Toronto is a relatively small city if you do not count the suburbs, but why should you? The Toronto life is different than the suburb life, which compares to suburb life in any major city in North America, it is dependent of the car and if you are taken there with your eyes closed you could probably not guess where you are.

Toronto is different than most cities in that people not only work downtown but actually live there.

I live in the city, but not actually downtown, I am in the east side, East of the Don Valley, which is the de facto downtown boundary. To the west the boundary is mainly Dufferin Avenue, to the south there’s Lake Ontario and to the north some people consider Bloor Street the boundary, though others say it is Eglinton Avenue. Here is a map of downtown Toronto so you can see the boundaries yourself.

Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods in that areas are delimited and each one has a special feeling of it. There’s The Annex, Cabbagetown, Riverdale, Queen West, King West, The St. Lawrence Market, St. Clair West, Yorkville, Little Italy, China Town and many many more.

I live in an undefined area, it is close to The Beaches but it is not quite it, some people call it the Upper Beaches, I call it “The Beaches for the poor”. It is on Danforth Avenue but it is not in the neighborhood called Greektown on the Danforth, it is farther away from Greektown than it is to The Beaches and the lake.

It is easy to find one’s way in Toronto by the cross streets, and some neighbourhoods are called by the names of such streets, like Yonge & Eglinton.

I live on Danforth and Woodbine, The subway stop is Woodbine, just 5 stops before the end of the Danforth line. I live half a block from the subway stop and it is really convenient. The supermarket is on the North East corner of Woodbine and Danforth, and my bank is on the North West corner.

I take the subway every day to go to work. I change lines on Bloor/Yonge Station and head downtown to Dundas. From there I don’t even have to go out on the street because Dundas Station is directly on Eaton Centre and I work on the 25th floor of the Eaton Centre Tower on Yonge and Dundas.

The whole ride to work takes me about 20 minutes and I read the newspaper on my way to work.