I can walk to Turkmenistan
During
the warmer months, I like to take long walks around both Mississauga
and Toronto. During these travels I have pretty much covered the all of
Mississauga and practically all parts of Toronto south of the Eglinton,
and some selected parts north of that, especially along the subway
line. I am happy to live here so that I can walk pretty much anywhere
and not worry about my personal safety. In the poorest neighbourhoods
people I see tend to evoke feelings of sadness and pity than fright.
And before you ask, no, I have never been to Jane & Finch, although
my guess is that the place isn't really as bad as its reputation
suggests, at least during the daytime. Perhaps next summer I'll find
out.
One aspect where the North American culture really excels over Finland is the near-total lack of drunken morons in the streets. Especially in the evening and late evening, one often has to endure groups of drunken morons in streets and in public transit in Finland. Since around here people seem more like they can control their drinking, drunken morons are so rare that when I once got on a bus that had one, a middle-aged Russian guy almost passing out and voicing his opinions on many issues, other people viewed him as an amusing sight. And I guess they are, when they are this rare.
The nature of street violence is completely different in both countries, since in Finland quite a lot of it is drunken young males accosting people they meet with some variation of "What the fuck are you looking at?" which then escalates. (The canonical place where such violence happens is the queue at the late-night hot dog stand.) Because of this qualitative difference, I feel a lot safer walking 10PM in downtown Toronto than I felt 10PM in downtown Tampere. On the other hand, Finland lacks the visible masses of homeless begging money "for coffee" (I wonder if anyone ever actually believes that), but they are only a minor aesthetic nuisance and not dangerous.
During my walks I sometimes take photos along the way. These photos are probably more interesting to my Finnish readers, documenting what the everyday world looks like out here, and as such I guess they are meaningless for the readers this side of the Atlantic. So I shall keep them away from this blog. But perhaps one exception could be made with this dentist's office located in the historical Streetsville. I seriously don't know what these people were thinking, since the place looks like it came out of a comic book by Grant Morrison.
I wish I knew what it is that makes other people constantly ask me directions somewhere. In Mississauga people generally seem to know where they are going and it's only the visitors who stop their car to ask me how to get to 403, and a lot of this is explained by the fact that I am often the only pedestrian around. In the Big City where there are more people, the people who need directions still tend to pick me from the crowd. (I think my personal record is four separate people asking me directions somewhere during a single walk.) Perhaps I somehow give an impression that I am approachable and know where everything is, which is strange considering what an asocial person I otherwise am. But I am happy that people ask me for directions, and I always help the fellow pedestrians and make the big city a little bit warmer and friendlier place.
One aspect where the North American culture really excels over Finland is the near-total lack of drunken morons in the streets. Especially in the evening and late evening, one often has to endure groups of drunken morons in streets and in public transit in Finland. Since around here people seem more like they can control their drinking, drunken morons are so rare that when I once got on a bus that had one, a middle-aged Russian guy almost passing out and voicing his opinions on many issues, other people viewed him as an amusing sight. And I guess they are, when they are this rare.
The nature of street violence is completely different in both countries, since in Finland quite a lot of it is drunken young males accosting people they meet with some variation of "What the fuck are you looking at?" which then escalates. (The canonical place where such violence happens is the queue at the late-night hot dog stand.) Because of this qualitative difference, I feel a lot safer walking 10PM in downtown Toronto than I felt 10PM in downtown Tampere. On the other hand, Finland lacks the visible masses of homeless begging money "for coffee" (I wonder if anyone ever actually believes that), but they are only a minor aesthetic nuisance and not dangerous.
During my walks I sometimes take photos along the way. These photos are probably more interesting to my Finnish readers, documenting what the everyday world looks like out here, and as such I guess they are meaningless for the readers this side of the Atlantic. So I shall keep them away from this blog. But perhaps one exception could be made with this dentist's office located in the historical Streetsville. I seriously don't know what these people were thinking, since the place looks like it came out of a comic book by Grant Morrison.
I wish I knew what it is that makes other people constantly ask me directions somewhere. In Mississauga people generally seem to know where they are going and it's only the visitors who stop their car to ask me how to get to 403, and a lot of this is explained by the fact that I am often the only pedestrian around. In the Big City where there are more people, the people who need directions still tend to pick me from the crowd. (I think my personal record is four separate people asking me directions somewhere during a single walk.) Perhaps I somehow give an impression that I am approachable and know where everything is, which is strange considering what an asocial person I otherwise am. But I am happy that people ask me for directions, and I always help the fellow pedestrians and make the big city a little bit warmer and friendlier place.
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