This weekend, one of my best friends from “back home” came to visit me in the Big Smoke.
Let me explain my country-girl, Joy. She has never left our Southwestern Ontario home by herself and lists riding tractors as one of her favourite things to do. And here she was, boarding a train alone, venturing four hours away to the big city. Country mouse, she truly is.
I was expecting a simple weekend of tour guiding and catching up, but was additionally reminded of living differences between the city and the country that, after living in Toronto for nearly four years now, I don’t notice anymore. Listening to Joy’s critiques of the city as we wandered downtown was me being given a second chance to see the city with fresh eyes.
She hated the public transit system for its crowdedness and didn’t understand why drivers downtown honked at each other at every stoplight. She wondered why people didn’t say thank you when she held the door open for them in my apartment lobby and was put off by the rushed-pace of the city.
Maybe people from the city consider us country folk uncultured or unrefined. But I know I miss the slower, friendlier atmosphere of smaller towns. I find that, in Toronto, people rush to their jobs, meetings and events without stopping to look at the environment they are in and the people around them. I miss the bank teller asking me about school and the person who waves at me to make my turn on the road before they do.
Does living in a city make us self-centred? Have we lost a human touch?
Of course there is plenty the city can offer that a small town cannot. There is a different nightclub to go to each night in Toronto, if you wanted to, compared to two or three places in my hometown. The kinds of foods and cultures spotlighted on each Toronto city block are refreshing against the often-homogenized experiences back home. And, the opportunities for employment, and even shopping, are far wider in the city. But, if we’re all walking around in our own social bubbles doing all this, is it worth the loss of human interaction?
2 comments:
Country bumpkins!
Public transit is crowded at times ... funny how in a city of 2.48 million people ( 5 million in the GTA) that would happen!
I can't get my mom to honk LOUD ENOUGH at intersections! I lived in Mexico City ... and Toronto horn honking is TAME in comparison. They lay it on the horn down there. Horn honking must be non-existent where ya'll come from.
Big City makes us self-centred -- it's called self-preservation.
We're one of the largest cities in North America. How wow is that?
Upon returning from Regina, Sask., I was blown away by the 401/427 -- I couldn't believe a four lane highway existed!
Toronto has it's own particular coldness about it. It really must be the weather or the lack of European or South/Central American big city je ne sais quoi.
I was born in Toronto General,but I grew up in Richmond Hill, about a half hour drive fron downtown.
Sadly, I didn't really venture out to downtown unless:
1. I was going to Eaton Centre (in which case getting off at Dundas station is easy enough to remember); or
2. Weekend family days in Chinatown (when my Dad drove and I slept in the car so I had no idea how we got there).
To this day, I suck at navigating around downtown, even though I've lived by the Harbourfront for the past year and a half AND have gone to Ryerson for the past five.
And I too do not like living in such a fast-paced city. Everyone is so rushed (one of my biggest pet peeves is be be rushed), people have no manners (even though a smile takes a considerable amount of muscle power it is not hard to do), and it is so crowded everywhere!!
But Richmond Hill, which used to be a quiet, nice suburban area is now pretty much like downtown but a little more spread out.
Construction is everywhere. Every morsel of space is turning into a plaza, strip mall, coffee shop, supermarket, or LCBO/Beer Store.
People seemed to be more hurried, running around like chickens -- much like downtown folks.
The manners are going downhill, too. Smiles are now upside down all the time, for what seems like just a sign of selfishness and impatience.
I guess that's the price we pay for living in a big city. It's impossible to get small-town living in a huge ever-growing city like T.O.
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