(just about) Street Smart

I was walking to meet Steve and a few friends on Friday night, from College Street down to Front. As I was crossing Queen, I waited at the light with three girls who looked like they were headed out for dinner, and overheard this conversation:

Girl 1: "Make sure that you keep your purse real tight against your body girl."

Girl 2: "I heard on Oprah that you gotta keep your zipper in, so they can't open it from the back"

Girl 3: "I ain't got nothin' in my purse that you gotta worry about. No cell phone, no money, nothing. Just kleenex"

Girl 1: "I tell you, I tell you - you gotta keep an eye on your purse. Zippers too. It's not like mississauga where you can just walk around"

Girl 2: "Amen to that"

And then we all crossed the street and they disappeared into the Queen Street crowd. I was like that when I moved to downtown toronto in September. Scared to ride the subway, scared to leave my house at night, scared that everyone who made eye contact with me was going to rob me blind. But I've (accidentally) left my purse, with keys, a wallet and a cell phone on a subway platform and got it back with everything, even the CASH, intact. It changed my view that I was unsafe in this city. Now, I feel pretty confident navigating around downtown. I've learned which places are safe, which places are sketchy, and which 7-11s have creepy people standing outside of them asking for your change. I've walked home from the restaurant I work at to my house after midnight and felt pretty safe. Toronto may be big, but it's not so bad. It was funny thinking of how far I've come with my "street smarts" ... though, to be honest, I still clutch my keys between my fingers so that I can attack anyone that comes too close to me. I guess deep inside, I'm still a big wuss. Now I'm just a big wuss who's doing okay in a big city.