The Sheppard line is the newest subway line in Toronto. It's the white elephant of the TTC. It was forced on them by Mel Lastman when he was mayor of North York, at the expense of better lines. This is the only subway line that I haven't lived or worked on.
It was cloudy as I walked with Ursula to the subway. We got stuck in the middle of the Bloor Viaduct, because of an emergency at the Castle Frank Station. I said goodbye to Ursula at St. Clair, and continued on to Sheppard. This was the station I used to get out at when I worked up in this neighbourhood. Of course it has completely changed since then. I took the first set of stairs up, assuming that they would all take me to the street. But these ones didn't, they took me to the Sheppard line. I had to go back down, and then back up the stairs that I used to take way back when. Here things were somewhat familiar.
I emerged into the Sheppard Centre and onto Yonge Street. It was bright and sunny out. And much warmer than in past weeks. I rounded the corner and headed east on Sheppard. This is an area of old houses and new office buildings. Then we get into a suburban retail area. As we approach Bayview there are new condos that have gone up to take advantage of the subway.
At the corner is Bayview Village, a big shopping mall. It's where I used to buy runners. There are many new high-rise condos here. Then we hit an older residential area.
I went into the Bessarion Station, and the automatic doors tried to kill me.
This is an area of suburban strip malls. There's some infill housing, and the giant new Canadian Tire. Just off the street is IKEA, and beside it they're building more condo towers.
I used to cycle to work up Leslie. Also, crossing Leslie at this point is a bike path that follows a tributary of the Don River. I've cycled it many times with the club.
North York General Hospital is here.
We get to an area of town houses, followed by an area of suburbs, with the house's backs to the streets. By this point I was getting warm, and had to unzip my jacket.
As we approach Don Mills there are older high-rise apartments. I almost moved into one kilometre south of here when I first moved to Toronto, but didn't, despite the threat of a lawsuit.
I cycled to work up Don Mills for many years.
The Don Mills Station is in the parking lot of Fairview Mall. This was my default mall for 15 years, when driving home from work. For some reason there's a sculpture of Northern Dancer here.
I went into the mall to run some errands. I was going to cash in my lottery ticket, but had forgotten to put it in my knapsack. I did get a Cinnabon, though.
I could've hopped on a bus here, that would take me a block from my house, but I had never been on the Sheppard line before, so this was my chance. The one thing I noticed about the stations on the Sheppard line is that they don't have the TV monitors on the platform to give riders information.
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2010 paul Stockton. All rights reserved.
Last updated: March 2, 2010