September–October 2001

Editor’s Note: By the fall of 2001, Reggie was living in Toronto, working at Toronto Island Airport and renting a small room in a boarding house. He also mentions coming home from “school,” although we have not yet identified what course or program he was attending.

Before long, he was in conflict with his landlord over privacy, electricity, smoking and the rules governing his tenancy. Reggie originally called these experiences “Encounters with Insanity” and referred to his landlord as his “insane landlord.”

Comments on my Boarding House Room

It’s all that I can afford around here. I rent a room (for a small fortune) and it’s not big enough to open up the futon. It’s hard to believe they can get away with this. Where I come from, I’d get a good sized 2-bedroom apartment for this – but apparently, that’s how it works around here.

I’d like to tell you a story about my insane landlord. That’s a story and a half. Maybe I will some other time. Right now, the domestic immigrant, that’s me – has to get going. So much to do in this strange and wonderful city. See ya.

September 12, 2001 – Toronto

I came home from school at 10 pm. I went into the kitchen. Dennis [the landlord] approached me and said that he was concerned about me leaving appliances on in my room. (I had suspected that he was going into my room when I was out, so I left my fan on to see if he was because I know that you can hear the fan from outside the room).

I asked him how he knew my fan was on. He said he heard it. Then he said he was charging from now on for using extra electricity – then he said that he was going to charge me for the past 2 weeks as well. I told him he couldn’t do that. He said I was going to have to obey his lease to the letter from now on. I told him that I had already called the Rental Board about his lease and that it was bogus. He then told me that I had two weeks to get out. I told him I would stay as long as I wanted because the lease protects me as well.

He was irate, yelling that I had 2 weeks to get out. I went upstairs to my room. I saw that my fan was unplugged and sitting in my garbage. He then came up the stairs yelling at me to go back downstairs and shut the light off. I went into my room and closed my door.

October 17, 2001

I came home in the evening. Dennis told me I had left my window open and then told me there was no smoking allowed in the house.

I went to my room and the window was closed. There were no cigarettes or ashtrays in sight. There was an ashtray in my dresser, but you would have to open the dresser drawer to see it.

October 18, 2001

This morning, Dennis asked me why I leave my window open. I told him it was closed but I sometimes open it for fresh air. He said he had been going outside several times this morning to see if my window was open.

He asked me if I knew what it cost to heat a house and he told me to walk down the street and see how many of the neighbors had windows open – he says that, in this house, we do not open our windows.

He also told me to get rid of any cigarettes, buts and ashtrays.

Editors Note: Despite his frustrations with the boarding house, one line from Reggie’s opening comments stands out. He described himself as a “domestic immigrant” with “so much to do in this strange and wonderful city.”

Whatever difficulties he was experiencing, he still seemed interested in what Toronto might offer him.