The added bonuses of working at Spadina and Bloor

You might have heard by now that I got a new job recently and that my place of work is located pretty much at Bloor and Spadina. If you haven’t heard, why aren’t you following me on Twitter, Facebook or Mugshot?

I won’t be making it a habit to talk about work on this blog, but I did think it wouldn’t hurt to mention some of the benefits of working at Spadina and Bloor (ok, maybe I’m bragging just a little!) that have occurred to me after my first day of work today.

1) There is nothing like seeing the CN Tower as I go to and from work. Perhaps it sounds corny to some, but its filled me with pride each time I catch a glimpse of the tower; pride in where I am from and a type of pride that reminds me I am a born and bred citizen of this incredible city but that I have a lot to do to make this city as great as it can be.

I get an unobstructed look at the top two thirds of the tower when I come to and from the Spadina station, and when I happen to look through a south facing window where I work. I never realized until now how different and inspiring the CN Tower can look at different times of day, in varying degrees of light, poking up from the downtown skyline. I am going to need to bring in my camera to capture the tower in its many daily aspects.

2) Four words: cheap, but good, sushi. If you are not from Toronto, you may not know that the Annex, of which Spadina and Bloor is the heart, is a neighbourhood that borders the University of Toronto and hence includes a lot of student-priced eateries. There are a lot of good eats in the Annex, including interesting health food shops, pubs and bakeries. But at least a dozen inexpensive sushi restaurants with cute names like Next Generation, Sushi Time and j-Sushi, make the biggest food mark, including a Bento Box takeaway counter in the Dominion supermarket on the south side of Bloor. When I want to eat out and get healthy and quick, nothing beats a box of veggie California rolls for five dollars, or a meal with miso soup, tea, your choice of maki, sushi, sashimi or other authentic and faux Japanese treats, and ice cream (mango, red bean, green tea or coconut anyone?) for dessert — all for the unbelieveable price of six dollars!

3) The best part of the Annex is the people. There are native folks who frequent The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto; students or perhaps aspiring models in skinny jeans, fake Uggs and jackets too short to cover their torsos; various starving artists and funky looking people with interesting hairstyles and hair colours, rebels perhaps, with a cause, all conforming somehow by wearing Converse on their feet; panhandlers draped in blankets and holding Tim Horton’s paper cups; men and women, some looking sharp, others looking uncomfortable in suits and dress clothes; older citizens pulling market carts; and an array of people carrying cloth bags with large print that reads “This is not a plastic bag.”

Even better than these anonymous characters walking by is the fact that one of my favourite people in the world works about 500 metres from where I work. Today, after I decided to save my breath and my feet and not get on the overcrowded train that pulled in at Spadina, I wondered further along the platform to better position myself to get on the next train and to be closer to the exit stairwell when I got to my destination. As I trudged passed the gathering rush hour masses, our eyes found each other. And if you were there at about 16:52 you probably heard two women break your rush hour monotony with cries of glee, rush towards each other and grip each other in an eyeglass-removing hug.

As we gushed at the fortunate timing — how we had both made little decisions that meant our arrival on the platform at just the right moment — and my friend and I beamed at being able to see each other on my first day on the job, I began reflecting on all the great things about working at Spadina and Bloor.