Today I had planned to go and get the car so we could be independently mobile and I could begin running errands: Getting boxes, packing supplies and grocery shopping. 

But first! 

With our appetites in a dire state, we headed out to breakfast. I brought A to Centerpoint Mall at Yonge and Steeles, it was a pleasant 10-15 minute walk from our place. The weather was April's finest: a cool 10 degrees, bright sunshine and cloudless blue skies. While we were walking, I realized that this would probably be the last time I'd be walking along this route for the unforeseen future. I'm really glad that I have A along on this trip because she is the fresh, critical eye to my complacent one. What I mean is that she takes pictures of things that I wouldn't think of because its just another mall or another grocery store to me. 

But A is the freshie here and she probably got all the most important pictures. When I say important I mean the ones that I would most likely treasure the most. Its not the famous landmarks that makes you nostalgic, its the field behind your house, the benches by the tennis courts you used to hang out, the yards of the houses you walk by everyday to get to the bus stop, the aisles in the chinese grocery store that provided much comfort when you missed home the most. Its those images that conjure up memories of my past 5 years here the most vividly. 

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We headed for the food court in the mall and A chose Taco Bell because "the cinnamon sticks were too hard to resist." To be quite honest, I hate the Mall Food Courts here because they serve the most unworthy artery clogging foods and I wouldn't be caught dead eating any of that shit. 

    Boring, healthy (but still delicious!) me: Tuna Salad in Whole Wheat Pita + Coffee

   

   

    Party Food for A: Taco, Burrito, Nachos and Cinnamon Twists + Dr Pepper's (Like a Boss)

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After breakfast we took a 10 minute walk to 7200 Yonge Street to rent the car. If you recall, we started out this trip on a bit of a dramatic note. It seems that is becoming quite a theme on this trip. When we finally found the car rental place (Enterprise Rent-A-Car, hidden behind massive blocs of car dealerships), all seemed well. The guy was able to offer three types of cars and I was pretty excited to be honest because....DRIVING IN CANADA! Something I didn't get to do after I got my license last year. Anyway, the drama starts during the payment process. He took my license and credit card and all was fine..until I made the mistake of mentioning that A was from out of town (country) when enquiring about registering a 2nd driver for the car. His attitude immediately did a 180 and he tersely handed me back my credit card and driver's license claiming that he couldn't rent us the car because "you have no proof of liability and you're under 25." I clarified whether proof of liability meant insurance and he said yes.

Well, I'm pretty sure that your website states that one of your company's products is CAR INSURANCE. So, you should be able to sell it to me if I don't have any and I want to purchase it. But he ganged up with another guy behind the counter discreetly and they both concluded : "yeah, we don't sell car insurance, try Hertz." *shrug* *shrug* *pretend to shuffle papers* *avoid eye contact* 

Why the hell would Hertz, another car rental company, be insuring a car from your company?! 

I guess he just didn't want to take the risk of renting out a car to drivers that are not from around these parts. Still, he could have just told us that. 

Anyway, we found another car rental place nearby and went for that instead. This time no mention about an out of town 2nd driver. Stated simply, we managed to get a Kia Rio in about 20 minutes. 

I was slightly nervous about the left hand drive after driving in Singapore for the past few months. But so far, any differences have not made themselves evident to me. I think I haven't been driving long enough in either places (left hand and right hand) to actually be accustomed to one side of the road.  Well then, here's to no accidents in the next few days. 

With our mobility power secured, it was straight to the Fed Ex Shipping Centre near my University to get boxes. They didn't have that many so we ordered some (F.O.C!) and then went to Staples to scrounge for more packing supplies. By this time it was 5 pm and I guess our stomachs were well and truly awake. So it was off to T&T (my favourite Chinese Groceries Store) for food. It was dinner for me and lunch for A. I eat according to the time of the day and A eats according to the order of the time she eats. 

Cheap and fabulous. 

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