I Am a Pedestrian: Part 1
Walking around a city
I Am a Pedestrian is the result of a 159-kilometre walk around Toronto. The book consists of 159 observations gleaned from a 42-hour adventure at the perimeter. I Am a Pedestrian is a record of underexplored places, stories of people encountered and lost histories rediscovered at Toronto’s current city limits.
Before the onset of the novel coronavirus, I promoted I Am a Pedestrian in public libraries and other venues with a talk titled, The Time Travelling Pedestrian. With the aid of historical photographs, maps, and group discussion, the presentation revealed how Toronto has grown from a lonely French outpost in 1750 to today's bustling metropolis. Below is an excerpt from the book.
Walk With Me
I Am a Pedestrian is the result of a 159-kilometre walk around my city, a city I love. It is a glimpse from the edge into the heart of a metropolis. Here are 159 observations gleaned from a 42-hour adventure at the perimeter. Pedestrian is a record of underexplored places, stories of people encountered and lost histories rediscovered at Toronto’s current city limits.
Walking Toronto’s perimeter commences at the confluence of Etobicoke Creek and Lake Ontario at Marie Curtis Park in south Etobicoke. I follow the watercourse north, tracing the now vanished Indian Line as far as the Eglinton Shelf. City limits dogleg east a short distance before resuming a northerly course to the big road, Steeles Avenue. Tramp east on the big road as far as Scarborough–Pickering Townline Road. It’s a perilous journey south to the banks of the Rouge River. The meandering watercourse spits you Jonah-like onto a beachhead at Lake Ontario’s cold-water shoreline in the southeast pocket of Scarborough.
The approach is simple. Walk. Watch. Write. No political, social or environmental agenda is attached to this endeavour. I am not a student of urban studies, a historian or a seasoned hiker.
I am a pedestrian...
I Am a Pedestrian is available through this website.
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