“I love heights, man!” shouts the man next to me as we awkwardly stuff our limbs into fire-engine-red jumpsuits and tighten the straps. “I’ve wanted to do this for ages.”

This golden retriever enthusiasm should be infectious, but any chutzpah I once had has fluttered away like a maple leaf in Canada’s crisp autumnal breeze. I’m at “basecamp” for Edgewalk, a toe-curling 30-minute creep around the edge of Toronto’s CN Tower, attached only by a black harness. A short lift ride later, and our group of six is gingerly stepping out into the elements at 356 metres (1,168 feet) above ground.

Coal-black rainclouds swell ominously over Lake Ontario, and the tourists below look like shuffling grains of sand. My hands clam up, clutching the harness cord as we attempt our ‘leaning forward’ exercise. Yet, suspended above it all, watching the city I once called home fan out below me is oddly comforting.

My first summer in Toronto was a balmy haze of riding carnation-red streetcars, sinking happy hour beers on downtown terraces, bouncing around busy hostels, learning the rules of ice hockey and savouring fleeting friendships with fellow travellers from around the globe. That was 2011. Now, 15 years later, Canada’s biggest city is gearing up to host six matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

I stayed for two years, and the place still feels like home. Toronto’s international character was intoxicating to me when I first arrived, with over half of its three million-strong population born outside Canada and over 180 languages spoken. While I eventually got around to attractions like the Royal Ontario Museum and the Norman Foster-designed Art Gallery of Ontario, it was the city’s diverse neighbourhoods that captivated me most.

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“There’s definitely a neighbourhood mentality here,” says Saro Yacoubian, one of the three brothers who run Taline, a Lebanese-influenced Armenian restaurant in Toronto’s leafy Summerhill neighbourhood. It’s the first time I’ve been to this corner of the city, a few blocks north of the bustling Yonge and Bloor intersection, and it’s the first time I’ve eaten Armenian food.

“In the 1960s, this space here was a tailor’s, and upstairs was where the tailor lived. Funnily enough, he was an Armenian too. Total coincidence!” laughs Yacoubian, before he explains what I’m going to be eating tonight. I’ve no idea where to find Armenian food back in Britain, but in a city like this, with its global bazaar of cultures and cuisine, it’s just another Wednesday night.

Taline is the name of the brothers’ late mother, and I tuck into refined versions of the hearty Armenian-Lebanese cuisine she once cooked for them, like unctuous boat-shaped meat dumplings called manti, or tender, well-seasoned vochkhar lamb chops.

The dishes are excellent, but Summerhill is far from the only neighbourhood for sublime food. There is Portuguese bacalhau on Dundas St West, Polish dumplings on Roncesvalles, Korean BBQ on Bloor St West or Peking duck in Spadina’s historic Chinatown. My salvation, though, was always Kensington Market.

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Spending my first night back at the glittering Bisha Hotel, I feel like an interloper. This wasn’t my world 15 years ago; I could barely pay rent and became something of an authority on happy hour pints and cheap poutine. Toronto’s skyline may be taller and glassier, but Kensington Market’s edgy, multicultural spirit is as beguiling as ever.

“Kensington Market is a microcosm that represents everything Toronto is about,” says my guide CJ, as she leads a busy food tour from Chinatown into Kensington’s art-splashed streets. Incense hangs in the air, pro-Palestine flyers are handed out, and Pride flags flutter above the houses. The vintage stores and shabby dive bars I used to frequent are still here, while the revolving cast of affordable bites brings new surprises: with fiery Jamaican beef patties, generously filled tacos and dense fried chicken providing an agonising array of choice.

“The diversity, the multiculturalism. That means everyone is welcomed, recognised, and respected,” CJ adds, before leading our group into a meandering mobile brunch.

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If food and football are to go hand in hand, the World Cup is an opportunity to showcase Toronto’s other famous sports. A staunch football fan, I was initially dismissive of ice hockey, basketball and baseball when I arrived, but by the end of my first summer, I was a full-blown Toronto Blue Jays fan. They’re the local baseball team that came within a whisker of winning the World Series championship last October. Ticket prices for games at the hulking Rogers Centre stadium (conveniently located downtown next to the CN Tower) in summer are always affordable, and on a warm evening, with a beer in hand, the games are great fun, even if the rules seem as complicated as a Russian novel to the uninitiated.

