Monday

[mbarrick]

So I just experienced my first Monday morning in Toronto. I had an interview this morning at 10am in Mississauga so I had a bit of a transit adventure to deal with: streetcar along Queens to University, walk to Union Station, GO train to Port Credit station, #19 Hurontario bus (Mississauga transit) to get to an industrial part off the 401. I was up at 6:30 am (which, thanks to the time difference still feels like 3:30 am). I miscalculated the trip to Union Station and missed the GO train I intended to take so I got to sit in the station for about an hour sipping on a latté and made a few observations.

1. People apparently don't drink a lot of lattés or the like here. There was no line at the coffee bar despite the station being very busy, and the barista made the mistake of putting the lid with too much foam and made a milk gyser.
2. People really do walk faster here. Nor do they change course when someone is not walking with the flow. I had to cross the stream of commuters at right angles to the flow to get to a seat to wait and people were just barreling along, eyes front.
3. People really do dress better here. Sitting, watching the commuters stream past this was very noticable. Of the several hundred people I watched walk by I recall seeing two pairs of jeans.
4. Bus drivers here will let people on between stops, but they won't tell you when your stop is approaching to get off. Fortunately I had made note of the four street names preceeding the stop I wanted and managed to get off at the right place.

So, despite missing the train I made it right on time, which was sheer luck. I had no idea how long the bus was going to take on Hurontario and wanted to get the earlier train to make sure I had lots of leeway. The interview itself was also very not Vancouver-like. It was infinitely more to the point with no touchy-feely "what kind of environment are you looking for?" B.S.. Pretty much it was simply "What have you done?" "How much money do you want?" and "When are you available?" I like that. I like that a lot.

So anyway the recuiter has a position open with a biggish company downtown. Eight months to a year to cover a maternity leave. The recuiter is going to try to get me an interview with the client tomorrow or Wedneday so I can get a face-to-face before I go back to Vancouver (to turn around and go to NYC!). An eight month contract would put me withing striking distance for getting work in NYC in the furture since it is only an 8 or 9 hour drive.