The Green Frisbee in Toronto

By John Joyce

I was a young European immigrant when I first visited Toronto, or Metro as it was then known. Ontario license plates declared, "Keep it Beautiful"; now they display, "Yours to Discover." I have memories of Yonge Street: images of girls wearing long dresses, walking barefoot on Saturday nights, and youths playing Frisbee in a closed-off section. I think it was a green Frisbee, because I bought a green Frisbee a week later and took it to one of Toronto's spacious parks. I recall I was in awe of the vast green space, populated with varnished picnic tables, often occupied by convivial Italian families, some of whom were rolling small wooden balls: bocce.

I continued to have strong associations with Toronto for many years after; like so many Canadians, the head office was there, in Mississauga. I recently spent a short holiday in Toronto and observed many changes there and within myself. Though for me and the city much has remained the same, my recent relaxed visit revealed possible career paths I had ignored in my youth. I have always had an interest in music, art, and history, but I can see now that my musical interests have become keener, and that I have added architecture to my palate. Electrical engineering has been my livelihood, but I muse whether I should, or could, have pursued music more openly? I suspect I am not alone with my tacit reflections on career paths.

I called them trams, but they are known as street cars; the associated sounds and their stops at "Dundas & Jarvis," and "Yonge & Shuter," remain the same. The subway has not changed either, but folk appear to read less; preferring instead to text-message and play their iPods. The National Post didn't exist during my first visit to Toronto, and alongside the Globe and Mail it has become a national newspaper; The Toronto Star stayed local. The CN communications tower was added in 1976 and appears to be always watching over the millions of visitors.

Nothing much has changed on the nearby Toronto Islands; the ferry access and the few residents living in their very expensive campground-like cottages. On my first visit to Toronto I was flabbergasted to be told that this vast stretch of water was Lake Ontario, not the sea; Europeans are not accustomed to such large lakes. I was dismayed to see dead fish washed up along the freshwater shore and frustrated that I couldn't swim due to the pollution. Watching the Toronto skyline from the small island ferry had me humming Gordon Lightfoot's lyrics: "Oh the skyline of Toronto is something you'll get onto, but they say you've got to live there for a while…"

One can imagine that eventually you'd bump into most of your Toronto Facebook friends while dining or walking along Harbourfront. One small park where you could arrange to meet many of them is the Music Gardens, which interprets, in different parts of the garden, Bach's Cello Suite. Much Music studios are not far away, on 299 Queen St. West. Has Yo Yo Ma been there? He would more likely head to Arthur-Erickson-designed Roy Thomson Hall, the home of the Toronto Symphony. I noticed that the Moody Blues were playing at the Hummingbird Centre, now branded the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the former O'Keefe Centre. Were they playing to their children's children? I recall that "Peace Train" by Cat Stevens and "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot were the popular songs during my early visits.

In 1997 six municipalities were amalgamated into one mega-city of Toronto. It is still not clear if this amalgamation has been a success, but other cities, such as Vancouver, appear to be copying. What we don't want other cities to copy is Toronto's Presbyterian attitude towards alcohol.

Toronto, like most cities, has at least one major attraction, outside the main rotary of monuments, that requires planning and the surrendering of a precious day. One of the first questions most visitors ask is, "How far away is Niagara Falls?" Answer: 130km or about two hours by bus. I have visited Niagara Falls twice and would go again. During my previous trips to Toronto I visited Fort York and the now-closed planetarium. But my newest curiosity is the McMichael Gallery (located in the village of Kleinburg, just outside Toronto) where one can enjoy a permanent and extensive collection of works by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven — or are we back up to ten?

Nathan Phillips Square, in front of Toronto City Hall, has fountains, which is always good for one of those arms-length snapshots of yourself. The Jazz Festival stages some of its performances here, as well. I did fall across Osgoode Hall, the Victorian legal building, on my way to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The Distillery Historic District is one of the new monuments eclipsing the once-hip Yorkville and appears to be out of the gaze of the CN tower.

The Royal Ontario Museum's "crystal extension" grabbed worldwide attention and positioned me across the street taking photographs. How do they hang pictures on "them walls?" I moved the camera 30 degrees and snapped the red brick Victorian building; The Royal Conservatory of Music. I would like to write that they once rejected my application, but my only association with the esteemed body are two sandy-coloured books filled with piano drills. Philosophers Walk is a narrow pathway between the Royal Ontario Museum and the Royal Conservatory of Music, leading onto the campus of the University of Toronto and a different world. I saw two students walking the path, dark-haired girls of Italian ancestry, eating red cherries. Would they know how to play bocce? One had a paperback book, the title of which I could not read. Might the author be Robertson Davies or Margaret Atwood? I came across 14 oak trees commemorating the killing of 14 female students in Montréal, in 1989. And on a nearby grass verge a young couple played Frisbee. Do you have to be young to play Frisbee? It was a green Frisbee