Community Sled

Back in Halifax, I used to walk the dog every morning on Citadel Hill. In the winter, if the snow was happening, I would take along a wee inflatable luge for a couple of high-speed runs down the south-west face. What a blast! It was impossible to be in a bad mood after starting the day ripping down a cold white hill.

Here in Toronto, my local dog park is also sled-worthy. In contrast to the Citadel, Bickford Park is an actual pit, the sunken bed of the now-underground Garrison Creek that runs through west-central Toronto. You slide down the sides of the pit onto the flat bottom, while underneath gurgles a filthy spring that in humid weather gives the park its distinctive ass-like pong.

We did, finally, get some good snow two weeks ago, so I dragged the old wooden three-seater out to the park to have a go. This ancient piece of sleddery spent the summer hanging off the back fence. It's bleached and battered, and the reins have long ceased to function. At best, they are decorative, as much as a shaggy piece of yellow nylon cable can be. But, by golly, in the right circumstances, that thing can rip. It's heavy and straight and flat-bottomed. It's got ballast and straight-ahead drive, unlike those flimsy plastic dealies that are designed to start spinning and heave you out of them halfway down the hill.

So, anyway, I took this Volvo of sleds out a couple of times, and while I was at the hill, I noticed a number of neighbourhood kids trying to have a good time with pieces of cardboard. Since I don't use the sled that much, I thought, why not leave it in the park for everyone to use? I got out a Sharpie and wrote "COMMUNITY SLED" on the front curl, along with a few instructions. ("Use me, share me, leave me in the park!") I hooked the sled up onto the chainlink fence that surrounds the softball diamond and left the old gal there to her next appointment.

The next morning, the sled was gone. Of course it was gone! It's downtown Toronto. Who's going to leave a sled just sitting there, when it's way more fun to steal it or smash it? Ah, well. I marched the dog around the park anyway, and hey - I found the sled leaning up against a tree trunk! We had a couple of runs and then I left the sled up against the fence.

For the next two days, we came twice a day and always found the sled somewhere, hanging in there, clearly being used. But on the third day it was gone for good. Whether it had been dragged up an alley and set on fire, or shoved into oncoming traffic, or simply heaved into a dumpster by some zealous Parks employee, I'll never know. It was a good sled, though.

Now I have nothing to slide on. I may have to try out the cardboard. It doesn't slide very well, but at least nobody's going to steal it.