The Blind Man connected Bloor Street
On my 2nd time successful Toronto, buffeted by the wind, taking a greeting walk, dwarfed and darkened successful the shadows of the archetypal gangly buildings I’d seen successful Canada, I came abreast of a strolling unsighted man. In acheronian glasses, good dressed successful a camel-hair overcoat and scarf, helium was sweeping a slender achromatic cane up of him, feeling his mode forward. What amazed maine was his confidence, however helium strode without hesitation. The sidewalks successful cardinal Toronto were precise wide, but adjacent so, this unsighted antheral seemed fearless. Toronto postulation was relentless, the streets jammed, and cyclists zipping among the halting cars posed a hazard to unwary pedestrians. The unsighted antheral was resolute but besides wary.
I dropped backmost a spot and followed conscionable down him up a agelong artifact connected Bloor Street, past a pistillate handing retired leaflets—but conspicuously not to him—and past a partial obstruction: a stateless antheral snuggled successful a sleeping bag, inert successful the mediate of the pavement wherever a grate emitted lukewarm air. At different sidewalk grates—they were astir a gait square—I saw much sleeping figures oregon other cooing pigeons, huddled and jostling successful the rising warmth.
The unsighted antheral nudged the ferrule of his cane into the bulk of the sleeping figure, sidestepped him deftly, and moved connected to the extremity of the block, a stoplight, dense traffic, cyclists, large scary trucks. There we stood, broadside by side, the unsighted antheral patient, utilizing his cane arsenic an antenna, twitching it to gauge his nearness to the curb’s edge.
Walking and chatting with the unsighted antheral seemed to maine the champion imaginable instauration to Toronto, its temper, its welcome, its civility.
“Can I assistance you?” I asked.
“Please archer maine erstwhile the airy turns green,” helium said, and present adjacent up I could spot helium was youngish, with an aquiline nose, and the flimsy underbite that makes a idiosyncratic look grim oregon meditative, dark—Pakistani oregon Indian. His beauteous camel-hair overgarment and heavy scarf connected this acold time gave him an aerial of elegance.
“Still red. Are you okay?”
“I’m rather okay.” And that sideways wobble of the caput that means yes successful the subcontinent.
“Just turned green.”
He stepped disconnected the curb without faltering, and we crossed the thoroughfare together. I watched him poke the curbstone and equine it, to locomotion on.
“Can you spot thing astatine all?”
“A little,” helium said, inactive walking. “I person macular degeneration. Some peripheral vision, but it gets worse each year.”
“There’s a seat here. Would you similar to beryllium down?”
“Just pb maine to it,” and arsenic I did helium swept his cane, recovered the legs of the bench, traced its arms, and seated himself, smiling, seeming gladsome for a remainder and continuing his statement of his blindness. “I’ve been unsighted this mode for 20 years. I was an lawyer for a fig of years, but erstwhile I couldn’t relation decently I became progressive successful quality rights issues. That’s what I do, with a small help.”
“You unrecorded successful Toronto?”
“Yes. Not excessively acold from here, but I request to instrumentality the Metro.”
He’d gotten disconnected astatine Bay Street station; we were walking westbound on Bloor Street.
“No problem?” “No problem.”
“It seems to maine that it mightiness beryllium simpler to negociate Toronto arsenic a unsighted idiosyncratic than successful immoderate different city.”
“I’ve lone lived successful Toronto, but I deliberation what you accidental is true. This is specified a forgiving city.”
“And orderly?” “That too.” “I’m Paul.”
He smiled and nodded successful thanks. “I’m Pattana.” “Born successful India?”
“No. Born here, but my parents were calved successful South India connected the borderline of Tamil Nadu successful Kerala.”
“I’ve been there—nice people, food soup. Where are you headed now?” “To the bank.”
“Can I help?”
“Not really—I deliberation it’s there”—and helium lifted his cane to constituent astatine the granite facade of the bank.
“That’s it. So you tin spot a little?”
“Very little. But you know, lone 15 percent of radical who person imaginativeness problems are wholly blind. The remainder person varying degrees of sight.”
“So you’re doing each right?”
“At the moment. But arsenic I said, it gets worse. Sometime successful the aboriginal I volition beryllium wholly blind.” He spoke without overmuch emotion, helium intelligibly had different things connected his mind. He hitched himself guardant and stood up. “Now I indispensable go—so bully to conscionable you, Paul.”
Off helium went, sweeping his cane arsenic a feeler backmost and forth, serenely, without hesitation, to the bank.
A Memory of Margaret Atwood
A show of Swan Lake by the National Ballet of Canada was advertised for that night, and the Toronto Raptors were playing the Charlotte Hornets astatine the aforesaid clip astatine the Scotiabank Arena; time tours were disposable to a adjacent winery and Niagara Falls and meal cruises connected the lake, the CN Tower was described arsenic “one of the 7 wonders of the modern world,” and Toronto’s restaurants were praised. I stopped astatine the Ontario Art Gallery, housed successful a handsome building, successful which 1 could beryllium connected a sofa successful a cloistered country and contemplate its lone painting—a Rothko, say—or rotation successful a assemblage afloat of Henry Moore sculptures, oregon a enclosure of 10 hyper-realistic paintings by the Nova Scotia maestro Alex Colville. Toronto was a metropolis of diversions and marvels.
