I visited Toronto a little while ago. It was my first time back in close to three years. I drove there frequently for concerts or Ikea during college and even halfheartedly planned to move there after graduating, making it as far as Googling the address of the Canadian consulate in Buffalo to see about getting paperwork for a work visa. Like most ideas I have that might require minimal leg work to realize, I never followed through and eventually abandoned the plan. I still love the city though, and it hasn’t changed much since I last left it.
It’s normally my strict policy to sit silently pressed against the window, distracting myself from the inevitable onset of backseat nausea when traveling in New York City cabs. Holding a conversation or looking around to take in the scenery only worsens the car sickness I get from the cabbie’s erratic driving and steady start-stops. However, despite being hungover and exhausted from the weekend trip to Toronto, I was in a surprisingly excellent mood and began chatting with the driver on the ride home from the airport.
We eventually got on the subject of my trip and how different New York is from every other big city. I don’t notice it while I’m living here, but when I visit other big cities like Boston or Chicago, the energy feels quaint and controlled compared to New York. On a average day, maybe I tune out the commotion, fireworks, gun shots and overwhelming excitement that my parents think beats everyone living day-to-day in New York over the head, but when I leave and visit other major cities, I actually feel bored and disappointed by the calmness.
The cabbie asked what my impressions of Toronto are and how it compares to New York. I explained: To start, Toronto is beautiful. Compared to New York, it’s bright and open with wide streets and shorter buildings that let in so much more sun light. There’s a good mix of old and new buildings and getting around the city by car is quick and easy. The traffic isn’t bad, the layout makes sense and you can find anything you need close by. The biggest difference between the cities might be that Toronto is spotlessly clean, but the most obvious thing you’ll notice right away is that the people in Toronto are much, much friendlier than New Yorkers.
Just as I finished outlining my impressions of Toronto, the stoplight we were idling under changed from yellow to red and the cab sped through the intersection to beat the light. The line-up of cars in front of us, however, filled the entire block ahead, causing my cab to block the crosswalk beside us and stick out into the cross traffic behind us. Just as I was telling the driver how refreshingly friendly Torontonians are, a man trying to cross the street at the crosswalk my cab was now straddling, swung back and kicked the side of our car with a steel toe boot. The cabbie dove across the passenger seat, rolled down the window and started screaming at the pedestrian. They continued to shout back and forth about what to do now that the cab was blocking the intersection and who had the right of way. Mothers were eventually brought into the heated argument and curses were placed on family names.
This isn’t the greatest story or terribly remarkable; I just like that my point was proven as I was making it.
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