May 03, 2006
Moving To Toronto
According to Gasbuddy.com, the cheapest gas in my neighborhood (loosely defined) is $2.989. It is a bit of a schlep and not on any of my normal routes (a big deal since I'm combining trips all the time now) so I'm paying a penny more at the independent place that's on the way to the grocery and the bank. Fortunately, my Beetle gets 30 in town, 40 on the highway and I don't use it for commuting. I've got excellent public transit literally on my doorstep if I need to get around town and I use the train for more distant commuting. Most of the area has average to very good public transit, so the pain isn't as bad here as it would be in the Midwest and Mountain West. Metro, the local subway, has begun opening an hour earlier than usual to serve the workaholics who need to be at their desks by 6 AM and the transit authority is running more group bus services from remote locations. I've been routinely using Metro for most of my downtown travel (jobs, hair appointments, shopping) for years because the parking situation is so horrible in downtown DC, it's both scarce and expensive. I'm doing a lot more walking, too.
One of the many things I find so attractive about the city of Toronto is the quality of the public transit. It's a good thing because gas has always been more expensive there than it is here. I just checked the postal code near pogge outside Toronto and gas in his neighborhood is $.93 CAN/liter, so Canadians are paying the rough equivalent of $3.23 USD per gallon. We'll be there in a few weeks.
I'll need to keep the car if I'm going to live near public transit so that I can get out to visit pogge, who is in the far eastern suburbs. My other good buddy, Fr. Judy, lives right downtown. We are both friends of The Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, the Anglican women's monastic community where we met in 2000 and it is close to the subway in North Toronto. In otherwords, in moving to Toronto, I won't have to change my lifestyle of choice very significantly. That's been a big factor in deciding to make this move.
Posted by Melanie at May 3, 2006 07:37 PM | TrackBackHey, Melanie, you really moving to Toronto?!!? Great! Welcome! (I live in St. Catharines in Niagara area.) Toronto is a wonderful town. Canada is a wonderful country. Universal health care, for example. Too bad we've got this Harper situation right now in the parliament. I'm familiar with the Anglican monastery you mention. I can hardly believe you're coming here. Probably a wise decision. You would be a great person for this country.
Toronto is a wonderful town, and Ontario is a wonderful province of a terrific country and that's why I'm moving there. I have a real estate agent already looking for a new home.
Pilgrim, I once got stuck in St. Catharines while trying to make the 401 trek to Tto. You also have a wonderful town, but your rush hours really suck.
Ninety-three cents a liter sounds wonderful...here in North Vancouver, it was $1.19.7 this morning. And out here in the suburban sprawl of the North Shore, public transit is not good.
Well, welcome to Canada, Melanie!
Crawford,
My guess is that by US summertime, we are all going to be in about the same boat.
Toronto has at least as much sprawl as Vancouver, but the public transit system means that I'm going to get top dollar for my place in the overpriced US before buying into a less pricy market.
Pilgrim,
The fact that they welcome worshippers into the choir at services was a big factor for me. And I like it that Sister CJ, the Superior, bangs out the chants at the keyboard.
This is democracy in religion.
skdadl is here too. And she writes that in all modesty. ;-)
I have to warn you, though, Melanie: we locals spend a lot of time complaining about our public transit. In a city this size, it should be better, and one day it no doubt will be, if we can just recover from the bad effects of one (now departed, provincial) conservative government before the new one (federal) starts to take us apart all over again.
skdadl,
You would be part of the package :-)
Public transit isn't perfect anywhere, but Tto has it better than most. I've lived carless in cities where it's a lot worse.
pogge, of course, barely lives in Ontario. He's way out east somewhere. You could almost call him a European.
I am sure glad to hear that you find the Toronto real estate market less pricey than Washington, U.S. Here, Toronto is considered quite pricey. The U.S. dollar is still a little higher than Canadian looney, so that could be a help. Few years back, Canadian dollar was way lower. But still, you will realize some exchange benefit.
Perhaps the traffic problem you encountered on the way to Toronto was because in St. Catharines, the Queen Elizabeth Way is just four lanes instead of six, and I believe that is going to be changed.
Toronto: it's a great town to live in. I agree that the transit system is good, although as Skdadl says, it should be better, and the excellent mayor of Toronto works for that. The previous Liberal government had a good agreement in place for city support, but the Harper regime is somewhat like the Bush regime was at first: anything by the predecessor was bad and must be reversed.
Another thing you may like up here is the CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. You also have the excellent NPR in U.S. and I listen to that too. We are close enough to Buffalo to get it. The CBC is another Canadian institution not favoured by Harperites.
Religion-wise, Toronto has the Toronto School of Theology, a federated system of nine theological colleges, two Anglican, one United Church, one Presbyterian, three Roman Catholic, one Baptist, one Lutheran, the latter two located in Hamilton and Waterloo.
In Toronto, I highly recommend you check out the Jesuit Regis College. The Jesuits are so progressive. Their college is the best one for the area of spirituality. Each spring a retreat for clergy is held at the St. John's monastery on Botham Road, and the spiritual directors are supplied from Regis College. I studied at Regis College for an advanced degree. It was a rich experience.
Pilgrim,
I listen to CBC Radio via internet. I'm much familiar with the spiritual resources of the greater To area, my friend Fr. Judy is a grad of Wycliffe and the Sisters on Botham Road are friends. I have a master's in systematic theology from Washington Theological Union and a certificate in spiritual direction from the Shalem Institute.
Yes, I knew about your qualifications re spiritual direction, as I believe you've spoken of them somewhere that I've read. This is why I mention the Jesuits, but, as you say, you already have contacts and inroads in the whole Toronto scene. You will do well. I hope you will be happy.
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