The six World Cup games will be played at Toronto Stadium, near the waterfront. Usually home to Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC, its 28,000 capacity is being expanded to 45,000 for the tournament, with two new grandstands and a host of plush new suites. The Bentway – normally a concrete underpass – is being transformed into a vibrant arts, music and events space, and will host the official FIFA fan zone. I’d also recommend wandering into nearby Liberty Village for more drinks and fun. It was where I landed my first job in Toronto, though the less said about that, the better (I was never cut out for manual labour).

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One place I was cut out for was the Loose Moose, a cartoonishly named favourite from my time here – a downtown pub with almost as many screens as pints on tap. With the Blue Jays on TV and a cold Canadian pint in hand, my last night in the city is a good one.

“It always makes me happy, because it reminds me of being happy,” wrote the great food critic and raconteur AA Gill about his old home, New York. I feel the same way about Toronto. Though next time, I’ll probably just stick to the CN Tower’s indoor viewing deck.

How to get there

Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh all offer direct flights to Toronto. The airlines that fly there are Air Transat, Air Canada, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, with an average flight time of around seven hours.

Where to stay

Stay at The Drake Hotel on Queen St West. Prices from $370 CAD (£200) per night.

James March was a guest of Destination Toronto.

Terence Crawford walked away from the sport as one of boxing’s modern greats, having ruled in five divisions and overcome a host of major names.

However, there is one active contender that Hall of Fame legend Roy Jones Jr believes would have provided ‘Bud’ with a tough test.

Crawford claimed the undisputed title at super-lightweight, welterweight and super-middleweight, trumping the likes of Kell Brook, Errol Spence Jnr and Canelo Alvarez over the course of a phenomenal and undefeated 42-fight career.

However, before Crawford moved up to super-middleweight for his legacy-defining scalp of Canelo, there were calls for him to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, who has since gone on to become a unified welterweight champion and challenges for the unified super-welterweight titles in two months’ time.

Speaking to Sean Zittel, Jones admitted that he would be interested to see how that contest would have played out, with both mens adaptability making for a fascinating scrap.

“It would have been a tough fight for him. We would have found out what he [Boots] is made of, but it would have been a tough fight for both of them because Crawford is that guy that knows how to adapt and make changes too. Ennis is a guy that can definitely make changes on the spot.

“Those are the makings of great fighters, so both of those guys in front of each other would have been a hell of a fight to see because they are both so adaptable.”

Jones praised Boots’ fighting style, likening it to how he systematically took apart opponents.

“[He reminds me of myself] a lot. He has got so many things that he can do, he knows how to change things up on the spot. When you can adapt and change up on the spot, that is what you don’t find in many fighters nowadays.”

Crawford recently revealed that Ennis turned down the chance to face him back in 2021, forcing him to instead defend his WBO world title against Shawn Porter.

Everton hope to strike a second deal with Manchester City for Jack Grealish and to bring the England international back to Hill Dickinson Stadium next season.

Grealish is on loan from the Carabao Cup winners for the rest of the campaign and Everton have an option to buy him for £50m.

While they are not likely to take that up – and that would require a club record fee – David Moyes is keen to keep Grealish. A loan is the likeliest scenario though it is probable nothing will be arranged until after the end of this season.

Grealish, who has not played since January, is expected to miss the remainder of the campaign with a foot injury.

But he made an immediate impact after joining, winning the Premier League player-of-the-month award for August.

While he has not played for 10 weeks, only three players in the division have more than his six assists, while he has also scored twice.

Grealish has a season left on his contract at City after signing a six-year deal when he joined from Aston Villa for a British record £100m in 2021.

But he has been surplus to requirements after losing his place last season and being omitted from the squad for the Club World Cup.

Manager Pep Guardiola has signed a series of other wingers and attacking midfielders, including Omar Marmoush last January, Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders last summer and then Antoine Semenyo three months ago, signalling that he sees no way back for Grealish.

City have hoped to bring in a transfer fee for Grealish, who scored 17 goals in 157 games for them, but Everton’s preference could be to borrow him again.

Heinrich Klaasen (AP Photo)

NEW DELHI: Sunrisers Hyderabad return to winning ways with a dominant 65-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders, thanks largely to Heinrich Klaasen’s calm and experienced knock. While Blessing Muzarabani shines with four wickets for KKR, Klaasen’s steady 52 helps SRH post a strong 226/8 after being put in to bat. In reply, KKR never really get going and are bowled out for 161 in just 16 overs, slipping to another defeat.