Toronto the Inept

(Warning: partial rant about Toronto's obnoxiousness

+ great Bike invention tidbit, may seem ranty)

When it comes to thinking 21st century, it seems to be a real challenge for Toronto government/public planners. Architecturally, this particularly with its row of massive ugly condos blocking the waterfront and subsequently any possibility of a sunny day penetrating the core of our city. It's just plain ugly, haphazard and completely lacking in artistic detail or imagination. Sure you have your cute and quaint neighbourhoods but they'll be gentrified soon no doubt. No planning is ever involved, just quickly put stuff up randomly here and there and hope a city eventually comes together.

This city has not really inspired a sense of community, more like cut-off local neighbourhoods. Really obnoxious weeklies NOW and EYE magazine attempt to sell local 'nabes' (that word is the most pretentious dribble, seriously) and sell Toronto on community = $500 shirts and other obnoxiously overpriced accessories (cause you bought it locally in the Distillery 'nabe' or the new-new Queen West artsy-smartsy I paid $500k for my loft neighbourhood). ARGH!

When will Toronto as a city ever create anything truly beautiful or useful for the general public? A friend of mine mailed me this great link for something called the Bike Tree. Imagine if you could actually park your bike in a secure place anywhere in the city and not have to stress out about it being stolen?

Imagine how many more people would bike in this city and not clog it up with SUVs built for 1? Imagine that this city actually became biker friendly and encouraged *SHOCK* people to get their asses out of those gas-guzzling polluters and engage in a little casual exercise to get from point A to point B? What a different city we would live in.

Anyways check this site out and let me know what you think:
http://www.biketree.com/

The Current that Runs Through Us

I occasionally stray from my 'checking-in-with-the-news' ban to find out a few details about what's happening in our ever eroding universe.

I happened upon a great Letter to the Editor from last Wednesday's Star regarding an article about cell phone competition and increasing the number of phones in Canada. I really connected with what Joan Blackwood said:

'When did it become necessary to be available to the world 24/7? When did it become necessary to give voice to every thought or notion that crosses someone's mind at any hour of the day or night?'

I've often wondered this myself. I mean really, what did people do before the invention of the cell phone? You might have to go hours or even minutes without being in touch with so-and-so.

I've personally never owned a cell phone (except when I had to when I lived in Japan and couldn't afford a $500 deposit for a landline) and enjoy the fact that I need to get in contact with people for them to know where I am in the world.

But hey, I'm an old-fashioned gal, I still get excited when my friends from Japan send me old-fashioned mail for New Year's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year). There's something so much more personal and touching about the thought and inconvenience of putting together something for someone you care about.

The other downside of this whole technology blackberry, instant messaging, text messaging, cell phone phenomena is, I miss the silence. Whenever I'm in the city, I find it hard to block out that constant buzzing noise. It really gets under your skin. There's so much electricity flowing through this city, I imagine one futuristic day form now that we will find a way to replace our own bodily fluids with an electric current so that we can email or contact people just out of thin air (see Hana Gitleman's character in Heroes for inspiration).

There's nothing like standing on a crest in the middle of the Australian Outback and being able to see nature for miles. That sound of silence. Being able to tune in to every sound of a snake sliding through the desert. The sound of kookaburras calling to each other. The bounce of a kangaroo as it rushes away from you. That kind of buzz that comes when the temperature is just that side of incredibly hot.

City living disconnects us from one another, from the earth and our natural habitat. Urban living and being attached to our cell phones, SUVs and other forms of convenience take away from the sheer joy of living and breathing and being one with the earth, and all of her elements (fire, water, air, earth).

Every day that the temperature warms up I am that much closer to escaping this electronic-trap and that much closer to some beautiful forest far from the sounds and distractions of this urban life.