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The Universe at Work

When we lived in Toronto, we rarely went further past Spadina on Queen Street.



Not that I had anything against the street, it's just that I spent more time up Church Street or down to Jarvis and Front or up to Bloor and Yonge than I did in that direction. Ryerson's near the Eaton's Centre. I was a lazy student. I just stayed closer to home.




This weekend my lovely friends from Korea K and W met D and I downtown for some visiting and potential sightseeing.




As the weather was garbage - not unusual for February - we ended up walking underground for awhile.



After a quick lunch near the Eatons Centre we ventured outside towards City Hall and onto Queen Street.



I knew it would be a street that K would like I also knew that W has lived here before and probably frequented this street as well.



So we walked, in the slush and the snow and the rain (yes, it was raining. IN FEBRUARY. And making this mucky and wet and melted and brown).




W said he knew of a place where we could sit, have a coffee, tea, glass of wine and relax.



None of this was at all out the ordinary. And when we managed to walk too far, he simply wanted to pop into a place to ask about where it was.




So, the 3 of us waited outside and I took this picture:











And K took this picture:








I've only just looked at it today and I had an extreme moment of the shivers.



This week there was a terrible fire in Toronto. It burnt down an entire block of historic buildings and also destroyed a 9 decade old bicycle business.




After spending 6 years living in the city and 5 years living away from it, I had never heard of this shop nor had I eve walked past it.




But on Sunday, I got one of the last shots of it standing before it was destroyed.




I'm not one to mourn over buildings, and if you are, you can find lots of coverage about it here, here and here.



I feel bad for the businesses that have lost their livelihood, especially the ones that have been there so long.



But what I mostly am feeling is spooky. What are the odds of that? That we would choose to go down Queen Street. That we would choose to stop in that place. That we would choose to take pictures in that EXACT SPOT.



The universe does work in mysterious ways.

Comments

kim joo mee said…
OMG OMG OMG, I'm such an amazing photographer and captured the shot so perfectly. I knew it was going to happen. That's why I made Wes pop in for directions and you stand with old man in front of it. Holy Crap.

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