Loving It

This post is part of the Loving It series.

Lost and Found

The cute Chinese girl turns around and looks worried about her lost one in the crowd of hundreds thronging the Harbourfront public concert. People jostle around her, but then she spots him and waves frantically. Yes, yes, he’s coming… her tall African partner just got held up buying a Hummus platter from the Lebanese stall. She breathes a little relaxed and a beautiful smile returns to her face.

One of the greatest small pleasures of living in an orderly, clean, well-developed and law-abiding society like Canada is the sheer joy of taking long urban walks just on the sidewalks or footpaths. Especially if you hail from an overcrowded — often chaotic — third-world city, like I do.

Don’t be fooled. I’m not talking about long hikes out of town or elaborate camping weekends or bike trips up into the woodlands.

Although I’ve seen blatantly racist incidents myself here, a few ignorant idiots will never, ever speak for what I’ve come to cherish about my new beloved home.

If there’s one thing here in Toronto, Ontario which makes toiling through its winters bearable, it’s the arrival of the summer, the season of summer and the return of summer.

Let me say it again if you’re missing the subtle point here: Summers here are what makes the winters bearable. Period.

It is indeed hard to believe, when one looks at the cityscape in summers, that just a few weeks ago, everything was covered deep in snow, ice and all that the winter leaves behind. It is really an experience for someone not used to all this during the better part of his previous life.