PDP #78: On This Day

As a Torontonian, I am contractually obligated to think of anything beyond Eglinton Avenue as "up north." Notwithstanding that, Cochrane, Ontario is way up north. It's as far as the Ontario Northland trains from Toronto roll, or it was the last time I was around, and if you want to keep inching toward the Arctic Circle from there, it's where you transfer to the Polar Bear Express that takes you the rest of the way to Moosonee.

My grandfather and I made that journey when I was a kid. We changed trains in Cochrane on July 31, 1989, and took this picture of ourselves in front of Chimo, a tremendous polar bear statue, twenty years ago today. It's been more than ten years since my grandfather died, and photos like this are still a bit hard.

But it's a good one. Maybe for July 31, 2019, I'll go back there and take another picture.

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