We go to the Leslie Street Spit - now named Tommy Thompson Park - for different reasons. My wife brings binoculars and books for identifying plants, birds, butterflies. The kids like the straight long stretches of pavement for safe rollerblading and biking. I walk it for the scenery and the exercise, and am constantly aware of how unique this is - a totally man-made wild place. Three things are always in evidence: the presence of a large body of water, the city skyline, and the rubble beneath every step. Most of the structures demolished in Toronto over the past 50 years have ended up here in some form. I could be walking on the bricks that were once part of a bank, or the University, my favourite childhood movie theatre. Office tower excavations and basement renovations, bulldozed flat and then reclaimed by opportunistic seeds.