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02/10/2005: "Rocket Hole"

Yesterday at Queen and John I got on a streetcar going east. Like you're supposed to do, I tried to make my way to the backish part of the double-length car. The people don't move. They don't read the signs, they don't get out of the way, and they make me want to drive a car. It seems unCanadian and unTorontonian not to follow the rules like this. In the middle, the elbow of the streetcar, there was a guy taking up all kinds of space so I said excuse me but he didn't move. I pushed him a bit to move him out of the way but he wouldn't budge. I looked and he was holding onto the bar and pushing back, not letting me through. So I pushed harder and kind of slid through.

As I did I said "move to the back of the thing" and he said "shut your hole" and sort of looked over his shoulder. I laughed because it was funny. In my imagination I punched him in the head and said something about his crappy hole.

Usually this sort of interaction in Toronto public spaces makes me feel a little ill. Near my house, on Davenport, there is an Esso car wash. On the nice winter days we've been having, there is a lineup of cars that streaches out onto the street. They are often blocking the sidewalk, and the drivers conspiciously don't make eye contact as I approach. I usually end up making a motion towards the sidewalk saying "this is a sidewalk". One guy in an Explorer on Sunday said "yah, I know" then laughed. Another woman with ski lift tags on her coat said "oh is it" and looked around confused. It confirmed my suspicion that skiiers and snowboarders are every bit as awful as golfers, in terms of their domination of the maximum amount of space possible for as few people as possible. Sometimes I don't say anything as I walk by the carwash as it takes a while to shake the bad mood the interaction causes.

Replies: 3 Comments

on Thursday, February 10th, Eric said

I've also noticed Torontonians to be particularly pushy. Like when the subway doors open, and people are still stepping out of the train, there's often someone anxious to push their way through the exiting crowd. Last week, I was waiting by the curb for the 191 at Kipling Station, and the bus arrives and I move aside so people can get off the bus. I feel one person push past me on their way onto the bus, and then a few others. I notice that there is still a man on the bus waiting to step down, but the flood of new passengers has begun so the man has to stand and wait. Nevertheless, I waited until he had cleared before I got on.

What is it about Toronto that makes people so pushy? I think it has something to do with the goal-oriented, work-centric culture we have in this city. People are so focused on what they have to do that they are unaffected by information that falls outside of their predetermined life.

And it's hard not to let those drones dim your spirits, because you look at them, and you become aware of the disappointment in their lives, and somehow you come to share that disappointment. But remember, there are people in this world who cherish the process of life and believe you can do no better that to share a connected moment with another human being. So there's always that.

on Friday, February 11th, Shawn said

See, I would never go so far as to say that. There are dumb people in this city, but there are millions and millions of them - there's bound to be some people who screw it up.

However, i don't see wanting to move fast as being pushy. Those people who stand in front of subway doors, or push their way on before everybody is off deserve to be knocked down, and i try to do just that sometimes. But am i a drone because i need to be in 4 places in one hour? i do good things, i think, but i'm often in a huge rush around this city to do them, and i have no time for people who shuffle along, blocking the way, or who stand on escalators, or couples who take up two lanes of sidewalk with their insufferable hand holding... i cherish life a lot, but i like it to move fast, and do a bunch of stuff, and i don't think that's motivated by any dissapointment in my life. toronto just sings sometimes, and flies, and when it's all moving and working together it's great.

in a big city, as chaotic as toronto sometimes is, it's impossible to let yourself be affected by every piece of information we come across, we would freak out and be useless. you have to block some stuff out. there was a austrian sociologist in the 1920s who wrote about the psychological blinders big city folk have to have in order to function. an outsider might see this as drone-like or heartless even, but it isn't.

i find toronto terribly friendly, and i can engage strangers in public here a lot easier than i can in small towns or say, windsor, where i'm so hesitant to be "public" and live "in public".

on Sunday, February 13th, Eric said

I agree that moving fast and acting pushy don't have to be the same thing, but how do you respond when someone seems to be in the way of your moving forward?

I wouldn't call you a drone because you like to work and stay busy. But what do you call someone who has already decided what their day will bring before they've even gotten out of bed?

For sure a life in the city requires a certain amount of social indifference. How else could we cope with the constant flow of information that is today's urban experience? Where I may differ is that I do not worry about being useless, largely because I have trouble believing there is some point to this life. I cherish the shared moment not because it contributes to some cosmic spirit, but because it is a moment that is shared. Often, I like the way this feels.

For me, this is an idea at the heart of Guy Debord's Psychogeography. It is aimlessly wandering with the hope of experiencing something anew. There is no point, no ultimate destination, merely the experience of being present in the moment. For two people to recognise that they are in the same space and to then be willing to share the experience with the other seems to be as significant an achievement as anything else I can think of.