Missed Connections Canada

We were both solo exploring in Lawrencetown today (Nov 8th, around 4pm), and happened to descend the trail at the same time. I was a little ahead and got to my car first. As you passed, you looked over, smiled, and said "Hi." I returned the hello, feeling a little self-conscious about my windswept appearance after hiking all day. I got into my car and scribbled down my number, intrigued by your smile. I stalled a little too long trying to muster up the courage to get out and walk over to you, and by the time I did, you were already pulling away on your motorcycle. I kicked myself for the rest of the drive home, so I figured I'd put this out into the universe and see what happens.
What are the chances you'll see this? Slim, but worth a shot, right?
If you think this is you, respond with the colour of my hat, and of your helmet.

Between 7:00 - 7:21am we saw each other on the TTC line 1 between Sheppard Yonge and College station. I spotted you in another car and smiled, then you walked over and stood right beside me! I felt your energy and couldn't stop smiling, couldn't even focus on my ebook anymore. while this is a long shot, I hope the Universe connects us if we're meant to explore further. I got off at College Park stn. You were wearing a black jacket, grey/blue shoes, and wore a black ring.

Looking for someone who walks the White Hills trails and does not turn it into a race against a person they invented. I can do an hour. I ask the names of ponds and then forget them. If that is restful or intolerable, you will know immediately.

Blue metal water bottle under the bleachers at the fair grounds. Dent on the bottom from a tailgate that did not need to happen. Stickers scraped off so it looks like I am hiding a personality. I am not. I would just like the bottle.

Paper park map, folded wrong, at the gate into the provincial park side. I wrote notes in pencil on the lakes I have actually seen. If you picked it up thinking it was trash, it is almost trash. The notes are the part I want. I can name three of the lakes I circled.

At the river a kid, mine, lost a shoe to the current in a way that was not dramatic and was also my fault. You had a net in the truck for reasons you did not explain and you got the shoe. You would not take the five dollars. Ball cap, mud on the knees already, so this was not your first river.

One yellow rain boot, child size, on the rocks by the lighthouse. The other boot is in my backpack having a better day. There is a shark sticker on the heel, half peeled. We were there around supper. If you set it on the bench, it may still be living its best life.

Small blue notebook in the maritime museum, bench by the river windows. It is mostly tide times I copied and one grocery list. No secrets, unfortunately. First page has a sketch of a buoy that looks like a potato. If the desk has it, the potato is the proof.

Walk Daly Point and let me misname birds until you correct me. I am good with “that one is brown.” Morning, before I lose the nerve and stay in the car. I have binoculars that are heavier than my skill.

At a Broadway shop you put a record back in the wrong stack on purpose so I would have to talk to you, or at least that is the story I prefer. You said “that one is gloomy even for you” and you had never met me. Then the clerk needed you, if you were the clerk. I still do not know. Denim jacket, chipped green nail polish.

Small boat key on a cork so it floats, which is ironic because I left it on a bench at Bronte harbour and it did not need to float. Red cork, two keys, a bead my kid threaded. If you found it, the bead is blue and badly done. I can be at the harbour office.

Blue inhaler on a rock by Lafarge Lake, the side path not the main loop. Label is peeled so it is useless to anyone else and slightly useless to me too. If you see it still there, leave it at the rec centre desk and tell me the time you did.

At the edge of the sunflower fields you were holding a paper map like it was 1998 and it was working better than my phone. You told me which rows were for looking and which were for not trampling. I trampling-adjacent anyway. You laughed instead of policing me. I left before I used that goodwill.

You held the Plus 15 door by Holt Renfrew and then walked backward so you could finish saying the Bow was high this week. Oilers toque, grey backpack, one earbud still in. I nodded like I was late for something. I was not.

Surrey Libraries card slipped out at the Guildford branch, somewhere between the holds shelf and the door. First name starts with M. I am not posting the number. If you handed it to the desk, tell me which letter the last name starts with and I will stop retracing the parking lot.

I can walk the Bow River path if I am back in town by 4. Out and back, no peak, no need to fill the silence. If you are faster, go ahead on the return. I will not make it a thing.

