[URBAN NOTE] There be dragons north of Dupont, even though there really shouldn't be

[rfmcdonald]

Towards the end of my bike commute to my Dupont Street home from my midtown place of employment, I was struck by the ways in which my mental maps fail. The east-to-west Dupont Street is almost midway between Bloor Street West to the south and St. Clair Avenue West to the north. It's about ten minutes' walk south from Dupont to Bloor, and a bit longer to walk north to St. Clair, with biking times proportional. And yet, as the familiar sights of Saint Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church and the CPR railway bridge over Dovercourt approached, I realized that I knew neighbourhoods that were well within walking distance not at all, simply because they lay on the other side of the rail line I've lived against for the past three and a half years. Weird. I should make an effort, I guess.