On the Road – Salty Platforms, Tent Cities, Functional Dysfunction and More
December 16, 2023
Highlights and lowlights from yesterday’s bus-train trek to and from Guelph:
0. The occasion for the trip was the anniversary of the passing of my dear friend Carli Ward. Following her cancer diagnosis in 2006, she boarded a train bound for Guelph to visit relatives there, and while visiting her at Grace Hospice, I often saw the pictures she took from that trip on her screen saver.
1. While waiting at Fairview Mall, I noticed a woman at the machine having trouble paying cash for her ticket. So someone nearby put the $8.15 fare on his card. That was nice of him. I guess.
2. The salty platform at Burlington. For the record, it was +4 when I left the house and it went up to +13 later in the day.
3. Abandoned goodies in the shelter at Burlington . . .
4. At Aldershot, where I waited for the #17 bus, a chubby customer care rep perched near the big display board giving departure times for trains and buses was shouting those same departure times at anyone who came into the terminal. As if those people couldn’t read or were carrying white canes.
5. Load up all your worldly possessions in a shopping cart . . .
6. One of the new fare machines Metrolinx is rolling out across the network . . .
7. The politically incorrect “Merry Christmas” on a GO bus. It was much the same on Burlington Transit buses as well. Tsk, tsk.
8. In addition to the many travelers along the route, the residents of Morriston will be pleased to know that plans are indeed in effect to reroute Highway 6 to the west and away from the town.
9. Spotted outside a place along Highway 6 was a sign which read, “Ticks spread Lyme disease like it’s hot gossip.”
10. A black squirrel in Riverside Park stopped and posed for a picture. During her 2006 trip, Carli also captured a picture of a black squirrel in the same park.
11. The “G” train, which Carli also got a picture of in 2006 when it was located at its prior home in the west end of town.
12. Odd name for a bus route . . .
13. This puzzling support for Palestine almost seemed to be a religion around town. There was even a sign outside a church. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised in a city that voted for a Fascist Green MPP, but in any event, given how we remain under siege from our own government, we have bigger problems right here at home. Not my country, not my war.
14. Behind the counter at The Common, where I stopped for a break, was this poster giving instructions on the five steps to respond to an opioid overdose. One of them wasn’t “let the law of natural selection run its course.”
15. Who said they weren’t?
16. They’re only flat on the bottom . . .
17. This kind of stuff makes my mouth water for a big, juicy steak. The alert reader will also notice that they failed to acknowledge our former mayor’s trademark of the word “compassion™.”
18. I don’t like them either, but it’s a bit strong to suggest that they destroy lives. It’s not like they’re public health officials.
19. While walking down Macdonell Street, an old woman parked her car, got out, then stood at the curb and shouted, “Stay away from me on Christmas Day!” before walking into a nearby parking lot. Shrug.
20. Tent city at St. George’s Square . . .
21. The perfect place to write a love letter . . .
22. Maybe it’s just me, but something fell off the logic train here . . .
23. Bus on the hook . . .
24. Boarding the #17 bus at the University of Guelph on my return trip was a couple of girls in their early 20s who spent the entire ride to Aldershot engaging in an animated conversation. The one who was wearing glasses and sporting a rainbow button on her backpack kicked things off by saying she didn’t really want to work on the application for some college, but she paid $130 for the privilege, so she has motivation. Her unspectacled friend said that your body works well until it gets warm. Then it feels like, you’ve got, like, lead in your blood. As they passed a bar/restaurant, she lamented not having eaten much in, like, 48 hours, and suggested they should go there soon. Let’s put on our suits and put on synthetic mustaches, she said. She went on to talk about some lesbians in one of their classes. They’re, like, functionally dysfunctional, she said.
After saying that she needs to be busy all the time or she’ll, like, die and that her head hurts like she bonked it, Spectacled Girl began talking about St. Catharines, where they were headed. She said downtown St. Catharines was like downtown Guelph. There’s a store she likes that has Bruce Springsteen stuff, the one where they had a major fire in the building recently, something she seemed unaware of. She went on to say that when they get there, she’ll make sure to drop her mother’s maiden name, because her mother is a member of one of the city’s prominent families. Though originally from St. Catharines, her mother was raised in Trinidad and Tobago because her family owned a boat company.
As Spectacled Girl opened her laptop to begin working on her application, Unspectacled Girl turned her attention to the recent texts she had received from her boyfriend Andrew. She wondered if she should address what he’s blaming her for. She worked on a response and ran it past her friend. I think you need to take some time for yourself, she said. I still love you, but we can’t talk right now. Her friend liked it, though Unspectacled Girl still hesitated. It won’t satisfy him, she said. He won’t be happy with it. He wants an answer he wants to hear. It’s so difficult to communicate with him.
Spectacled Girl sympathized. It sounds like a losing battle, she said. Then her friend continued. He keeps insinuating that I’m, like, going through a difficult time, she said. I’m not. You’re projecting. You’re, like, incapable of listening to reason.
She finally settled on some wording and sent her response. She said she wasn’t trying to be mean. But she said they need time to heal and allow themselves to grow. It’s not possible to reconcile right now because he refuses to treat her as an equal.
It might have almost been worth it to follow them on the #18K bus at Aldershot rather than take the train to Burlington to catch the #12 bus. But for better or for worse, I stuck with my original plan.
25. I didn’t hear anything about a fatality . . .
26. At the washroom in Burlington, a father took his young son to the urinal, where they both did their business, then walked out without washing their hands. I still appreciate living in a part of the world where such things stand out.
27. An older woman involved in a long conversation while waiting at Burlington was complaining because her voice was breaking up. It’s flaky, she said of the connection inside the terminal. I’m in jail.
28. Another resident of the Burlington GO homeless shelter . . .
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