The Rural Voice, 1980-04, Page 20John and Muriel Wray traded their Huron
County dairy farm for a city apartment.
Editor's Note: In the Fall of 1979 John and
Muriel Wray sold their dairy farm on the
9th of Turnberry Twp. and moved to
Toronto where they are now living on the
14th floor of a 21 storey apartment building
on Steeles Avenue.
Most of the Wray children are grown up
now and John had a strong desire to finish
the high school education which was cut
short when he was a teenager. He plans
eventually to study meteorology at
University. John's farming background
should help him in his studies of the
weather and climate. Below is a letter on
the challenges and changes of his new life
which John sent back to his old neighbour-
hood.
Dear Robert:
When we left your part of the country,
you asked me to write and let you know
how I was adjusting to city life. After all,
From dairy farm
to high rise
Huron man goes back
to school in the city
you said, how could a man who was used
to doing anything from digging full-grown
burdocks from a stoney barnyard to trying
to ease stutitiorn, close-spririging Holstein
heifers up a slippery loading chute, ever
adjust to city life; how could a man who
was accustomed to the freedom of a farm
ever adjust to living in an apartment. You
also asked me to make some comparisons.
A motorist travelling south from No. 7
Highway on Bathurst Street, will realize
that he is moving through a sparsely
settled area (some tracts of land up to three
hundred acres grow up in weeds each
year). He will also see large clusters of
high-rise apartments looming in the
distance. As he passes under the CNR
bridge and approaches Steeles Avenue (the,
first traffic light south of No. 7) he will'
notice that he is about to make a transition
to a very densely populated area. Just
about 40'rods east of Bathurst on the south
side of Steeles, we reside in a 21 storey
apartment building.
Traffic
As I sit here wnting, 14 stories above the
frozen turf, I can hear the traffic on
Steeles, (a busy four -lane street with
frequent bus service.) In fact, I could hear
it most of the night for the first few nights
that we lived here. Also long trains using
the CNR right-of-way about a half mile
north of here roused me from my sleep for
awhile.
This is an area of contrasts. These large
apartments are about nine years old, yet
across the street (Steeles) a field of
approximately 10 acres looks as it it had
hay cut off it last summer. A ditch
- intersects this field and some rickety posts
and jumbled woven wire show where a
farmer at one time herded his stock.
Further east a little grey Volkswagon sits
up on cement. blocks --its wheels, doors,
and some windows gone. Further back on
the same lot, two old cars in various stages
of disrepair huddle together in the long
grass. Further down the street, a cluster of
weather beaten buildings consists of a
broken-down grey frame house
(unoccupied), a greenhouse with no glass.
and an old henhouse with a row of windows
on the south side. Almost hidden in the
weeds at the back of the property, four
range shelters almost collapse with age.
Beyond this a field is plowed where, in the
fall, I watched from our window a small
farm tractor pulling a wagon where men
were harvesting cabbages. On the north
side of Steeles between here and Yonge ( a
distance of about a mile) there are several
of these market garden, jack-of-all-trades
operations where you can buy anything
from a turnip to an armful of wood.
When I asked an apartment superin-
tendent why the city had built so
ambitiously to Steeles and then abruptly
quit, he informed me that the city utilities
come just to Steeles. If a person builds on
the north side of the road, he must drill a
well and put in a septic tank. This unique
location gives us an almost rural view from
the north windows. Beyond the railroad
track one sees No. 7 highway, then
beyo nd that several layers of bush lead to
the skyline. From our east windows at
night, the area north of Steeles is almost in
total darkness between here and Richmond
Hill, while to the south the city of
Metropolitan Toronto spreads like a field of
diamonds.
A contrast
The people who live here also present a
contrast. The long-term residents are
friendly for they lived here when it was
mostly rural, but the newly arrived
residents are reserved and citified. They
trust no one. In fact, a pleasant good
morning can draw a suspicious evil eye
from a lady at a bus stop. Although I am
settled in, and accustomed to the different
mode of living ( I hop onto a subway car
with as little concern as if it were a hay
wagon heading for the field), I often think
of the excitement of the sales barns,
especially around the buyer and seller
wickets after the sale, and I can still taste
those homemade pies and good coffee at
the lunch counter.
John Wray
THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1980 PG. 21