So there's a man that I see every morning on the bus to work (This is not the same boy who I wrote a soulful missed connection entry about which I also posted on the actual Craig's list Missed Connections - to which I never got a response...alas). And to this statement you may think "big deal, I see the same people at my bus stop, every day, on the way to work." Sure, but these are people in your neighbourhood, who live within proximity to you. I live at Bloor and Bathurst, yet I board the same bus with this man on most mornings all the way in Scarborough at Victoria Park Station! Then I have seen the same man all over downtown Toronto for over a year now. And why do I recognize him each time? The Tall Man is a really really tall man. That's all that stands out about him. Apart from his height he is quite generic looking.
He wears glasses, has blue eyes and light brown hair, borderline dirty blonde. He is usually quite neat, wearing blue or grey collared shirts to work. He often reads on the bus, wears a black coat in the winter, and leather 'office' shoes. He is stiff in demeanor and I have never seen him smile. He looks like he could be pretty boring, and I often wonder why I'm so intrigued by him. He has an amiable enough face but nothing to write home about. Maybe it's because I believe in signs and think that the universe is encouraging us to meet or even to be friends? Well, I'm just starting to feel like a stalker and want to show you a list of all the locations that I have seen Tall Man and share all that I have conjured about his life and personality:
1. The first time was on the 24 bus platform at Victoria Park st
ation, waiting for the 24 bus North. This has been happening for about a year now, since about May 2008. I usually see him when I'm actually on time for work, or even a little bit early. Most days I'm late. Okay, no big deal; I have started to see my fair share of other Victoria Park 24 bus passengers over the year:- The South Asian woman with thinning hair who I'm sure is Bengali.
- The blond woman with the her bratty blond kid in a stroller who gets off at Eglinton Square Mall just for fun because shops don't open until 10 am.
- The really attractive but clueless dark haired boy with a lunch box who gets off at the O'Connor Community Centre, to which I always wonder: Is he is a construction worker remodeling the centre or a youth worker at the daycare?
2. September, 2008: I'm for the first time on the South-bound Victoria Park bus going from Don Mills station to work, which is at Victoria Park and Lawrence. The bus takes a short cut through Consumer's Road. I see tall man walking way up on Consumer's Road. My sleuthing tells me that he takes the Victoria Park Avenue bus at the station and takes it all the way up North to Consumers Road and this is where the tall man works. What is on Consumer's Road? It's a little industrial area where head offices to numerous companies lie. This made me think that the tall, potentially boring man has a potentially boring job.
3. However, then I see him on October 29th at the Guvernment at a Sharon Jones concert. It's a big venue and he was only about 10 people away from me. He was wearing jeans this time, and had loosened up a bit with beer. And I mean it's Sharon Jones. I don't think you go to a Sharon Jones concert if you're boring or stiff. At this point the tall man became much less boring.
4. Tuesday, November 25th: I'm eating dinner with my cousins at the Red Tomato on King Street West before catching a showing of the Sound of Music and guess who sits down on the table right beside us? You guessed it: tall man with a date. I'll admit he and his date weren't having the wildest time. She seemed chattier than him. I remember wondering whether it was a first date or a full blown relationship. At this point I had leaned over to my table and quickly told them in double pig latin so that he wouldn't understand "Oh my god, you see this guy sitting to my left - Well I see him every morning on my way to work, and I saw him at the Guvernment and on Consumer's Road. Don't you think it's some sort of sign!? Isn't that weird?" (although in double pig-latin it sounded like this: "Ogoh mogy gogod, yogou sogee thigis goguy sigitigitiging togo mogy legeft- Wegell IgI segee hegim egevegeregy mogorniging ogon mogy wagay tego wogork, agand IgI sagaw hegim agat aga cogoncegert agat thege Govegernmegent, agand Cogonsegumeger's Rogoad! Dogo'nt yogou thegink igit's sogome sogort ogof sagign!? Igisn't thagat wegeiird?"). I had then tried that evening to smile at him. I mean come on, I was sitting diagonal from him, but he looked at me blankly so I guess he either didn't recognize me or purposefully showed a lack of enthusiasm in my direction, thereby choosing to not be friends. I then started to hold a grudge against tall man.
5. After a couple months of not taking our regular Vic Park North-bound bus together from the station, I got on the South-bound bus after work in April and he was already sitting on the bus. This was the first time we were riding the Victoria Park bus south-bound together. He definitely gave me a look of recognition. He didn't smile though. He was reading a newspaper. His shoes were kind of fancy. We got off the bus together and walked side by side to the Westbound Subway platform, to which I conclude that the Tall Man is not native to Scarborough and could even be my neighbour. He glanced over at me on the Subway platform, curious I'm sure about where I was headed.
6. What propelled me to go through with this blog entry was that last Saturday night I saw the Tall man out and about at Andy Pool hall. This time he stared at me for about 15 seconds. He still didn't even smile. I really wanted to talk to him this time. Enough was enough; we see each other everywhere. I knew so much about him at this point. So encouraged by a number of Gin & Tonics and some advice from a few strange fellows we met, I purposefully walked on to the dance floor ready to go up to him and say "Hi, my name is S. I see you EVERYWHERE!" but when I approached him he was involved in some grinding action with his girlfriend (who happened to be the same girl he was on a date with November at the Red Tomato - they are in fact a couple), and I turned right around, pretty embarrassed and thankful that I did not say anything in the end.......
All this to say: I'm not a stalker, I promise. I'm just now really intrigued. And, in a city as big as Toronto, when you start to see the same person across the breadth of the city, it's a sign that the city is becoming smaller. You consider for a minute that there is a Toronto community. When you ride the bus with the same people every day you feel akin to your fellow passengers... So, Tall Man if you're reading this (because you googled yourself...?), we're kind of like neighbours now so at least crack a smile at me next time. Or just fully shed the cold exterior and say hi. I think there's a 50% chance we might have something interesting to say to one another, even if it's just about the 24 Victoria Park bus.
S.
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