For a few months when I first moved to this city, I spent every day downtown. I would wake up at 5 am, catch the early bus to work, and give people coffee and muffins. After a while, I was able to add strudel-baking to the mix. But then I would get off work by 3 in the afternoon, and have most of the sunny day left to myself. Those were the golden days of window-shopping, harbour-strolling, and park-lounging, and I never had to take the bus the 30-minutes more from downtown to the university.
It strikes me that I haven’t been downtown in ages, excepting one excursion a few days ago. I never have any reason to take the bus in that direction, especially since I moved across town. But summer cannot be allowed to pass by without many agenda-less trips to the main streets at the heart of the city. Pretty soon, now, I’ll be free to do plenty of drifting.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: buskers, downtown, harbour, summer, tourists
Downtown comes alive in summer. The sidewalk artist replicates famous paintings in chalk with his upturned hat on the pavement beside him. The piano busker lugs his big pink upright into the downtown core and picks out slightly off-key tunes. The panhandlers return to their old haunts and particular tactics. A crowd of onlookers gathers around the fire-juggler more frequently. The ivy on the stately old hotel in the harbour leafs out and turns the building green. A regatta of sailboats assembles at the point south of the city. The tourists come in droves and choke the harbour and nearby tourist-centric street. The open-air tour buses crawl the city with increasing frequency. The regular city buses crawl with less. The big downtown park with its petting zoo bursts into full bloom.
My favourite thing to do during this time is to join the masses downtown and stroll along the harbour, or along the street of antique dealers. Sit at the window of a coffee shop and people-watch. Meander through book shops, wander around Chinatown. Forget about classes.
