electricland

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This is a really stupid question to break radio silence for. But my answer is so huge, I have to! Behold, in reverse order, and skipping repeat stays:

• The house I own and live in.


• My parents' house in Cabbagetown.


• My parents' friends' house (bless them) near Casa Loma.


• My apartment on Kingswood, near the Neville Park streetcar loop. Lovely place, but loud from turning streetcars and stinky from the smoker downstairs.


• My apartment in Montreal, at Sherbrooke and Grey.


• K & J's house, up the hill from the apartment.


• Montreal Diocesan Theological College.


• My parents' apartment near St. Clair West subway.


• My apartment shared with Lisa in the McGill Ghetto.


• Royal Victoria College (the tower, not the awesome old wing. Alas).


• Duplex near Mount Pleasant Cemetery, with my mum.


• Another duplex around the corner. This is because I refused to do my last 2 years of high school in Grey County when my parents bought a house there. They eventually moved back to Toronto, which I consider total vindication.


• House on Roxborough St. W.


• My grandparents' house in Forest Hill.


• House in sort of the country, near Hilversum in the Netherlands.


• Apartment in Westlands, Nairobi.


• Maisonette (hey, that's what they called it) in university housing in Nairobi -- I have to get my parents to show me this one on a map some day, because I honestly have no clue where it was. Near a stable, though.


• House St. Andrew's Gardens (this is the first one I remember).


• Moore Avenue, the house with the yellow door.

I make that 19, counting the short-term stays. Not bad at all! I'd have to go with my present house for my favourite, 'cos it's MINE. But they were mostly really nice.

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thebitterguy is right, that is one of the dumbest Writer's Block questions ever. Strangely, though, I do actually have a couple of lasting impressions, one of each. (I'm not going to talk about what the restroom means to me, though, because I think that ought to be fairly obvious.)

1. My cousin Jen's family -- the side opposite to mine, if that makes sense -- have a cottage near Sudbury. There is no electricity and no plumbing (although there is a propane-powered fridge) and you get to it by boat. Naturally, there is an outhouse on the property, and it is peculiar in that it has no door, so you can sit there and admire the view (it's secluded enough for that to not be totally weird). This also helps mitigate the traditional outhouse stench. It's a fine outhouse.

2. Although I think on the whole I prefer composting toilets.

3. There is a public washroom in the Roman Forum quite near the Cloaca Maxima. I have a couple of photos of this (sadly not on this computer) because I was so struck by the handmaiden of hygiene who was guarding the place; she wore a blue smock and yellow rubber gloves and bore aloft a giant roll of toilet paper. Must get around to posting the rest of my Rome photos.