Allan and I spent the afternoon in Toronto yesterday. Checking out the map before we left, I had a minor revelation: I'm starting to know my way around. For a limited area of the city, I've gotten my bearings and know where things are in relation to each other. It's a good feeling! Also one I thought would take much longer to achieve, since we don't live in the city.
No big new sights to report, just a nice day of wandering and exploring, including a pub lunch at the Black Bull on Queen West.
8 comments:
Yes, downtown Toronto is not the worst place in the world to figure out. Nice grid; downhill is south. Then I moved to Kitchener Waterloo... OMG.
My partner who grew up in the area explained it like this: King Street and Weber Street are parallel, but they cross each other 4 times. Also, there is a King St South, North, East, and West as well as just plain King St. There are other peculiarities in the layout, but that gives the general idea.
Sounds like a nice day. Under-employment does have its rewards, for a while.
haha good old KW! I've never heard the layout explained quite so succinctly. Well done. I went to UW and worked at OW sports in the early 90's. Explaining the layout of Atlanta ends up sounding much the same way.
Q.'Is that on Peachtree St.?'
A.'No Peachtree Rd. or Peachtree Circle, or Peachtree Battle etc. etc.'
Somwehere in the West Village of New York City -- where streets are definitely not on a grid -- West 4th Street and West 11th Street cross.
I didn't mean figuring out the layout so much as connecting places on my own mental map, knowing how to find point C from point G, without returning to point A.
I find the layout of most cities pretty easy to figure out. Of course, I've only driven through Kitchener. :)
Sounds like a nice day. Under-employment does have its rewards, for a while.
And even full employment has its time off, thankfully.
West 4th Street and West 11th Street cross
Yay. And what a nice area that is.
Somwehere in the West Village of New York City ... West 4th Street and West 11th Street cross.
Even better, they cross at right angles. But the streets are on a grid there. It's just skewed a little. :)
I've just started a book called Rats. The author is from Manhatten, and spent a year studying rats in Edens Alley, at Fulton and Gold.
I'm only on the second chapter (reading it between other books), where he describes the alley, and mentions that its one sign if life (other than the rats) is a solitary tree. Out of curiousity, I checked Google Maps, and sure enough, there was the tree.
But the streets are on a grid there. It's just skewed a little. :)
In NYC, we call that not on a grid. That applies to pretty much all of Manhattan below 14th Street.
I've just started a book called Rats.
That book has a fabulous cover. It's one of Allan's favourites, I believe.
Joseph Mitchell, the great chronicler of New York City oddities and personalities, did a story about the people who fought Manhattan's rat population (which was much worse when he wrote, in the 1930s and 40s, because of the building materials). It's called "The Rats on the Waterfront," written in 1944, and is found in the Up In The Old Hotel collection.
Let us know when you do Speaker's Corner. :) Aw come one...you know you wanna! LOL
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