A paper fan from someone else’s wedding, which I know is a strange lost item. It blew out of my passenger seat at the green when I opened the door too wide. Names are printed on it. I will not post them. If you found a fan, tell me the month printed under the names.

I walk the old fort and then forget which wall was rebuilt. If you like local history and can tolerate a person asking basic questions, pick a morning. I bring bad coffee and I do not rush the signs.

You saw me do a full circle downtown looking for the door I had just used. You pointed without a sigh, which in a wind like that is a kindness. Fur-trim hood, but everyone had one. You were carrying oranges, which is the detail I trust.

The step by the Bastion was wet and you moved your bag so I could tie a shoe without kneeling in it. We ended up talking about the ferry like people who have both missed it on purpose once. Grey wool coat. I took the hill down and did not look back until it was pointless.

Take me to the potato museum and do not apologize for it. I am an easy mark for a town that explains its work. If you have been too many times, you can stand there and add the gossip the panels skip. I drive. I will not make a joke in the first room.

On the Cook lookout you poured me a cap of tea because I had dressed for a different climate, which was arrogant of me. The thermos had a dent and a sticker from a ferry I have not been on. You said the wind here is not weather, it is policy. I used the lookout stairs to avoid saying I wanted the walk down together.

Do one floor of the local museum and then walk the main street while you tell me which storefront changed. I am passing through next week with two spare hours and a dislike of pretending a main street is obvious. If you are busy, a list would also be a kindness. Company is better.

I drive through Middleton and only know the main street at red lights. Looking for someone who will tell me which diner is for sitting and which is for leaving, and if there is live music that is not a rumour. I am here two nights a month for work. I tip like I mean to come back.

A small red loyalty card for a bakery, fell out at the Apple Capital monument when I was taking a picture I will delete. The card has three stamps and a bent corner. The bakery will not care. I will, because I am close to a free bun and I have principles.

Looking for the beekeeper at the Ladner market who told me the dark jar was “for toast, not for showing off.” I bought the wrong one anyway. If that was you, I owe you a correction and I am at the same table most Saturdays until the season quits.

I want to eat at Metrotown and not spend forty minutes choosing. You pick the counter. I pay. We leave when the trays are done. I am good company for exactly that long and then I have a SkyTrain to catch.

One house key on a blue plastic clip, dropped on the Octagon pond path near the first bench. No fob, no identity, which is lucky and also why I cannot get in tonight if you do not see this. The clip is cracked. I can say where. Please do not test it in a stranger’s door as a hobby.

A kid at the next table drew me as a potato and you rescued the napkin before it hit the water. You said it was a good likeness and then looked horrified at your own mouth. I have the napkin. I do not have a way to tell you the potato was accurate and I was not offended.

You told me the Public Gardens gate was about to close in the voice of a person who has sprinted it before. We made it. Then we stood on Spring Garden like the accomplishment needed a debrief and neither of us started it. Tan coat, library book you were using as a fan.

Do not rent a paddle boat. Walk the Kempenfelt shore, get a cone if the line is human, and leave before I suggest a big plan. I am in this mood where I overcommit. I need a person who will say “this is enough” and mean the walk.

Next time something decent is at the auditorium I would like to not buy one ticket and then sit like I meant to. If you go to local shows and can tolerate a person who claps a beat late, tell me what is actually worth it this season.

Thin silver bangle on the sidewalk by the antique shops in Unionville. It is not fancy. The clasp is a hook I bent back with pliers once. If you handed it to a shop, tell me which side of the street and what the clasp looks like. I noticed at the car.

One loop on the Traboulay, not the heroic version. Afterward I want fries from whatever is still open, and I will not pretend that is a balanced meal. Sundays. I walk fast enough to stay warm and slow enough to finish a story.

The board was wrong or I was. You held out your phone with the actual next train and did not even sigh. We stood there until it came. You got on the second car and I got on the third because I am a person who hesitates in doorways. Grey backpack, earbuds around your neck, not in your ears.

I landed in Red Deer in April and I still eat lunch in the truck. If the afternoon cribbage at the legion can stand a person who counts with their lips moving, I would like a chair. I bring my own deck because I am particular, not lucky.

