Coming home

I really do love coming home. For this, I consider myself extremely lucky. I have a strong attachment to Toronto and no matter where I am in the world, I always look forward to returning.

It is not about comparison - indeed I rarely compare places I visit to my hometown. In my mind, it is on its own plane.

I think that there are a number of reasons for my affection. For my tastes, Toronto has the perfect mix of big city and homey intimacy. It is populous and cosmopolitain. It has reasonably good shopping, great shows and concerts, highly respectable restaurants, and a decent nightlife (any or all of these may and probably will be disputed by some readers). It has enormous amounts of opportunity in many different professional areas - medical, artistic, musical, legal, business, etc. Further, as someone interested in politics, I also like Toronto because it is the provincial capital and teems with municipal and provincial politics on a regular basis.

But Toronto is not too big. It has quaint neighbourhoods and is not so populous that you can't expect to bump into people you know at regular haunts. You don't get lost in the sea of people. It also isn't as harsh and unforgiving as some of the world's larger cities like London or New York - both of which I find hectic and very 'in your face.'

But above all, it is and always has been my home. It is where I have grown up. It is where most of my family lives. It is where most of my friends are. And it is familiar - an attribute I really cherish in a location.

So here, I am, home.