TO, take Five!

I haven't been to Toronto on many occasions. When I was growing up in Chatham, near Windsor, it was such a far drive that the only times I'd end up going to the big city would be those times where there was an Agenda. Two or three of those times was the Metropolitan Zoo - which is quite a bit of hiking, but good for all your animal needs. One time was an end of year class trip to see the Phantom of the Opera production when it was still playing. I accompanied a friend of mine to his place when he was in college to collect something or other. And I returned again last weekend with my sister and her boyfriend to catch the last day of the Ontario Science Centre's extended March Break hours.

There's something about big cities that just don't work with me. It could be my terrible sense of direction - I once got lost trying to find my way home from work. It could be the sheer overwhelming size of big cities themselves. It could be just my underexposure to them. I suppose it would be vastly different if I'd grown up somewhere other than Chatham, the city I can walk across in a little over 2 hours.

In any case, I sent us off the wrong exit, and it could have gotten real messy from there if my sister's boyfriend didn't find the quick turnaround back. Oh, add in one more thing it "could be" about big cities - the traffic. And we only got the mild Sunday - things never came to a stop. The most played radio station in the office is Toronto's Edge, and it's fairly typical to hear of traffic jams and accidents daily in the morning. In addition, the sheer size of the city means you can be driving for a good half hour to get from one place to another.

TO has its time and place, but I think I'll leave it to its special occasion spot on my agendas.