Thirty-six hours after arriving in this country I’m ready to throw together some of my initial observations about coming home. You’ll have to forgive me for not writing an entry earlier because I was suffering from jet lag–it’s not true you don’t get it going east. Excuses aside, here are my initial thoughts:
- There are fewer people on the street than I remember. I thought Toronto was this huge metropolis when I left, so why does 2.5 million in the city centre now feel so small? My family tell me people are off the streets because it’s cold, but still….there’s so much space.
- There’s SO much space. The sidewalks are bigger. The houses are bigger. The seats on the subway are a little bit bigger. Everything is bigger.
- The subway is…dare I say it…pleasant compared to the horrendous tube.I cannot stress this point enough. It’s clean. The trains are bigger. The most shocking is that real air flows through the trains!
- People are nicer. I’m sorry, but they just are.
- Canadians know how to do a good coffee and plop a coffee shop on every street corner
- I don’t actually like Tim Horton’s. I’m just nostalgic for it (this goes for a lot of things)
- It still doesn’t feel real, being home
The London Experiment 
So excited to see you this week!
I had a good laugh over this: “People are nicer. I’m sorry, but they just are.” That shows it right there, you Canadian 😉
“People are nicer. I’m sorry, but they just are.”
Gasp…! Here’s my take:
People are more stressed in London because there are larger numbers of people living in much less space. We cram together like sardines every morning on a tube with no fresh air, and are sweaty and disgusting by the time we arrive at work. We also have rubbish coffee, so being nice to strangers is really hard work 😛
Hope you’re enjoying Canada (but not too much… ;))