Why We’re Moving Out of this Place: Part 1

Since I moved to Toronto nearly ten years ago, I have lived in the same neighbourhood. I have loved it dearly, defended it against its critics, and sworn that I would never feel more at home anywhere else.

Well now it is time to test that theory. That’s right, I am moving out of St. James Town. It’s a bit scary, but also exciting.

Things have changed around here. I am not going to go into it, because I could spend a year lamenting. Instead, I am just going to focus on my own building, and provide a little pictorial explanation of why it is that I am leaving this place.

Take, for example, the consideration my neighbours shower on one another. Imagine you’re out in the rain, it’s windy, your umbrella takes a beating… Why take the umbrella upstairs or dispose of it in the trash bin behind the building when you could just leave it in the lobby?

And when you do go upstairs, you want to leave a little something pretty to brighten your neighbour’s day. How about a bit of artwork?

Even more considerate than my neighbours, however, are the superintendents and maintenance staff. When they are fixing up those old apartments after a tenant has moved out, many of whom have done so recently for some mysterious reason, the maintenance crew doesn’t forget about the needs of the remaining tenants. They take out the fixtures, the toilet, the countertops, and leave them in the hallways for a week in case anyone else in the building might want them!

Sometimes they even leave the stuff in one of the elevators, in which, since at least one of them is broken at any given time, space is at a premium.

And because they know that their tenants appreciate art (see above), they even make sure that the garbage area out back is aesthetically pleasing.

Why shell out cash for the missing trap doors on the garbage bins when you can prevent overflow with a broken crate, or, if you have it on hand, a Picasso print!

Freakin’ beeeautiful. And when the tenants have again expressed their natural artistic talents in the elevators, our gracious landlords don’t suppress their individuality by taking it down. After all, we’re all art aficionados here!

Brings a tear to my eye. I’m going to miss this place. Except without the missing.