On the Road – Free Eyeglasses, Bad Spellers, Lost Tourists and More
October 12, 2022
Highlights and lowlights from yesterday’s bus-bike trek to and from the Falls:
1. While waiting for a regional transit bus at Fairview Mall, someone came around and asked the driver of the Burlington-bound GO bus for help with the ticket machine. Despite the fact that there was a busload on board waiting, she obliged, got out and took him through the process of buying a ticket. But when it came time to pay, he suddenly announced that wasn’t traveling today. He just wanted to know how the machine worked. I can imagine her disgust as she got back behind the wheel while he sauntered off toward to his car.
2. That same GO driver, after taking off, stopped and waited for a DWAM who got out of a car that had just pulled up to the stop and was frantically running after the bus. Once again, this is not the Old Country, where many Winnipeg Transit drivers would have taken great pleasure in flooring it.
3. When it came time to pay my fare on the regional transit bus, the machine wasn’t accepting bills. “This is your lucky day,” said the driver, who let me ride like a Winnipegger. He even gave me a transfer to enable me to ride a Niagara Falls bus for free as well.
4. Already on board was a middle-aged guy who turned to the woman seated on his left wearing a yellow reflective vest with CANADA POST written on it and asked if she worked for Canada Post. He then asked her whether she thought Brad Park or Bobby Orr was the best defenseman of all time before asking her what it was like to work at Canada Post. “It has its challenges,” she replied.
5. It’s probably been there for a while, but I was pleased to see the light at Taylor and Mountain Roads. Having to make a left turn at the busy three-way stop that was there previously was often problematic for me.
6. Waiting to cross the street on Glendale near Niagara College was a young woman wearing a hoodie with BEAMSVILLE BUCCANEERS on it. Whoever they are.
7. Getting off at the outlet mall was an older woman in a scooter who made sure to pack her brown bag from LCBO in the carrier before exiting the bus.
8. As we approached Thorold Stone Road, there was an automated announcement, “For your safety, do not touch or chase a moving bus.” Thanks for the tip.
9. What kind of parent would be cruel enough to name their kid Jim Dandy?
10. It was so considerate of someone to leave a pair of eyeglasses at the Chippawa battlefield so that visitors with vision problems would have no problem reading the details of the battle and its aftermath.
11. The cenotaph at the Chippawa battlefield:
12. Anyone who needs this sign shouldn’t be out on his own without adult supervision . . .
13. This is the aftermath of a trucker trying to make a U-turn who got hung up and damaged part of his trailer. A nearby observer who told me he drove a truck for 24 years figured the “dumbass” did more than $1,000 worth of damage. “I hope it’s his truck and not his boss’s,” he said.
14. Two shots from the same area, one of the rare spots in Canada where you can look north at the U.S.:
In the shot on the left, the two white towers in the foreground are the New York Power Authority’s water intakes, while in the background, the white domes are part of the former Hooker Chemical plant of Love Canal infamy. In the shot on the right, the large tower is the Seneca Niagara Casino.
15. Watch for pedestrians and poultry . . .
16. Your guess is as good as mine as to what purpose this barrier serves . . .
17. A new addition from Ripley’s Believe it or Not behind the Table Rock Welcome Center:
18. Video walkthrough of the Table Rock Welcome Center and Table Rock Shop:
19. The coffee shop was selling “loafs” of something. Perhaps they also give you “knifes” to cut it with.
20. It’s a wonder this vulture on Clifton Hill doesn’t reach out and use its beak to pick money out of the wallets of passing tourists.
21. I share the sentiment, but both words are not terribly hard to spell . . .
22. Passing me on Victoria Avenue was a car with Quebec plates whose passenger was holding a phone up through the open sunroof. Just when you think you’ve seen everything.
23. Video of the new five-point roundabout at the corner of Bridge Street and Victoria Avenue. Why this was deemed necessary by the chieftains at the Region is beyond me.
23a. This is another example of why it’s so important to vote in the upcoming municipal election in order to get rid of tax-and-spend politicians who think they know better how to spend your money than you do. And with the normally low turnout at the polls, your vote really counts.
24. The new Niagara? Whatever this means, she’s running for city council, not regionally. Perhaps she thinks that the City of Niagara Falls runs the entire region. Or is at least hopeful that such a thing will come to pass.
25. This is an interesting idea. It reminds me of a similar program in the Old Country. Except in that in the case there, the best way to get rid of something was to put it under lock and key in your garage. Especially in River Heights.
26. I am almost always asked for directions whenever I visit the Falls, and this one was no exception. Near City Hall, a guy was walking down the trail and seemingly couldn’t find out from his phone how to get to the falls, so I pointed the way.
27. Oh do I?
28. Rather than fix the water fountain in the bus terminal that has been out of commission for several years now, the city has just decided to wrap it in a garbage bag.
29. Let the record reflect that the vending machines inside the bus terminal, like the ones in the Hamilton GO Center, do take cash. Unlike the new ones at the Burlington GO station that don’t.
30. Oddly, GO Transit tickets are no longer sold inside the bus terminal, and there are no less than five signs plastered around the terminal to that effect. Instead, tourists, often burdened by large amounts of luggage, are directed to a machine across the street adjacent to the train station. What a sorry state of affairs in a town where tourism is the major industry.
31. Before starting up the bus, our GO driver got a McDonald’s delivery from Uber Eats and took it with him on the bus in apparent violation of Metrolinx policy regarding food and drink on the bus.
32. Seated nearby on the return trip was a guy practically making out with his small dog, regularly patting it and putting it up to his cheek. If he’s like that in public on a bus, I can’t imagine what he’s like with it in the privacy of his own home. As a long-lost friend of mine would say, no visuals please.
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