The moment finally arrived… we are here, there, wherever it is for you, but we are definitely here- the big TO.
We had originally intended on getting the train from Montreal to Toronto but after a few attempts to relocate any distance en masse with luggage we decided to re-think it. At 130 dollars each for a one way ticket and a load of foreseeable hassle we managed to find a rental company that allowed a different drop off location without demanding half a kidney and your first born child. The monetary equivalent is 800 dollars on top of the rental fee, nearly a grand just to drive five hours from A-B as per the majority of rental companies quotes. We got lucky at the central station because they had a car that needed to be retuned to TO so for $160 got a nice big white chevvy and we blazed a trail on the 401. Over 500 km in one fail swoop Bobbi took to the wheel and with some sweets and a satellite radio that had 300 stations - the jesus channel, BBC news, hits of every decade and our favourite the family channel with the star song’ Shampoo me’ which made bobbi laugh so hard we had to turn it off before she crashed the car! So all in all we had a surprisingly pleasant journey. Until that is we got to the outskirts of the city and just COULD NOT get to where we needed to be Spadina and King St, circling around and around for a good hour, roads disappearing on maps and bloody road works blocking our every route. It was after midnight, we’d been up early having already driven from Saint Donat to Montreal to return the first rental. But we managed to not lose it, we kept pulling over and pullling out the 5 different maps of Toronto that we had. None of which were a full and detailed version so we pieced them together and arrived exhausted and frazzled but not killing each other which is the main thing.
The hostel is alright- seen worse and definitely seen better but it does the job and is right in the heart of downtown. We made a holy show of ourselves horsing up the 2 flights of stairs in a little chain passing bag to bag with every passer-by offering to help and us red faced and breathless exclaiming ‘Oh god no, we’re grand thanks’ and in true Irish fashion desperately hoping they were understand we are culturally conditioned to refuse the offer but secretly would love some help! The quad-bed room is already a pig sty ‘Quell surprise’.
We sat in a shell shocked silence staring around at the stained walls, stark lighting and rickety bunk beds of our new home suddenly wondering what in the hell we were doing here. Just when spirits were sinking to a dangerous low- Hannah rose to the fore and demanded we head to the hostel bar to mark the occasion and cheer up. After the whopper drive Bobbi hit the hay but the 3 of us forced ourselves to go down and toast our arrival. A few coronas later and a chance to catch our breath and we were feeling marginally more positive. A good nights sleep and we were up and out for brekkie, bailed into the rental and took a drive around our new hometown. It was a great chance to see the different areas and try to get our bearings without having to do it all on foot. We took a spin over to Cabbage Town the aptly named little Ireland with a vague fantasty of maybe living there but as per everywhere we seem to go there was packs of crazies. Roaming every street corner half naked with long beards and mad head wear. Wandering aimlessly with giant dogs on a rope shouting at no one in particular and begging for change we made a collective decision there and then that Cabbage Town was now off the prospective apartment location list. The unusually high level of crazies at 1.30 on a Thursday afternoon suggests that a weekend night would be reminiscent of a scene out of night of the living dead.
Trying to buy a mobile phone was a days worth of work in itself- over 2 hours we spent wearing the ear off poor Ahmed our sales rep in one of the phone shops. Price plans are extremely detailed and complicated entities here and thats not including optional extras such as voicemail and caller number display. You need 2 forms of Photo id and a credit card to buy a phone and they run a credit check on you and do a quick blood test to see if you and the phone are compatible (maybe I exaggerate a little!). Anna had no passport with her nor credit card so I ended up just ‘deciding’ that I needed 2 phones registered in my name- one for business and one for pleasure. Well what can they say, whatever I decide to do with it after is up to me! So we now had Toronto numbers and can start the arduous task of phoning letting agents and applying for jobs- Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Best thing is tomorrow never comes but we decided to dry out tonight and bar a cheeky margarita with dinner we going cold turkey and having an early night so we wake up fresh in the morning ready to cracking on a home and a job, just a few minor details that really make living in a new country that little bit easier!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment