My Favorite Places
Each season, I'm gonna add new themes to Looking for Inspiration. Email me your ideas on any of the themes.
In the morning I check the weather forecast: 20-25 centimetres of snow for today in the Ottawa region. Look out my window a few hours later: snow, snow, snow, snow, snow. Next morning I am awoken by this annoying P.A. system:
Please move your car as soon as possible. The plough will be here soon to clear out the parking lot.
This routine has gone on at least four times this winter. There's only so much one can get excited about. There is something fatally wrong with society when you actually look forward to spending time in the supermarket. As I discussed in Inspiration #1, summer presents me with lots of Inspiration. I love going for walks.
So, what's your favourite walk? Or, for that matter, what is a "walk"? For me, a walk is a route I take to experience certain tastes of town. Walking has been one of my favourite hobbies ever since I remember. One day I was pushed through the Nymark Plaza area of Toronto. It was great on a summer's day, so why the fuck did my parents sell that house anyway? Seriously, walking presents an artist with situations to inspire content. Here's my top inspirational walks.
- Rideau Market: Outdoor cafes, restaurants, shopping malls. Forget eating. Pick a restaurant and study the conversation going on. Listen to the music coming from the nightclubs. I still haven't seen anything like a summer's night in the Rideau Market anywhere.
- Rideau Canal: I either start at the Rideau Centre going west or Carleton University going east. Breathe in as you watch the water. A nice winter's day, watch people skating.
- Sparks & Elgin: My senses are tickled by the flames coming off the restaurants on Sparks Street. On a summer's evening, the music is blaring. Some nights, this street rocks more than Elgin.
- Bank Street (Sunnyside and Bronson east to downtown or west to Billings Bridge): Bank Street is a retail street. More retail than pubs and restaurants. Don't try walking the whole way east.
- College Street (Toronto): One of the only places in Toronto I miss. I start at Capitol Pizzeria going west. Just like on Elgin, there are thousands of restaurants, cafes and night clubs. And, yes, neighbourhoods. My original inspiration for novel-writing.
- Van Horne to Seneca Hill to Leslie Street (Toronto): Lots of backyards. Picnic tables and stereos were put to good use on a decent summer's night.
- Dow's Lake (east from Pavilion to Dunton Tower @ Carleton): okay, it's basically woods and grass besides the canal path. Those green lawns.
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