Locked doors

Nothing catches hold of my attention like a distinctive locked door.  There is a good reason for this.  In my experience locked doors usually lead to the most interesting rooms filled with odd equipment, roof access points, and offices with great views of the city.  While I usually like to let my discoveries and invitations to these places unfold purely by chance, I often long to be able to pick up the phone and get through any door at a moment's notice. 

While a locked door adds a certain flare for the dramatic reveal I have noticed that just being introduced to something new in the city is where the real excitement comes from.  Several of my friends have been great for showing me lots of interesting places.  Either to explore together or because they have special access that they want to share.  I love being invited somewhere that has been around for years but I've never had a reason to see inside before. Riding up old fashioned service elevators and finding surprisingly elegant places. Even just being in a store after hours energizes me. I always jump at the chance to see the restricted areas; even when the ceiling looks like it is going to come crashing down at any second.

The more I can learn new and interesting things about my city the longer I find I can fight off the travel bug that is constantly pulling at me to explore other parts of the world. Some recent ones have been:

1) finding the giant koi fish unexpectedly swimming in a classic restaurant here in the city, a couple of them having been here for 20 years now.
2) wandering around in the various tunnels that connect the buildings down town trying to see how long we could stay inside and warm.
3) going shopping in a giant warehouses that is by invitation only.

It all comes from being with the right people at the right time.

However one door in particular was made all the more fascinating because I couldn't get in.  For years.  It became my favourite locked door to the point that I would bring it up in conversation from time to time to see if anyone I knew could get me in.  It has a combination lock with a red sign, almost the length of the door, pointing at the door reading "Archery". I was instantly hooked. I walked past there once a week for a while, knocking to see if anyone was there by chance. I talked with the people that owned the building above and they said to just keep trying. I enlisted the help of other people to walk by and knock each time they did too. People laughed about it but I would get the periodic text saying "no luck with the door". Eventually it paid off and I did manage to make contact, joined and now have access to an archery range 24/7.

Each door seems to open onto a different world in the city that I was not aware was a part of this small section of prairie life. I want to be the person to appreciate what is behind all these closed doors, package them up in a blog, and share the experience with others.

What is your favourite hidden gem in your city?
What is the most interesting place you have found either away or at home?

Home discoveries

I look after homes around the city. From time to time people give me a call and I go and look after their animals or plants while they are away. Over the years I’ve realized a few things that are pretty essential when it comes to going into a new place.

Find out where the can opener, scissors and cleaning supplies are kept. This includes garbage bags.

Everything else you can kind of figure out on your own but if you don’t have a clue where to start looking for those 3 things it can be rather frustrating (especially looking for the cleaning supplies which are usually time sensitive). You might be asking why the can opener is first in my list? It took me an extra half hour one time to make a simple can of soup because I didn’t know that they had their can opener mounted on the underside of their cabinet.

Stepping into someone’s life is always interesting for me because I get to see what people take for granted as normal. I always ask what people can think of as a little quirk to their home, which has had some pretty interesting results. My favourite one has got to be the phones that didn’t work when it rained. Unfortunately I happen to be staying during a particularly wet summer.

On occasion I get to really enjoy something unique to the area. Most recently I was looking after a home and discovered the best idea for a residential area: loading zones.

The more time I spent there the more I wanted them on every street. I’m all about efficiency of use. Having the ability to run back into the house to retrieve something I had forgotten saved me a lot of hassle in terms of needing to find a parking spot. Additionally my pet peeve, people disrupting the flow of traffic by double parking to pick someone up, was eliminated.

For a while there looking after homes had become a fairly consistent thing. People going away for weeks leaving me to look after their place had friends of mine asking if I will ever give up my apartment to do house hopping full time. But that way there wouldn’t be any transitions. The feeling of a job well done comes from handing their home back to them in as close to the original state as possible with very happy animals. But it is actually by going home after that I get enjoy more fully the life I have and my own brand of quirks. And of course my own bed! You always appreciate your own bed over others… and if that is not the case for you I suggest you invest in a mattress better suited to you.

What is something unique to your home that you love?
What is a unique trait that you would warn people about?