Musings on a Small Life

The bus I took home yesterday was jam-packed with students, and along the way three people got on: this kid, a young woman, and an older woman. The boy first sat in the seat ahead of me, then when the bus cleared a bit, moved over with his family. It took me a moment to realize what I was seeing on his back: OMG, the poor cat! I asked the young woman if the cat was a girl or boy (female) and if she had been to the vet. She said yes to the vet, but as they were not English-speaking, I really don't know if she understood. Anyway, I felt awful for the poor cat, stuffed into that carrier on a packed, noisy bus. She meowed piteously at one point, but then was quiet. The boy was not careful with that backpack carrier, either, he banged it around a lot, which I'm sure added to the cat's discomfort. Bloody stupid thing to do, IMO, especially during the afternoon rush hour. Take a taxi, people. I'm actually surprised the driver let them on, but as it was so bus...

This morning I stopped at the 24-hour downtown grocery store that's on my way to work, then went to McDonald's for a sugar-free vanilla skim milk latté. Caught the bus that comes downtown, goes to the hospital and then up through campus and onward. I sat at the front in the only available area, and though I could hear someone at the back being disruptive, I didn't turn around to look. I presumed it was a developmentally challenged person travelling with at least one other person. Well, that wasn't the case at all. It was a middle-aged woman, extremely disturbed, either quite mentally ill or on drugs or possibly both, standing up at the back of the bus, possibly shedding clothes or only clothed in a light top and pants, and acting out whatever was in her mind. The driver had put a call through to dispatch and when we got to the downtown transfer point, we all exited the bus as an ambulance arrived to remove her. I took another bus heading close to my office, other ...

I caught one of the new express buses up to my transfer point yesterday afternoon, 4:10PM. I recognized the driver, he's been around for at least a handful of years if not more, and I've been on his buses before. (He's very heavy on the pedals, it's not a enjoyable experience.) I sat in the first seat behind the back door, up a step from the front and mid portions of the bus, and I had a partial view of the driver from an angle and could see him in his rearview mirror.  We'd gone only a block or so before jerking caught my eye and from where I was sitting it seemed the driver was struggling with the steering wheel. The thought that flashed through my mind was it had frozen and he couldn't steer the bus, or that he was trying to adjust the tilt of it, as can be done. But that wasn't it at all. When I looked up into the mirror, I could see he was struggling with his left hand and/or arm. The entire way up to my transfer point, his left han...

This little robin was inside our bus shelter yesterday morning, perhaps waiting to greet the super-nice driver. You have to look closely to see he's on the inside of the plexiglass!     We (me and the other woman from my complex who takes the bus at the same time) were trying to gently shoo him out, and as you can see, he got scared and pooped. Not scared enough to fly out, though! Eventually he slipped out and onto the grass behind the shelter, then flew off. I have no idea why he was in there -- maybe he flew into the glass and was stunned for a bit? Whatever the reason, he didn't seem to be injured, thankfully. I wouldn't mind inter-species bus passengers. Actually, some of the two-leggeds on our public transit seem like other species.  :-P Peace .

I'm not going to bitch about the weather here; I've already done that on the boys' blog. I am going to post two cute (IMO) things, one a question from a week or two ago on the Canadian Weather Network site, the other an ad I saw on our City web site yesterday. I voted "openly weep," as did a great many of those who had voted when I clicked. And the ad for transit drivers: BTW, I recognize three of the four people in that photo, all drivers, though I don't know their names. As much as I complain about our typically late-running, slow service, I will give kudos to the drivers of the two buses I caught yesterday afternoon, going home. Both actually were on time, by some miracle, as I couldn't even see a half-block ahead, with the white-out conditions. Thank you to both for a safe ride home; I'm sure glad it wasn't me behind the wheel! The other "two too cute" are, of course, the boys: Derry on our mild Tuesday, be...

So, yesterday I had blood work first thing in the AM, walked to the lab and then to work. You need to know this to understand my stupidity this morning.  Yesterday, going home, I boarded the bus and swiped my monthly bus pass, which gave me an error message of "insufficient funds." Huh? It's a monthly pass. Unlimited ridership. (You see where this is going.) The driver told me not to worry, the card reader had been giving him problems. Okay, fine. This morning I walked part way to work (in the snowstorm we're having) and picked up the express bus. I swiped my card, but got the "insufficient funds" error again. I explained it had happened yesterday going home too, on another express bus. This morning's driver asked me if I had taken any other buses yesterday and I automatically replied that I had, routes #X and #Y and it was only the express bus card readers that seemed to be giving me problems. So I went and sat down...and five minutes later...

