[URBAN NOTE] My Toronto Island Lessons

[rfmcdonald]

Late in the afternoon and early in the evening, I was spending my time on the Toronto Islands (City of Toronto page, Wikipedia). They're beautiful, a direct consequence of the will of the inhabitants and of the City of Toronto to maintain the culture and the ecology of islands that, frankly, would have been washed into the sea by now if not for pretty extensive engineering undergirded--as I wrote 2005 and 2006--by sophisticated planning at every level.

As I discovered for myself today, sophisticated planning is also required for visitors like myself. Below are some of the lessons, both positive and negative, that I learned on my very, very brief wanderjahre.

• Do remember that it can take at least an hour for me to get to the islands from where I live.


• Do make sure that you bring, for lunch, foods that don't have to remain hot.


• Do be thankful that as you're boarding the ferries (City of Toronto page, Wikipedia) that you had the good sense to bring enough cash to pay the $C6.50 toll for adults because their credit and debit machines were down.


• Do make sure that you visit in the late afternoon and early evening, when things are at their warmest.


• Do not stare disbelievingly at the obnoxious and obviously gay guy on the ferry, one bike away, who is expostulating on how God must be a lesbian because She keeps rain from falling on the Pride parade but drenches the lesbians' Dyke March so they can enjoy a wet T-shirt contest.


• Do not, when you're taking pictures and wearing white shorts, sprawl on the grass.


• With regards to sunscreen, do remember to put it on 15-30 minutes before you get on the beach and try not to squirt the bottle so hard that sunscreen gets everywhere.


• Do not take a beach towel that's too short for you--lower legs and feet don't like too much heat.


• Do keep in mind the facts that sand is magnetically attracted to welcome in the same way that cottonwood seeds and the odd feather are attracted to someone covered in sunscreen.


• Do remember that Lake Ontario is still somewhat cold even in July, as befitting its glacial origins.


• Do remember to bring a camera, next time, that lets you take more, much more, than a dozen photos.

In case you're wondering, it was a wonderful trip. Pictures will be up in the not-too-distant-at-all future.