Yet walking and chatting with the unsighted antheral seemed to maine the champion imaginable instauration to Toronto, its temper, its welcome, its civility. This is specified a forgiving city, the antheral had said. It was possibly the eventual trial of immoderate city: Can a unsighted idiosyncratic unrecorded successful it, usage nationalist transport, shop, work, find a slope and a restaurant, much oregon little thrive, and present and past astatine a cross-walk beryllium connected a alien to archer them erstwhile the airy turns green? Most of all, not get robbed, since it is the lawsuit successful astir large cities that the anemic and the impaired—blind people, limpers, the aged and confused—the easiest targets, are astir often the victims of pickpockets and muggers.
I had been to Toronto 4 times earlier this, visits ever related to books—the Harbourfront Writers’ Festival, bookstore talks, interviews with the CBC—but those times I’d been confined to a tiny country of the metropolis and ne'er stayed long. On my archetypal sojourn successful the outpouring of 1982, I met Margaret Atwood, who had precocious published her caller Bodily Harm. The Handmaid’s Tale came 4 years later. At meal with her partner, Graeme Gibson, she spoke with maine successful a thoughtful way, and proved to beryllium companionable and highly good read. We talked astir inspiration successful writing, however it came from the oddest sources.
She agreed—travel successful the Caribbean had helped her successful plotting Bodily Harm.
“You cognize the novelist Henry Green?” I asked—of people she did. “He had the strangest inspiration for his caller Loving.”
“Do tell.”
“He said helium got the thought for the caller from a antheral helium worked with during the war. This antheral had asked an older feline what helium astir liked successful the world. The antheral said, ‘Lying successful furniture connected a summertime morning, with the model open, listening to the religion bells, eating buttered toast with cunty fingers.’ When helium heard that, Green said, ‘I saw the publication successful a flash.’”
He was a candid Canadian, saying retired large what galore Canadians thought but were excessively polite to confide to me, oregon who mightiness respond to my asking their sentiment astir our president, Don’t git maine sterted.
This made Margaret Atwood frown. Graeme Gibson fell silent. I changed the taxable but what I said, silly me, precipitated a chiseled frost implicit the occasion. I’d been nether the impression—and I inactive feel—that you tin accidental immoderate bizarre happening to a writer—they ever look to invited it, arsenic agelong arsenic you don’t disparage their work. Over the years I followed Atwood’s career, work galore of her books, and admired her for her stamina and dedication, arsenic a poet, essayist, and novelist, explicator and promoter of Canadian writing. She was that uncommon thing, a superior novelist whose enactment brought her galore readers and immense wealth.
A Candid Canadian
On different locomotion aboriginal that 2nd time successful Toronto—what a pleasance to beryllium capable to locomotion aft each that driving—I decided I needed a hat, for the weather. The somesthesia was conscionable beneath freezing and the stiff upwind disconnected the water lowered it further. I easy recovered a store selling men’s deterioration and fell into speech with a salesman with a batch connected his mind. I’d asked him, “How’s business?”
“Terrible,” helium said, and continued successful an aggrieved and growly voice. “No one’s buying anything. They don’t cognize what’s going to happen. Can’t blasted them. This is simply a atrocious period, and I’m atrocious but I blasted your president. We’ve been a bully person and neighbor, we’ve fought broadside by broadside successful each your wars—and what bash we get for it? Abuse.”
I didn’t disagree. I listened. He was a antheral of astir sixty, with pinkish eyes, astute successful a suit and a silk tie, but red-faced and fussed, leaning against a currency table wherever he’d been tapping astatine a computer, possibly annoyed that I’d interrupted him. His code was reminiscent of the indignant pistillate successful Yamaska who’d unloaded connected maine portion walking her dog. I felt that, similar her, helium was a candid Canadian, saying retired large what galore Canadians thought but were excessively polite to confide to me, oregon who mightiness respond to my asking their sentiment astir our president, Don’t git maine sterted.
I wondered whether this clerk had been to the States.
“Of people I have!” helium shouted. “I cognize each the places. New York, Boston, Florida. But wherefore would I spell to those places now? Toronto’s got everything! What is it you want?”
“I was looking to bargain a hat.”
“Hats! I’ve got hats! You don’t privation a shot hat, wouldn’t suit you—you’re an older gentleman. Or a bucket hat, you’d look foolish. You privation a existent hat—or a toque. Know what a toque is? I stake not a azygous idiosyncratic successful the United States knows the word, but we deterioration them each the time.”
“It’s a benignant of wooly cap.” “Not a cap! A toque! Look—”
He turned to his machine and clicked connected the website of his ain store to telephone up an assortment of toques—knitted hats, bobble hats, and beanies—which I pretended to beryllium fascinated by, portion I asked him much questions.
“Do you inactive spell to the States?”
“No! Why would I? It’s a shithole down there. All the conflict. They don’t read, they don’t think, they don’t cognize anything.”
“That would beryllium me,” I said, but this disenchanted aged chap was not listening.
“We’re multicultural! You cognize what ‘visibly cultural’ means? That’s us. Look around. We’re similar this.” He clasped his hands and yanked them, lacing his fingers, an representation successful hairy hands of nationalist unity. “But it’s not similar that down there. They’re astatine each other’s throats and they privation to marque america the fifty-first state. Bullshit—excuse me—but it is!”
“About the hat,” I began.
“Sorry”—he had turned, he’d spotted a well-dressed lawsuit astatine the garment department. “I person to spell merchantability something.”
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Excerpted from the book True North: On the Road successful Canada by Paul Theroux. Copyright © 2026 by Paul Theroux. From Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.
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