I'll give you a hint: I was on the bus, coming home late this morning. First time this had happened to the driver. No bus, passenger, driver, or train crossing barrier was harmed during the snapping of this pic.  :-D Ah, every day's an adventure! P.S. And if it's still not clear...That's the track crossing barrier on top of the bus roof. LOL.

"Wasting away again in Margaritaville, "Searching for my lost shaker of salt...." Did you know a margarita has about 580 calories? I just thought I'd throw that out for a bit of trivia. Go with a Caesar instead. At least you get your veggies. Nope, I haven't had a margarita, but I've had about 3 shots of rye right now, and that was before food. I can barely see the keyboard. I so seldom drink that I have very little tolerance to alcohol. But the week deserved it. Explain to me how it is that I can spend weeks on end mindless with boredom at the office, then be swamped by half a dozen "must do immediately" projects? Including that web project. Which would be easier if the University's web template actually allowed one to do what one wanted in the first place. I had visions of going "postal" this morning, left the office and ran an errand downtown instead. Explain to me why I live in public transit hell and why it takes 1.5 to...

A couple of you have asked if the new transit route worked, so I'll just quickly reply: Yes and no. Yes, because I did get home in about half an hour. No, because the bus I take from the university is so busy, and therefore running late, that the driver had to call the new route's driver to ask him to wait. And I had to run from one bus stop, wait for the light at a busy street to change, then run some distance further. All in all, the driver on the new route had to wait several minutes for me, not just 30 seconds or a minute. So I can see that trying to make the connection isn't going to work at peak bus times. Luckily, I know the driver of the new route (by sight, not by name) and he said he has lots of time to get to his next transfer point and so can afford to wait 5 minutes. But not every driver will do that, of course. I called our transit office not to complain, but just so they could note my experience and that people will not be able to make the transfer. The c...

OMG, OMG, Look at this! Okay, okay, only someone who takes public transit every day could possibly understand my excitement over Kingston Transit's new routes today. It means that my 5km (3 mile) commute time on the way home will decrease by half -- approximately 1 hour down to half an hour. After 10 long years of transit hell. Of course, there's no guarantee the driver will be on time, so I could miss my transfer and have to walk (a common occurrence), but I'll give it a go. I can hardly wait to leave work today! (For that and the usual reasons!) Enlarge to see the underlined text: 28 minutes! Woohoo! I hope everyone is having a good Tuesday. I have lots of work to keep me occupied, but still the day has been dragging--and that was before I realized I can get home in half the "normal" time. All the same, I feel much brighter and cheerier now than I did a little while ago!  :-)

Why I couldn't wait till Spring to trek out to the conservation area is beyond me. It takes about an hour to get out there via public transit and the same to come back. Okay, okay, it was worth it. It was cold, even with layers, but fortunately there was no wind. If there had been, the -13C would have been unbearable. Anyway, I hadn't been out since last fall, the latter part of October, perhaps, or sometime in early November. I can't recall, would have to hunt through my photo albums to find out, and I'm too lazy. Suffice to say it's been a while! There has been a lot of tree-cutting, more than I've ever seen. A real chainsaw massacre, actually. Some trees obviously needed to come down, were rotten right through, but many I saw were not. I know there is a volunteer organization that runs the conservation area, so presumably they are following some sort of plan. So I have lots of snapshots to share! I took 63 shots, saved 34. No, I'm not posting all 34...

Or The Perils of Public Transit Part 4. I was running behind this morning, couldn't make it out of the house in time to walk to the Centre to catch the 6:30 bus, so hurried to the stop near our townhouse complex. It's just across the street, really, not far. So I waited. And waited. And waited. And knew something was amiss, because our current morning driver always is punctual. I figured it was someone else on the route today, or there was a problem with the bus. Sure enough, the driver showed up, the bus being his third one...only it died at my stop. Pressure dropped completely and we couldn't go anywhere. He called in and requested yet another bus, which came in five minutes or so. Good thing the transit terminal is quite close to my street. But by that time it was almost 6:30 anyway, and of course I missed my transfer. No problem, the 6:45AM bus was on time and got me down to the office 15 minutes later than normal, which meant I was in at 7AM rather than 6:45. No biggie...

