet heard back from the various job applications I put in before I left UK and I can’t sleep for thinking about how to reduce my grocery bills without cutting back on the gin.

My bed is over a warm air vent which blasts every few minutes and I begin to worry about inadvertent mummification and then my brain adds some bad old memories, a infuriatingly catchy line from that horrid 'Umbrella' song by Rhiannon and a faint unsettling feeling that I have left a window open back in Cambridge. No sleep for the rest of the night then.



3 comments:

Suzie said...

Quick leave Canada get to NYC hurry gin awaits!

Janelle said...

oh adore your site...read it avidly. sod it. you don;t need a job. you can create one and become ravishingly rich! your writing is the most refreshing i have read in years! you go girl. visualize visualize visualize abundance!!!! lucky you in canada!

Louisa said...

if you can get away with it tanvi then give this working lark a miss!! I am 2 weeks into it and i look 105 and feel 210! Commuting is just the worst thing in the world! I can honestly say i am hating this.... i am too old to be told off like a 5 year old, being crushed in the rush hour madness and the tiredness...oh lordy lordy lord! Wish i was with you in beautiful Canada! xxx