I want to do a piece of the East Coast Trail from this side and I need someone who will make me turn around before I am heroic and stranded. I have boots. I do not have a feel for how fast the light goes. Mornings. I pack too much food, which is the correct error.

I walk the mall at Champlain Place when the sidewalks are a suggestion. I do not want to shop. If you already do laps there and can tolerate someone who counts them out loud by accident, I am usually there before supper. Tell me which entrance you use so I am not orbiting the wrong doors.

On the grass at City Park you were reading a paragraph into your phone and then deleting it, out loud, like the geese were the notes app. I laughed. You said “don’t encourage me” and then encouraged yourself for another ten minutes. I should have asked what the piece was.

I can do Mount Douglas if the plan includes turning around at the viewpoint and not inventing a second peak. Morning, before the parking lot argues. I bring oranges. I do not bring opinions about your shoes.

Grey scarf in the coat room at the gallery, the one with a loose weave that snags on everything. I noticed on the sidewalk, which is the traditional time. If the desk has it, tell me the colour of the thread on the end. There are two and only one is mine.

There is usually someone playing on the boardwalk who is either brave or unwell and I want a second opinion. Come listen to one song with me and then say so out loud. I will buy the tea. I will not stay for a second song unless you insist, and you should not.

I sit in the rink lobby during early ice and I would like one other adult who brought a book and not only a phone. If that is you, nod at the book and I will not turn it into a book club. Tuesdays. I have a kid on the ice and a limited talent for shouting.

Small green tackle box on the riverbank where the path gets informal. It has hooks I am not talented with and a pocket knife that is legal and dull. My name is not in it. A piece of tape on the latch says “not the good one.” If you found the not-good one, that is mine.

Walk the Summerside boardwalk and stop where you can hear the College of Piping without joining anything. I like the sound. I do not want a lesson. If you know the bench that is not in the postcard, I have Thursday late day and a car that smells like coffee.

On the old port you looked at my poutine and said it was “a dare, not a supper,” then sat down anyway because the bench was the only dry one. We watched the river do nothing. You had a bike helmet on your knee the whole time, like the ride was a rumour you were keeping.

Your husky at the off-leash by the old elevator sat on my boot until the lace gave up. You apologized like it was a federal matter. Faded red bandana. I never asked which mornings you use. The boot survived.

Walk across the Vedder / cantilever bridge and back. I stop too often for pictures of the river and I am telling you now so you can decide if that is annoying. Weekday late afternoon. No restaurant plan hiding behind the walk.

I sit at the Waterfowl Park boardwalk and pretend I know ducks. If you actually know them and can stand a person who whispers, I am there most clear mornings with a thermos that is more milk than coffee. No cameras swinging into people. That is my only rule.

I want to do the underground tour and I do not want to be the person asking the guide to repeat everything because I was polite instead of listening. If you have been down and will go again, or you have never been and you are not claustrophobic in a surprising way, I will book and you can veto the day.

Saturday market. You pick one cheese and one thing I would not pick, and then we sit. I grew up in a city that thinks a market is a personality. I would like the version that is just lunch. If you are bored of visitors, say no. If not, I will be at the edge trying not to block a vendor.

I go out the Brant Street pier when I cannot sleep and the lake is doing something. If you are already that person and you want company that stays quiet until the turnaround, I am there some mornings around 6. I bring a second coffee by accident almost every time.

Eastbound 506, late, you stood up for someone who did not need it and then ended up hanging off the pole next to me. We both watched a raccoon commercial like it was news. You got off at Broadview and said “good luck” to the whole car, but you looked at me. I stayed on two extra stops.

I want to walk the Discovery Trail and stop when there is a bird I cannot name, which will be all of them. I do not run. If you know the stretch that is not just ditch and blackberries, I have Saturday mornings and a patient pace.

On the boardwalk you told a tourist, who was me, that the wind was not “fresh,” it was “a personality problem.” I have used that line twice since and credited nobody. Dark jacket, paper cup, you kept walking like the sentence was not a gift. It was.

Green bottle with a dent and a fading sticker from a Charlottetown cafe, left on the picnic table in the museum lot. I got to Summerside before I noticed. If the desk has it, the sticker is a fox, or it was. I can come back this weekend and I will not pretend it is a rare bottle.