Or The Perils of Public Transit Part 3 Heading home from a couple of quick errands today, on this chilly day -- feels like -23C or so. Take the bus at the Centre (it's only 2 kms from my house, but since I was carrying cases of cat food and already had walked to the stores, I wasn't walking home), we pull out, almost hit a vehicle because the brakes aren't working properly and the driver has to slam them on, which is...jolting. And every time she applies said brakes, the bus veers to the right. Ooh, exciting. There's nothing like heading home in a massive vehicle that can't stop properly. Life on the edge! The driver is very careful and goes slowly, calls in to the main office to request a new bus. She's good and I'm confident in her ability to keep us on the road. We get to the train station, where we hope to get a new bus, and she asks the three of us on the bus if we're staying on. We all are, to which she replies that we are brave souls. Because ...

Or The Perils of Public Transit, Part 2 Oh, yes, home again today on the bus. Took a half day from work because I haven't slept past 2AM in three days, I feel like something Annie might have puked up, and I have a wicked headache. Fine. The bus is on time, even speedy. The driver is one of the newer guys, I recognize him, don't know him by name. Bus #34. University campus to the college, no problem. No stinky passengers sitting beside me. Hurrah! We get to the college, kids get off, the back door doesn't close. It should close automatically, just so you know. I happen to be sitting by said back door, by the way. The windchill is about -16C at this time of day. It's cold ! So the driver gets off the bus, but instead of doing the logical thing--going around to close the stuck-open door--he walks up ahead to the other bus and starts chatting with the driver. Leaving both the front and back doors open to the biting wind. Have I mentioned it's about -16C with the...

Otherwise titled, The Perils of Public Transit. I'm tired. Two nights of being awake from 2AM onward. So I take the bus home again today instead of walking, get on at the stop outside my building on campus. Crowed as usual, but no problem. We get to the college, kids get off, kids get on. Bus still is packed. A young guy sits down in the spare seat beside mine. And then I detect an odour. Which doesn't mean anything to you unless you understand that I have lost my sense of smell over the past handful of years; it's probably about 98% gone. (I suspect due to constant allergies and congestion.) I can't smell undiluted bleach in a bottle when I stick my nose into it. I can't smell fresh garlic as I crush it. No exaggeration. So to be able to perceive any sort of scent means it's incredibly overpowering. And I can't figure out what the smell is, because of course that sense is so limited for me. Not pot. Cigarette smoke? If so, it must be a non-standard brand. ...

Literally. The bus, I mean. Heading up between Chapters and Canadian Tire early this morning. I got on and headed straight for the back. Suddenly heard a loud sound from behind me (engine is back there, of course). Didn't pay much attention until I saw and heard the driver call in to base. I shouted up asking if I should flee from the back (joking), but he didn't hear me. Finally looked out the side window, saw clouds of billowing smoke, realized we were losing speed and decided I'd move up to the front. LOL. He made it as far as Canadian Tire and the handful of us riding that route got off, since by then the engine warning alarm had come on. Beats me what it was; we all deserted the "sinking ship" just like rats would and left the driver to wait for the mechanic/tow truck/a new bus. Actually, I think everyone was only heading across the street, into the mall (probably for work), but since I was just killing time till Costco opened, I headed in to Canadian Tire. S...

Oh, yes, public transit is great for the environment, no question. And when you live in a city that has a fairly good public transit system, there's not much need to take a car to work unless you have to drive during the day for your job. But. And there's always a "but." Public transit when you have an injury sucks. Or when you are trying to get somewhere and the bus driver is known to be typically slow and you miss your transfer, and thus have to wait an additional half hour. Case in point, today. I left work at 11:45AM, really needed to go home and lie down and rest my back. Almost five hours at the office was as much as I could handle. But (there's the "but" again) the bus was running late, partly because of all the construction and partly because the driver, nice as she is, runs slow all the time. She used to do my morning route and would barely make it to the Centre on time for transfers . . . and that was at 6:15AM and with no traffic. There are ot...