burlington belly fire What I'd give to ride the 14 West one sunny afternoon...all the way to the GO. We could pretend we were going to class. Think of summer - just around the corner - and remember the thick Lake smog rolling in...green and stagnant...and it brings to mind garage sales, the smell of the house, the cool of the basement. Our basement...once, for a time. Best not to think of the house; too many memories there. Ditto for the extended family...when did they stop asking about me? And what did you tell them, I wonder. Damn, what's the name of that European Deli everyone went to? Instead of coffee, we should go there for lunch sometime. Take waffle cookies away with us. The QEW from Brant to Trafalgar wears like a tattoo...permanent, part of me. As is all the city in every season but best in Winter. Always unseasonably warmer, our single lives, school, work, Christmases and returning to a place that felt like home. Good times in summer too...Kingdom Friday nights, Russel Williams Saturday mornings. If I'm not careful, Burlington will haunt me...all the ghosts of my old life. Can you live in a place and not leave a part of yourself behind? Can I still be found somewhere between Bronte and Old Plains? Look for my name in the sidewalk where the Whistling Mountie used to be, or ask about me at the old places we used to work - except Molly Maid, certainly no friendly faces there. It's not possible to remain the same person but one can always revisit that love affair with the city. So much of it good. It's the city that saved me and the city I fled. It's the place where you are. 060413 ... no reason wow, everything is getting so incredibly local 060413 ... no reason at the movie theatre at the qew & brant a significant time and significantly painful 060413 what's it to you? who go blather from