[tpm] country hacker, city hacker

Thu Oct 3 20:07:45 PDT 2013

I've been riding a motorcycle in Toronto / Kitchener / Waterloo since I
returned from Nova Scotia in 1996. The motorcycle shops I used to go to
arent around any more, but there are places around the city. Occasionally I
had to get them to tow the bike, cause it wasn't working enough to get to
the shop, but usually I was mere;y walking wounded. Now that I have a bike
I bought new ( 12 years ago ), it's in much better  condition and gets by
with occasional routine maintenance.

But they still keep shutting down the bike shops I go to

On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 10:58 PM, Liam R E Quin <liam at holoweb.net> wrote:

> On Thu, 2013-10-03 at 22:02 -0400, Brandon McCaig wrote:
>
> > - Commutting. I've never driven in traffic as heavy as Toronto,
>
> The smart people take the TTC (the public transit).
>
> I would not advise riding a motorcycle much in the city.
>
> Disclaimer: I moved out of Toronto 8 years ago and live in the country
> to the East of the city :-)
>
> > Aside from driving, I don't really know how to get around
> > affordably.
>
> The downtown core of Toronto is very safe. You go to the subway ticket
> booth and get a free "ride guide". If you live in the city you buy a
> monthly transit pass for $130 or so for as many rides as you like:
> http://ttc.ca/Fares_and_passes/Prices/
>
> > It sounds like the subway is the fastest way to get around, but
> > from the maps that I was looking at it only seems to cover
> > certain parts of the city and even then only stops every so many
> > city blocks so I imagine you'd still have quite a bit of walking
> > or have to transfer between transit systems to get to your
> > destination.
>
> Yes. People tend to walk a lot more in the city than in the country.
> In Toronto apartments near the subway stops are more expensive than
> others - they often say "steps to the TTC" if they are a long way away
> and "right next to TTC" if less than 10 minutes' walk :-)
>
> The Toronto Star and Now Magazine --
> http://toronto.nowtoronto.com/ApartmentsForRent/
> used to be among the best places to find somewhere good.
>
> > When I visited I was afraid of trying to cross Dufferin Street
> Cross at a crosswalk or an intersection. People will stop for you.
>
> >  In crowds I get anxious and nervous and self-conscious. I
> > imagine that I'd be forced to cope and adjust to it in Toronto,
> > but in the short term it will probably be difficult for me.
> The realization that no-one actually really cares what you look like,
> that there's so much diversity that people aren't really judging, can be
> very liberating.
>
> > - Finding an apartment that I can afford, on such short notice,
> > that isn't too far away from the office[1], isn't a dump, and
> > isn't in a bad neighbourhood.
>
> I did this with the help of a realter who drove me around to several
> places.
>
> I used to live a short walk from Wingold Ave, on Lauder Ave; the
> landlord, York West Developments, was awesome.
> http://www.yorkwestdevelopments.ca/
>  Having said that, my choce would be to live much, much closer downtown
> and to take the Dufferin bus to work. Make it *easy* for yourself to get
> around, so that you can do things; there's a ton of totally free events
> every week in the city, and you can meet people, have a good time & not
> pay much money. All the way from Bloor and Dufferin east to Bloor &
> Spadina or George, is the "annex", an awesome studenty district with
> cheap food and fun stores.
>
> Moving expenses may well be tax deductible, keep all receipts.
>
> One strategy is to plan to move after a year (or less), once you know
> your way around the city and can choose where to live.
>
> >  Legalities aside, I imagine both companies will
> > be sore about it if I suddenly leave in the middle of this
> > "contract". I'm afraid of potentially burning a bridge that I may
> > need to fall back on.
>
> Sometimes you have to take opportunities.
>
> > - Actually moving down there. I'll need help so either I have to
> > trouble somebody to ride down with me (not a small favor to ask)
> > or I have to hire help. I have to transport two vehicles, and a
> > small amount of large furniture.
>
> If you have a car, remember that parking in Toronto tends to be
> expensive. Like, $100/month or more. Parking on the street will probably
> require a permit that you buy at city hall, and spaces are always at a
> premium. For my part I'd get rid of the car and if you need a car in
> Toronto, use autoshare or zipcar. If you did that you could then rent a
> suitably large van for moving, and drive it with the motobike inside.
>
> > Funnily enough I had one super awesome taxi driver that warned me
> > about it and insisted that I don't let them short change me. He
> > didn't actually give me any numbers to go on other than that
> > rent could easily be $2000/mo. for example.
> It can be, but there are cheaper ones, especially if a basement
> apartment is OK, e.g.
>
> http://www.yorkwestdevelopments.ca/property/one-bedroom-basement-apartment-bathurst-st/
>
> > - Having reliable and safe parking for two vehicles (by spring
> > when my motorcycle will come out). Ideally sheltered parking, but
> > I don't even have that here. If the transit system is good enough
> > then I might be able to sell my car and rely on that,
> I'd say most people in downtown Toronto do not drive, even though the
> mayor (Rob Ford) would like to destroy the public transit system.
>
> >  but I'm not
> > too sure about that. If my residence doesn't have laundry then
> > I'll need to haul my laundry down the block or across the city...
> > Then there is beer store runs, grocery shopping, etc.. I can't
> > imagine doing those kinds of things on public transit and staying
> > sane.
> Get over it darling :-) people do that all the time.
>
> I used to go to The Big Carrot (a natural/organic supermarket) on the
> subway and then take a taxi home with my stuff.  The $20 fare was worth
> it to me.
>
> > - If my car or motorcycle breaks down then I'll need to take it
> > to a garage to get it fixed.
> And if your teeth fall out you'll need a dentist, and if your books fall
> off the wall you'll need to go to Ikea and buy shelves :-)   To find a
> good garage, ask people, go by reputation, same as in the country. Our
> local garage in Milford, ON., is awesome. But we had a good one on Front
> Street in Toronto, too, when we lived at King and Parliament (a good
> area but a bit far from Wingold, could easily take 45 minutes).
>
> If you're being paid less than $30K it'll be hard, and you'll be cooking
> pots of soup for yourself, and looking for a roommate situation rather
> than an apartment.  Me, I'd do it anyway :-) But then, I flew across the
> Atlantic to work in Toronto, at Bloor and Spadina.
>
> Liam
>
> --
> Liam Quin - XML Activity Lead, W3C, http://www.w3.org/People/Quin/
> Pictures from old books: http://fromoldbooks.org/
> Ankh: irc.sorcery.net irc.gnome.org freenode/#xml
>
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