The subway during the morning rush at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto

I’ve been taking the subway to Bloor this week instead of my usual easy bus ride. I hate taking the subway because it’s always standing room only by time it gets to Yonge and Eglinton – five stops north of Bloor. 

SARS, Toronto and Doctors Basrur and Low

I watched the SARS Crisis in Toronto unfold from a guest house in Japan.

In 2002, I quit my first job and left Toronto to teach English in Tokyo. My plan was to spend a year teaching and then travel through China, Hong Kong and end up on a beach in Bali or Thailand. Then SARS happened.