So every year, around the middle of February, Toronto seems to undergo a thaw. Not a permanent one, no. March always comes back and kicks us in the ass again. It’s just long enough to remind the optimists that spring is just around the corner, and just long enough to remind the pessimists that this corner is over a month long. Yes, February is just that much crueller in my neck of the woods. Could it be?!? Could it be spring?!?! Ha! Take that suckers!
In true form, it was way above average today. Mild. Misty. Tomorrow? This weekend? Ass cold again. And all this up and down has caused some rather nifty side effects. I noticed when leaving the house this morning that the track field across the street was covered in a thin layer of mist. Looks rather cool, thought I. The return this evening was rather more dramatic.
As a refresher, please recall the ordinary view from my back window.
normal day...
Now here’s the fun part. You see those buildings? In the background there? Yeah, they’re not that far away. I may not live *right* downtown anymore, but those buildings are closer than this picture would imply. The towers on the left, for example, I could get to in maybe twenty minutes on the street car, even ten on a good day. I could walk with no trouble. The large tower in the centre, on the other hand, is eons down the road. It’s somewhat of an optical illusion, because what you can’t tell from this perspective is exactly how MASSIVE this tower is. It’s the CN Tower, a staggering 1,815.4 feet tall, once the tallest freestanding building in the world up until Malaysia went and put up some shitty radio tower that nobody even knows about.
---------------------The CN Tower ----------------------^
IT'S HUUUUUUUUGE!!!!
The point is, you can normally see this thing for miiiiles away, especially now that it’s been affixed with neon tubing or whatever that is. For us city dwellers, the minute you can’t see this tower is the minute you are out of our beloved metropolis and very, very scared.
So yes, please imagine how I felt when this sight greeted me upon my arrival home this evening. Please imagine, just for a moment.
NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
WHERE ARE THE TOWERS?!?!?
I know it’s foggy out, I get it! But they’re GONE! I couldn’t see ten feet in front of me when I was at street level, but you’d think I’d be able to see a massive neon tower from three stories up!
I haven’t even seen that Stephen King mist movie, and I’m still not going anywhere outside tonight. I don’t care if it’s outright balmy and it’s my Canadian duty to celebrate. I’m confused! Confused, scared, and a little bit lost!
Wake me up when I can find my way around again.
800 Miles 
Josh said,
February 12, 2009 at 12:29 am
OMFG! It almost looks like you live … (cue scary music) … somewhere normal! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! What the hell fuck! The sky is falling! Halp meh!
Let me put this in perspective. The tallest building in Raleigh is twenty seven stories high. In order to get a view of that, I would have to drive across Garner, maybe four miles, and climb to the top of the water tower. From there on a clear day I could see Raleigh. You know what I see out my window? Forest. Beautiful, uncrowded, mostly crime free forest. (a forest is an area that has not been paved or built on, and still has real life nature growing on it, mainly trees, with real life animals living in it, kind of like a zoo, but with less tigers and fences)
And it was over seventy degrees today. For those of you living in Canada, that’s the temperature people feel comfortable at, and maybe one day if you are lucky, you will get to see it too. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
javajunkee said,
February 12, 2009 at 4:07 am
is this a “where’s waldo?” ..I think I can almost find the tower. Now that is some damn scary stuff when a tower like that disappears!
talea said,
February 12, 2009 at 4:12 am
Ohmygodohmygodohmygod….WHERE IS THE CN TOWER??? That pictures fucks with my mind, yo. I can’t handle not seeing the tower.
Must. Breathe.
But what way is south?!?
Haha. Dude, the mist was totally awesome. I felt like I was in a horror movie and that I could probably do some seriously illegal shit and nobody would be able to see me. Muahahaha.
Emerald said,
February 15, 2009 at 3:09 pm
@ Le Boyfriend: But towers ARE normal to me!!!!! I can see plenty of sky out my front windows, but the back windows are supposed to have towers so I can feel all superior to my fringe Torontonians who can’t just walk downtown for an afternoon. However, I am looking forward to spending a bit of time living near forests. And you and stuff.
@ JavaJunkee: I have never seen such a thick fog, it was crazy!
@ Talea: Haha, only you. “I would never do illegal shit…unless there’s FOG!!! Woot gimme that crowbar!” 😛
Will said,
February 19, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Oh wow. This is weird. I have a fear of skyscrapers. I tend to lose balance around them. Not sure why. In NYC I got vertigo so bad I wandered out into the street and was almost hit. But I have no problems jumping out of a plane. Strange.
Emerald said,
February 20, 2009 at 1:27 am
@ Will: Jeez, THERE you are! I thought you got eaten by a bear or something. Fear of skyscrapers, huh? Well, unlike NYC, Toronto’s skyscrapers are pretty concentrated, you can get away from them by getting on a streetcar and going twenty minutes in any direction. Or you can check the weather and make sure than any scheduled stops are during heavy fog so it looks like they don’t exist at all 😉