Over the River LXXIV
March 5, 2024
Highlights and lowlights from my 74th two-wheeled trek to the Great State of New York:
1. Upon arrival at Fairview Mall, I noticed a guy at the Presto machine wearing a turban jabbering away with his wife or girlfriend in some foreign language. For some reason, I was not surprised to discover that he was trying to buy a ticket to Brampton. Or Bramgladesh, as I’ve heard it said.
2. While waiting for the regional transit bus, I spotted a big mama waddling out of the nearby Fit 4 Less. From the looks of her, she needs to spend a lot more time there.
3. Free food for waiting passengers . . .
4. Also while waiting, a black guy approached me and asked what route he should take to get to Brock. Not 100% sure myself, I did my best, explaining that he would have to take a bus downtown and transfer at the downtown terminal. But I found the encounter odd, as I failed to understand how someone would just show up at a bus terminal like Fairview Mall without doing any checking beforehand and seemingly expect to know which bus or buses to take to get to his cross-town destination. Not to mention the fact that there was a complete transit system map posted in the shelter he came out of before talking to me.
5. I’ll leave the rainbow business to the LGBT crowd, thank you very much . . .
6. Seated across from me on the #77 Buffalo-bound bus was a black guy on his way to work at Restaurant Depot who was juggling his two cell phones while munching on a ham sandwich. Next to him was an obese white woman who was dressed in a tight, stretchy top that was two or three sizes too small. Her fingernails were painted a bright, Smurf blue and there was one hell of a sour and sad look on her face. To say the least, she was not a happy campress.
7. Even though there was no construction or accident, traffic was moving at a snail’s pace across Grand Island. Sure, it was early Monday morning, but I didn’t think there was such a thing as a “rush hour” in WNY, where the most popular method of payment in stores is EBT.
8. Good they put these signs up. After all, who’d think that the front doors of a transit bus would actually open?
9. Video walkthrough of the Metropolitan Transportation Center:
10. Scenes inside the Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica in Lackawanna:
11. The state is right. Taking these shots do keep you out of the hospital. Instead, they send you straight to the morgue.
12. Welcome to South Buffalo . . .
13. Not far from this scene was a couple of guys standing on opposite sides of the street trading middle fingers. The City of Good Neighbors, indeed.
14. Closer to downtown was a woman setting up a table on the sidewalk in front of her house selling perfumed candles.
15. New selfie magnet at Canalside . . .
16. Inside the downtown library was this DWAM™ who was busy with a coloring book and had laid out a couple of boxes of crayons on the table in front of her for that purpose. Later, she would take down the dipshit mask. Perhaps it was interfering with her coloring.
17. Next to her was a couple of forlorn fellows wondering where the cheapest place to buy cigarettes was. The black guy, who had only a handful of his lower teeth remaining, said he knew of a place that would sell half packs while the white guy was searching for the best deals on his phone. The white guy figured the best option would be a nearby gas station, so the two of them took off bargain hunting.
18. I was pleased to see that this notice, which was on both of the NFTA buses I was on, had been defaced. Constructive civil disobedience.
19. Mere words cannot describe the level of depression that came over me as the #77 bus headed north. Returning to Canada becomes more difficult with each visit.
20. While waiting for the regional transit bus at Morrison and Dorchester, a grumpy woman in a gray hoodie kept griping that the driver wasn’t there even though he wasn’t scheduled to leave for more than 10 minutes and was probably enjoying a well-deserved break. Later, as we were stuck at a long light at Thorold Stone Road, she shouted, “I want to go!”
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