I want Fort Battleford on a weekday when it is quiet enough to read the signs at my actual speed. If you have been and you are willing to go again, or you have been meaning to, I will drive out and I will not turn it into a photo project. Mornings. I leave time for the river after only if you ask.

On the island the rain started mean and you already had the gazebo. You waved me in with the energy of a person who has been rained on in Portage before. We talked about the fairgrounds like we were on a committee. You mentioned an Island Park pass like it explained your whole life. I still do not know your name.

At the Shipyards Friday market I dropped a bad sketch of a tug and you picked it up, looked at it, and handed it back like it was finished work. It was not. You had paint on one cuff anyway, so I believed you for a second. I did not ask if you were being kind.

Look at the station, hear whatever you want to say about the trains, and then eat somewhere that will take us in work clothes. I am in Melville overnight for a job and I do not want the meal to be a project. If you know the place that is still open and still plain, I will pay.

I do not want the harbour when it is arranged for a photo. I want the hour when people are actually moving gear. If you will walk me along and tell me what I am looking at, I will stay out of the way and I will not call everything a boat. Morning. I can be quiet.

You were standing on the line in the street, one foot in each province, explaining it to a kid who did not care. I cared. You looked up and said “pick a side” and I froze like it was a larger question. You laughed and went into the Alberta coffee shop. I stood in Saskatchewan being symbolic.

On Victoria Row you waited until the song ended before you tossed the loonie, which made you the only adult in the story. Then you told me the next song was the one worth staying for, and you were right, and you left during it. Linen shirt, no jacket, optimistic for the wind.

Black Toyota fob on the bench at the south lookout for the High Level Bridge. No house key on it. One button is cracked and I am not saying which. If you picked it up, name the button and I will come to the top of the stairs.

Walk Torbay beach until our faces hurt, then go somewhere with walls. I like the ocean best as a short argument. If you want a longer hike, say that instead and I will admire you from the parking lot. This week. I am not mysterious, I am just off shift.

Walk the riverbank trail in Brandon and stop at the first bench with a view that is just water and the water treatment plant being honest. I am free after 4 on weekdays. I do not need a coffee shop after unless you do.

On the harbour you named a boat like it was a cousin and then shrugged when I asked if it was yours. It was not. You just pay attention. I had a takeout cup and no follow-up question, which is a waste of a person who notices things. Grey hoodie under an open jacket.

I want the Cité de l’Énergie and I want to spend time on the machines, not the view. If you have a parent who worked the plants, or you just like how old equipment is explained, come with me. I will not rush you and I will not call it a hidden gem. Saturday if the site is open.

At the falls lookout I started to say it looked like a postcard and you said “postcards leave out the spray in your teeth.” Fair. We stood there until my glasses were a problem. You offered a dry corner of your sleeve and then looked amazed at yourself. I have been thinking about the sleeve more than the gorge.

Go into one record shop in the ByWard and leave before I buy something I will regret on the bus. I need a person who will say “you already own the sad version of that.” Evening this week. I can do the market after only if we are still speaking.

My battery died at the turnoff and you had cables and a lecture about leaving lights on “like a mainlander,” which I am, so I took it. We got the car living. You refused money and accepted the story about why I was lost, which was not flattering. I should have asked where you take coffee when you are done rescuing people.

Hard glasses case, left in the family change room at the aquatic centre, top of the lockers not inside one. The case is scratched white on the corner. Glasses are in it, unfortunately. Ask for me at the desk if you turned it in. I can describe the prescription badly and the scratch well.

Grey hoodie left on a folding chair on the grounds, not during a set I can name without getting it wrong. Pocket has a torn ticket stub and a cough drop. If you are holding it, I can tell you which pocket the stub is in. It was cold by 10 and I noticed too late.

Ride the Gondola Point ferry across and back. That is the plan. I like the part where you have to wait and cannot optimize it. If you want to add a walk on the other side, say so before we are in the line, not after I have committed to the bit.

At Lakeview a plane went over and you named it before the sound arrived, then looked embarrassed to have said it out loud. I asked you to say it again. You did, quieter. We watched the beach fill up and ran out of plane facts at the same time, which is when I should have switched topics.

