On Saturday I went down to the Chester and Danforth area with a few friends. When i got there, the first words that came out of my mouth were: "THIS is where I want to live!!". I walk out and am surrounded by amazing restaurant after restaurant, (organic) cafes, nik nack stores, and a few used CDs stores. What more can i ask for? :)

After being overwhelmed with the number of resaturants, we decided to hit the patio on Pappas Grill. The food was great, eating succulent greek style lemon chicken, marinated with rosemary. The accompanying veggies were also very tastey, and not the run of the mill "seamed tasteless veggies" kind.

We went for a late afternoon/early dinner "dinner", at around 4:00. I find that when we go out for dinner at say 6:30, we don't meet until 7, get started at 7:30, then before you know it we're past 9 and you wonder where the time went. Plus, I always feel the need to go walking afterward, and by this time most shops are closed. This way, we got started at around 4:45 PM, finshed by 6 PM and had tons of time after to go around walking, and hitting an great cafe for some great tea and great chats afterwards.

More Rationale
My afternoon down by the Danforth only made me want to live there even more. There's just so much life in the area, with a touch of sofistication minus pretention. It's also quite queer friendly and very diverse (not just sexual, but ethnic/racial too). You can also walk a bit south and hit some great parks, and even further to the beaches. It's also very close to the subway and easy to commute to my job (just take the Pape bus north), which will help erraticate the reliance of a car. PLUS, SBF lives in the area as well (uber bonus!!)

I don't know how long the "charm" will last, but all i ask is for at last one full year there! It is an area of town that I know much less of, compared to places like Queen/Spadina, Annex/Kensington, Yonge/Wellesley. It would be great to live and learn a new vibrant area.

My one reservation is groceries. I'm not sure where the nearest grocery centre is, but i'm sure there's got to be one either north or south of danforth. Where would everyone get their food? The last thing I want to do is subway to get groceries. This reminds me of when i was living at Waterloo and my friend and I would make bus runs to Zhers. In Waterloo, you can ride unlimited for the full hour while your transfer is valid -- being "economically conscious" students, we would take the bus there (20 mins) get food (20-25 mins) and get back on the bus so we could save putting in another $2 ticket. It was quite the system! Anyway, I'm not too keen on doing that again!

I can't wait until my buddy from kingston comes back to Toronto. Then i can seriously start looking in the area and putting my money (well, what's actually saved up) where my mouth is to look at houses for rent. And what's also great is that his gf and her roomate will be in the area as well! They're both amazing women -- One of which I already have a music bond with! She rocks!

Soon soon soon soon...

Take care,

RE

"eat drink and be merry