Since moving out of my dad's house for the first time about, oh, a dozen years ago now, I have managed to keep moving into a new place at an average pace of once per year what with one thing and another. Thankfully things have finally slowed down the last couple of years, but there always seems to be something urging me to hold my nose and take the plunge once again.

A couple of moves ago I came close to renting a place on Riverside Drive East with access to the Ganatchio Trail and a nice view of the river. Instead I took a place on Ouellette, because I figured I would like having access to downtown and it was $85 a month cheaper. Turns out I never went downtown and, what with the inadequate parking (most of the residents of the building seemed to be retired women who had been there for 20 years and had plenty of time to reach the top of the waiting list for the underground lot), I had to park on the street or in the church lot across the road about half the time. Consequently my car got vandalized so much that the damages neatly cancelled out the savings in rent. Plus, the view was crummy. Finally I got fed up enough that I moved to my current place, where I can at least see the water and my car is parked, more or less safely, underground.

Now, apparently there was a home invasion on my block yesterday afternoon... you can see the house where it happened from my balcony. Evidently a shot was fired but no one got hit. Fun, fun, fun. Well, nowhere is perfectly safe, but I have always had my doubts about this neighbourhood and some of the people I see around the building. Do I have another move in my near-to-medium-term future? I hope not, but it's beginning to seem like a good idea.