At the lookoff I pointed at the wrong piece of Cape Breton and you corrected me without making it a class. Then you told me which hill gets the weather first. I was only stopped to shake a map. You were eating an apple down to the seeds. I got back in the car with a better geography and a worse sense of timing.

At the Richmond Night Market you steered me away from a skewer I was about to regret and toward the one you said was “for people who can read a sign.” Rude. Correct. I lost you by the lanterns. Denim jacket, reusable cup with the lid that does not fit.

I left a library book on the seat of a bench at the museum and walked off with the parking stub in my hand like a champion. The book is the one with the blue spine about prairie birds. If the desk has it, tell them the stub is still in my pocket and I feel the way that sounds.

By the elevators you named a cloud like it was a neighbour and then laughed at yourself before I could. We were both waiting on a pickup that was late. You had a clipboard and a sunburn in the shape of a cap you had taken off too soon. The truck came. You got in someone else’s. Or your own. I did not sort that out.

White travel mug on a picnic table at Woodlawn. The lid is the annoying kind. Inside, if you are unlucky enough to check, is coffee I reheated twice. My name is not on it. A crack runs under the handle. I can meet at the park gate after work and I will rinse it before I thank you.

Small orange earplug case on the railing where people stop to look at the yard. It is a work thing and also how I sleep. Two plugs inside, one with the tip torn. If you found it, I can meet after shift at the same railing. Please do not throw it out for being ugly. It is supposed to be ugly.

Sit at the marina and look at the Giant without turning it into a plan to climb anything. I have done the big version. I want the version where we stay warm and someone who actually lives here tells me which island I am pointing at. I am wrong a lot and I can hear it.

Let’s drive or walk toward darker sky near Grande Allée in Quebec City if the forecast is kind. Thermos required. Expertise not required.

Pharmacy bottle (label partly worn) left at Kits Beach in Vancouver. Privacy first - tell me the pharmacy name on the label, not the medication.

Sunglasses on a ledge at Downtown Windsor in Windsor. Not cheap ones. Describe the case if you had one, or a scratch location.

Sit by the Gimli harbour and argue about whether we are going to a film or just watching the boats do a better job of having a plot. I am in town for two evenings. I buy the coffee. You can veto my movie in one sentence.

Let’s sit at Union Station in Toronto with a small craft (stickers, knitting, terrible origami). No talent gate. Just a table for an hour.

Let’s catch golden hour at Signal Hill trail in St. John's. Phones welcome. We can pick a bench after and delete the blinking shots together.

Let’s do trivia in Thunder Bay near Marina Park. We know just enough to be dangerous and not enough to win. Need one more who does not mind being wrong out loud.

Let’s walk at an unreasonable hour from Mile End in Montreal. City is quieter then. Coffee after, obviously. Night-shift and insomnia people welcome.

Battery pack left charging-adjacent at Bronte Harbour in Oakville. Initials on the back in pen. Tell me the initials.

Looking for someone in Kelowna already volunteering near Downtown Kelowna - or wanting to start. Easier to walk in with a person. Message what you help with.

Delicate bracelet under a chair at Richmond Row in London. Clasp style is the giveaway. Describe it without posting a photo here.

Looking for a weekend cycling loop starting near ByWard Market in Ottawa. Lights, bells, coffee stop. Not a race. Message your usual distance.

Let’s eat lunch outside near Square One in Mississauga if it is not sideways rain. 40 minutes, then back to whatever we were avoiding. Message a weekday.

Let’s karaoke near Celebration Square in Mississauga like nobody knows us, which is the point. One duet minimum. Voice quality is not a criterion.

Looking for a quiet co-working buddy at Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon. Laptops, headphones, the occasional “is this Wi-Fi or am I?”. Accountability, not small talk every minute.

Let’s walk a history loop around Frame Lake trail in Yellowknife. I have a couple of stories; you can fact-check me in real time.

Go through the DesBrisay with me. If it is good we walk the river after. If it is not, we say so and get soup. I am in town through Sunday and I am done pretending I like wandering a main street with no errand.