EagleBear's Den Aerie

London, my home town, is found at the forks of the Thames River. Originally planned as Canada's capital, it was too close to the U.S. border for safety. With a population of about 325,000, it's the largest city in South Western Ontario (that is, West of the Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara "Golden Horseshoe") but still has a small-town mentality. Many of our institutions run themselves as if we were still a town of 10,000. Our City Hall and electric utility commission are particular farces. The city is very conservative. Our Mayor is a fundamentalist Christian and her beliefs inform her political decisions, like refusing to proclaim a Gay/Lesbian Pride Week/

Countering this is great medical care at the 3 teaching hopitals here, a relatively clean and quiet environment and a profusion of parks. London is called "The Forest City." We are supposedly a rich city, with more millionaires per capita than any other city. We also have had more apartments without full kitchens (per capita) leading to more restaurants per capita even than Toronto.

There is an ongoing rivalry between London and Toronto. Some Londoners say that Toronto sees itself as the "Center of the Universe" and some Torontonians see everything past Mississauga as "the boonies". This has led to London often "reinventing the wheel" since anything done in Toronto, obviously, wouldn't work here. And London's libraries, theatres, nightlife, etc. are "every bit as good" as Toronto's. One might wonder then why so many people travel the two hours to Toronto on weekends.

Our trans/les/bi/gay community is small, but growing in the usual pattern. While we do lose some of our less conservative members to Hamilton, Toronto, Vancouver or the U.S., we gain people from the smaller communities surrounding London. Sort of an incubator. Commercially, Partners and The Junction/Track 722/Club Bath complex are the queer clubs here (Lacey's and 52nd Street closed between the time I started my pages and typing this), along with H.A.L.O. (the Homophile Association of London Ontario) our les/bi/gay Community Centre. It's Canada's oldest queer community centre, established in 1974. Besides being the place to be on Saturday Night if your under 25, throughout the week there's Line Dancing, Euchre, group meetings galore as well as drag shows and other entertainment.

Also here is The Unitarian Fellowship of London (the UFL), my congregation. (Also see What is a UU?) Having called the Rev. Jane Bramadat to the pulpit over five years ago, we have been growing, and are again in search of new quarters. Some of our members are very attached to the current building (sort of like ivy) so this isn't easy.

Overall, I'm still not sure if I'll stay in London when I'm no longer looking after my mother. It will probably depend if I have a long-term partner. For now, you'll still find me here.

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Last Updated: June 8, 1998
Links Checked: June 1, 1998
© 1997, 1998 Kevin Peckham