At this time of the day, at this time of the year, walking east, the sun blinds you mercilessly.
True, it’s a sign of a nice day coming but it makes walking dangerous; you can’t see anything looking straight ahead so you walk looking down and hope that those coming in the opposite direction are looking up.
But Gord and I are out for our first walk together. Gord and I are same-condo dwellers. We don’t really know each other that well yet but this is a social building and by happenstance, through a condo sponsored activity, we got to recognize each other.
The social history of the building goes way back and when a group of women got together on a regular basis, I believe it was for yoga, the male component had to compete and so met for a strenuous cup of coffee until they could re-unite with their spouses and drive them home.
It was to this group that I was invited to join and first got to know Gord.
Gord has had more than his share of physical challenges and I couldn’t help but ask him if there’s anything I could do to help him get through his daily activities. I was thinking helping him unload his car.
“You can walk with me,” he almost demanded.
“I can not only do that but would be happy to,” I acknowledged, and so here we are today.
I flattered myself that Gord saw that I would be good company, he had laughed at some of my witticisms over coffee but no, the principal reason was to make sure he didn’t miss a step.
“Walk on my left,” Gord directed, “cause, if I have any non-political leanings, that’s where they tend to take me.”
Gord explained a history of horrific medical challenges that made me admire his positive outlook. Gord is a few years older than I am so I’m very interested in how he copes today as it could be me in a couple of years. Not that I wish his medical condition but I would want to be as upbeat as he is.
Back to the start of the day. I have ambivalent feelings about the end of August; the weather’s still wonderful but you can’t help but see September looming and September the first, for some reason, officially says, “Summer’s over!”
But greeting the day at this hour is a marvel, you’re not the only one wandering about!
Bikers, those individuals, male and female, who can both bend over their handle bars without popping a vetebrae and go fast are out and about. Walkers, too, like us taking to the paths with or without a dog as an excuse.
Now that we’ve turned away from the sun, it’s quite marvelous. The water is calm, geese and ducks abound and the temperature is just right to encourage a quick pace. Gord knows this neck of the woods. His career travels have brought him back to Toronto five times and each time he loves to explore his surroundings. We pass by a monument to George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s visit in 1939 which opened the Queen Elizabeth Way, formerly the the Middle Road. Now why would they want to change such a lovely name? The monument, proudly shown then on the left and now, below, hidden from the beaten path, upsets Gord. “Hasn’t been sand blasted in 40 years,” he sadly declaims and he’s not a royalist.
The Queen Elizabeth Way, now affectionally called the QEW was Canada’s first four lane highway and it had lights, as you can see.
For many years, signs such as this one identified the Queen Elizabeth Way with these two letters E and R that recognized, in Latin, Elizabeth Regina. Visiting tourists of the time from south of the border, however, were both surprised and pleased to see Eleanor Roosevelt’s initials welcoming them.
I know the area but didn’t know you could take a walk under the bridge that covers the Humber and surfaces to another path which I usually bike along. A pleasant surprise.
Gord and I make the dangerous decision to get back home by crossing the busy South Kingsway. Gord’s been holding back on me, he can hustle his buns when his life’s at stake.
The walk covers a little more than a leisurely two kilometres.
