Observing Trash in St. Lawrence Neighbourhood, Toronto, 2021



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Psychogeography Portrait... 33. Observing Trash Near Us +

	Almost every afternoon I am strolling around St. Lawrence neighbourhood with my granddaughter Eska in a stroller accompanying me [in other words, I am hoping that she will fall a sleep]. We live here and really appreciate exquisite urban atmosphere of this downtown area of Toronto. Trash is noticeable. ⇣	Strolling in a stroller

Observing trash	But all is not that bad if you shift your sight. It is anyway subjective impresion, your personal reaction, your unique experience. My standard practice is to open my mind. To position ourselfs to absorb, to focus on the place itself. Small individual scenes are preparing you for the future experience. That is when you notice that shifting focus suddenly makes things fundamentally changed. ⇣

	More about other sides of stroll – derivé–psychogeograohy walks true the same area, I am reporting HERE–Walk#27 and HERE–Walk#30 or HERE–walk#32. Check it out if interested. This time we are observing TRASH side of space. Sometimes it is even decorative, colourfull, but always smelly. Toronto is not that bad, trash beans are everywhere, mostly clean. Some homeless people [photo #5] are even having pots and fresh flowers, making space almost pleasant. What about #6, Perceptibly [exceptionaly] tidy, isn't it? ⇣	Other sides of stroll

Main tourists truefare	These three images, #7, #8 and #9 are all along Front Street East, main tourists true-fare in this "Old Toronto" area. Sights are not peasant at all, but officials are cleaning this kind of situations very efficiently. Come and check it for yourself. BTW trash on #9 is still there, today – three days later, I was wrong with efficiently!??? ⇣

	Toronto islands is just across the downtown area, 15 minutes ferry ride brings you there. As soon as you step on the shore you will feel tranquility and calmness. Quite different then in the very busy Toronto downtown [photos #10, #11 and #12]. Even trash over here is of unusual nature. In this picturesque environment without cars, trash is for sure decorative. Most of it is actually leftover of some repair work on the few houses mostly on Ward Island where "Islanders" live. ⇣	Feel tranquility

Fear to be rejected by society	Now we are back on the mainland. Don't be afraid to be different. Something everybody is scared to be. They fear they will be rejected by society if they are. Look, observe, admiring is not necessary. Check my book "Right to be Different" published last year. Person on the photos bellow is sure that all of items surrounding him are not trash. Food, playing cards, coffee cups, wheelchair, stool, what else you can see. It has value to him. It should be enough for us too. ⇣

	Once you start looking in a certain direction you observe more, let's say colourful images. In this very historic space, Taylor's Wharf Lane [check separate walk specific for this Lane], bombastic "Waste Connections of Canada" is doing what they can by providing dumpster rental – photo #17. Visible in the distance very colourful GFL Environmental is promising: "Green Today. Green For Life. Providing sustainable environmental solutions across North America" – photo #18 in the middle. But most absurd is last photo #19 with tons of trash just bellow "No Dumping" sign. #19a is just adding to the confusion. Is this garbage or decoration? Halloween is far away so that is not the reason for this display? ⇣

	There will be more photos here very soon, but won't be what you are expecting? ⇣

	These images are just trying to improve impression about our Neighbourhood, observe colours, heading north towards King Street... ⇣

	More colours, some of them honoring missing indigenous people and some advice where and how to explore the rest of the city... ⇣

	Now lets come back to the initial intention of these walks over several days. We are observing trash in our Neighbourhood. #26 – regular garbage, #27 – mysterious life saving belt from the Sea Harf Yacht? and #28 neat garbage of the patriotic neighbours. That's it for now, maybe it will continue if we notice something really exciting. ⇣

	#29 is quite specilal. It is so close to our place, so unusual and of course again taken during the stroll with our graddaughter. I anyway "Hearth Market Street", specially when it is pedestrianized in summer months! ⇣

	#30 is trash accumulated over the winter months in the little pond near Music Garden on the Toronto Harborfront. It looks colourful but, hmmmm, what do you think? ⇣


~ 21 ❖ Praça des Flores, Lisbon, Portugal, 2017 ~ 26 ❖ Funchal City Centre, Madeira, Portugal, 2019 ~ ~ Bascarsija, Sarajevo, BiH, 2018 ~ 27 ❖ Nicholson Lane, Toronto - February 2020 ~ 30 ❖ Taylor's Wharf Lane, Toronto, 2021 ~
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urban squares initiative is licensed under a creative commons attribution-share alike 2.5 canada license. April 25, 2023
List of all Squares Activities Documentation Classification Evaluation Psychogeography Network&Resources Who We Are Contact Us
Last time updated on April 25, 2023