Love is never easy...

Sometimes, it's down-right hard.

And this week, its been damn-near impossible where my darling city is concerned.

Oh, Toronto, with your whimsical Tower and your quaint streetcars and adorable junior subway (I can say that - I just had to navigate around the NYC subway by myself and - trust me - the TTC is Subway Lite!), and your unpredictable lake-effect weather that always assures that whatever I choose to wear on any given day is exactly the wrong thing. I do love you. I do. That's why I'm here. You are vibrant and cultured and polite and pretty. But this week, you have put my love to the test.

Well maybe not the whole city. Maybe just my immediate neighborhood.

I live right downtown. This has the advantage of putting me smack where the action is. I'm a seconds-long walk to 2 streetcar lines (which is lovely - except when there's an accident east of the bridge and neither of them are running...)

I have a local pub just up the street where I can go for a pint and a brainstorming session about whatever current plot problem is making me crazy.

There is shopping and entertainment on Queen Street.

There is the historical Distillery District a brief stroll away.

There is Leslieville with its up-and-coming funkiness and the creeping revitalization of Corktown which is slowly taking it from seedy to hip.

There is a lot happening in a very close radius to my house. Hence the love/hate attitude. See... I understand that for revitalization to take place, there must be new building. I just object to the fact that it has to be right in front of my house. My view of the aforementioned whimsical tower is gone now and I haven't slept past 7:00 am in almost a year (and I am NOT a morning person).

I understand that to accommodate the growth you need to do things like replace water mains. I don't understand why this needs to be done at 4:00 in the bloody morning. Yes. 4. Not a typo. (See - sleep deprivation, above).

I completely get the fact that living downtown means bustle and noise and craziness. But on Saturday? Every Saturday? Seriously?

So you see... this post would be much more elegiac if I wasn't so very very tired.

It's like this: it's tough to write a love note to someone who's kept you awake all night with monster-loud snoring. Mostly you just want to elbow them sharply in the kidney.

Also... the Leafs lost again last night. Love hurts, man. Love hurts.