I planned to drive there, and pick up more giftwrap and last-minute gifts on the way home too, but my car was encased in a layer of ice from yesterday's storm. Clearly I was meant to take "The Better Way" today.
As I walked off toward the bus stop, one of my neighbours rolled down her window and gave me a big thumbs-up. Then, as I got off the bus at Pape Station, I heard a woman whisper to her friend: "That's the busker!!"
+++
The performance area at Spadina is located in a spacious vestibule tiled in warm caramel brown. It's at the end of a long moving sidewalk (currently under repair) which connects this modern arm of Spadina Station (the north-south axis point) to the historic Bloor-Danforth line.
The vestibule feels a lot like an auditorium. It would seat more than one hundred people if it were used that way. Unfortunately, because there are two levels of trains at Spadina, there's also twice the noise. Also, in addition to the noise of the trains, a man at a pay phone directly across from me was carrying on a loud argument in Spanish. The altercation went on for a half-hour, even though I tried to calm the atmosphere with songs like "Silent Night".
I took the opportunity to sing all the religious Christmas songs I felt like singing, including "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "In the Bleak Midwinter". This year, I won't be in church at Christmastime. Looking out at the octagonal foyer in which I found myself, I thought: This is it.
Finally the man at the pay-phone finished his argument and walked away, glancing at me strangely. (Maybe my music had interfered with the argument?)
Shortly afterward, a man came by who I'd noticed at Bay Station a couple of times. He stopped to have a conversation and asked insightful questions about my career and my reasons for busking. He too was a musician and talked about his own experiences as a subway musician. (I was thrilled when he bought a CD.)
Then, later, another former busker also came along. This pattern of coincidences is proving to be the norm. I'll bump into the same person more than once at different stations...or I'll meet two people from the same former workplace within minutes of each other. What's the likelihood that I'd run into the same person three times? I'm only out for a few hours at a time...and not every day or at the same station. I'm starting to expect these serendipities. They always feel as if they're meant to be.
(The person I've run into the most--six times now--is Samuel, the Irish fellow with the connection to "Touched By An Angel". On Thursday, after coming home from busking, I turned on the television and by chance, "Touched By An Angel" was actually on. I could've sworn I spotted him in a crowd scene.)
The second former busker taught me the chords to The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood". I told him I'd learn it and play it next time we bump into each other. Which we will.
Meanwhile, a friend I'd agreed to meet at Spadina dropped by and bought my two CDs--for Christmas presents! Around that point, the batteries for my little amp gave out, so I offered to play one more song and asked which one he'd like. He suggested First Day of School.
I hadn't been playing that one very much in the subways. I didn't know if it would work, having such a specific (I thought) focus on children and growing up and parenting.
Then again, I had always felt that the song was not only about school itself--but about ongoing growth, challenge and risk. Ahah: maybe it was right for the subway after all.
As if on cue, along came a mother and her little girl, about my daughter's age. They stayed for the whole song.
Just like it was meant to be.
Merry Christmas.
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