Leaving Toronto

Finally, 5 months after I landed in Toronto, I'm bidding farewell to the city, and to its few residents who made my stay memorable. Yesterday evening I went to the office to pick up my files and bills and stuff, and I met Manoj and Lata, the couple who own the news stand in the building I was working in the last 5 months. Told them that I was leaving Toronto for good. I also bought a few postcards, just to remind me of my stay here (God I hope I packed them!!). They were really nice to me and they made me feel at home whenever I went down to the news stand. Before I bid farewell, they asked me to take a bottle of juice as a farewell gift.

Next stop was at Rasoee, the Indian food restaurant from where I used to order Indian food through my stay. I had gotten familiar with Muhammad, the guy who ran the place, and Gary who worked there. We had a pretty long talk after which Muhammad gave me two samosas and a glass of mango lassi :-). Unfortunately, there was just too much stuff in my fridge and I could not finish it :-(.

I had made an appointment with a guy to buy a Nokia N70. He imports them from China or Singapore or somewhere and sells them in Canada. Bought it for $600. Its a cool phone.

Next up on the agenda was packing. That was a big nightmare! After I was done packing my two big bags, I called up the airline to check the weight limit of the checked bags, just to make sure I did not overshoot it. The guy whom I talked to told me that the limit was 44 pounds for the checked bags, and 22 pounds for the cabin bags. So I asked him what the extra-weight charge was. He said, we don't take bags that exceed the weight limit. I started freaking out. So I left out some of my stuff, since I had no other choice. I will miss my skateboard, and all the other things I left behind. I packed through the night.

Next morning, I got into a taxi and got to the airport. There, the airline guy told me that there was no weight limit. I was so pissed, but I had no choice. Anyway, the damn airline was late and all that, but I got to New York by around 3:30. Ray came and picked me up, and on our way back, we picked up Melanie (Ray's wife) from their house and stopped over at Tiny Thai for dinner. Then Ray dropped me off home and left.

Next: The house.

/Edit: Turns out, I did pack the postcards