City or Country?
The opportunities to head to the “near north” where I was
raised and lived for the best part of 25 years, have been rare and short lately. Even
though Haliburton is only about 240 km away, escaping the city life and busy
schedules is difficult. I’m not sure if
it’s the long winter, the yearning to be closer to family, or that periodic
belief that the grass is always greener (the
snow is always cleaner?) on the other side, but I can’t help but reflect on
the merits of country living versus the city life style.
I have been lucky enough to have experienced living in both
the country and in a good safe city. But
It’s still not a comparison I can make easily based on experience. Life has
different elements when you’re a kid versus the adult experience. My country
life was as a youngster, my city life as an adult. My memory also has been known to filter out a
bit of the truth! So realistically a comparison requires a bit of guess work.
My parents abandoned the city and headed north, to
Haliburton, when I was a 3 year old toddler. I grew up with plenty of green
(and white) space and all the experiences that come with that lifestyle.
Summers entailed biking on country gravel roads and bush trails, horseback
riding on hundreds of acres of unspoiled wilderness, canoe trips, rides in a
rickety float plane to remote lakes, riding in Jeeps with the roof off and windshield
down, fishing rods at the ready.
I have fond memories of a favourite spring activity, sucker
fishing. This wasn’t really fishing in the conventional sense, it was finding a
fast running creek during the spring melt and sucker spawning season. For a kid
seeing 3 and 4 lb fish in that shallow ice cold water was a great thrill. A
friend and I hiked back to a favourite creek and with shoes removed and pants
rolled up we “fished” with our bare hands for these suckers that were in huge
abundance in the creek. The odd one we managed to grab we threw on shore. It did not occur to us that other creatures
might also be interested in the easy fishing, or that the dead fish on shore
might lure a Black bear to pay us a visit. In Haliburton black Bears are common
and in April they are still quite hungry after coming out of a long winter
hibernation. It was a moment I won’t
forget…seeing a massive black bear bursting through the underbrush a few meters
from where we stood, knee deep in the creek. I strongly suspect that sprinter Usain Bolt
would have had a tough time catching us as we hightailed it out of the bush,
abandoning shoes, backpacks, jackets etc. In all likelihood the bears never
noticed our presence, or didn’t care, but we didn’t stick around to find out.
Perhaps the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten was a ham &
cheese on rye bread, toasted over an open fire. The open fire was on a lake
only accessible by plane or snowmobile, we shared our lunch with the “Whisky
Jacks” aka Grey Jays that greeted us fearlessly. I’m not sure if we were brave
or stupid to venture that far back in the woods on our ancient snowmobiles, my ‘69
“Scorpion” 370 cc’s held together with wire, bungee cords and a
few prayers.
These were simple times and are forever part of who I am
today. I must say I was not immune to the “grass is greener…’’ thoughts. The other side was, the City. Haliburton, being a tourist town, meant
friendships with cottagers and campers, thus came the stories of what city life
was like. The bigger schools, more girls, shopping malls, paved roads, big name
concert venues, and The EX to name but a few draws to a kid and teenager. Many of my fellow students in our small
school swore we would escape the small town ways at the first possible
opportunity….and many of us did.
The other not so great part of living in a tourist town, is the fact that when everybody else is on
vacation, I was working. So during the best seasons to enjoy the great
outdoors, I was on the job serving the tourists. I can still picture the guy
that remarked, as I was fueling his $20,000 boat that had multiple young ladies
in bikinis on board with water skis etc., that I was so fortunate to live in
Haliburton. Yes that’s right the guy working for minimum wage was the lucky
one… while the city slicker with all the toys played all weekend. Sigh….
At the ripe old age of 19, I moved to Toronto to attend
University. Moving from a High School of
500 students, to a University campus of 42,000 was a dramatic change. I remember sitting in a lecture hall that
could easily seat the entire student population of the Haliburton High School
and being more than a little awestruck. Yes
it was intimidating and dramatically different, but it was also a great
experience, it vastly broadened my horizons on many levels. There is a reason why so many people are drawn
to cities and choose to live in them. There is an energy, and a vibe that is attractive,
especially when matched with the gift of youth.
The city has since become home, and I have many fond
memories of life here in the big smoke. Toronto
is the place where as a student and after a long night out at the downtown
bars, the TTC bus driver took pity on me and drove me off the route to the door
of my residence building at 2am. The city is where I met my wife, and where my son was born.
The city is the place with great hospitals
that provided lifesaving surgery for both my parents. It’s where we’ve bought 2
houses and have had awesome neighbours. My best friends live here, the job
opportunities are undoubtedly better, and having a career of choice is easier. And
there is so much to do! In the GTA we
are blessed to have a great waterfront. I absolutely love my summers in the
city, cycling along Lake Ontario, stopping along the way for a swim. Yes we
actually swim in Lake Ontario! I can
take transit to the airport, to a concert or to a football game. And the annual Tour de Mississauga bike rally is a blast!
Of course there are also the negatives, and they are not
insignificant. The traffic is crazy and commute times are increasing, prices
for real estate grow exponentially, there are just too many people, and then we
have the salt soaked long winters. And the media can’t stop talking about Rob
Ford…
So where would I rather be? Is it City or Country? The jury is still out…
It’s funny how things change…Now, when I get those
opportunities to go to the North Country I have the time to enjoy what nature
and small town Ontario has to offer, whether it is in Haliburton or
Sudbury. But rest assured… I will NEVER
say to a teenager, working diligently in cottage country on a beautiful
summer’s day, that he is the lucky one! Wherever I live, the goal is to make the most
of the opportunities right on the door step.
