On the Road – Idiot Passengers, Gouging Tourists, Misgendered Access Holes and More
May 14, 2025
Highlights and lowlights from another bus excursion to and from the Falls:
1. Just leave your bike parked behind the ticket machine . . .
2. While waiting at Fairview Mall, an older guy and his teenage child of unknown gender who had a noticeable look of sadness and was wearing a gray sweatshirt with a rainbow-colored heart on it were walking across the former YMCA parking lot toward the bus stop.
3. At Niagara College, a black girl approached the bus with a big lighted NIAGARA FALLS sign out front and asked the driver if he was going to Burlington. Stop me if you’ve seen this movie before.
4. Pedaling down Stamford Street was a bald cyclist using one hand to steady a styrofoam cup and the other for the plastic spoon he was using to eat whatever was inside. Somehow he managed to stay upright, though he needed air in his back tire.
5. Don’t have a cow, man . . .
6. An unwelcome addition to the Grand View Marketplace . . .
7. During the war, People’s Commissar Ford decried gouging from the private sector, but it’s apparently OK when Niagara Parks, a provincial agency, does it . . .
8. The way to Heaven from Niagara Falls . . .
9. Are they assuming the gender of the access holes? Tsk, tsk.
10. Speaking of gouging . . .
11. Whereas the Evil Empire backed down in the Great State of New York with respect to the all-gender washrooms, Niagara Parks has opened new all-gender washrooms near the pedestrian overpass which connects to the Falls Incline Railway. Inside aren’t just stalls, but physically separate washrooms with a door to each.
12. In the lobby of the Hilton was a woman from California with blond streaks in her hair and wearing a pink sweater who told her friends she has two daughters who had a babysitting business that didn’t work out. When one of her chunky friends who was munching on some sort of breakfast sandwich told her that she was changing her flight to tomorrow, she said, “Whatever makes you happy.”
13. The girls behind the front desk at the Hilton each had an expression on their face that suggested a strong air of superiority.
14. Walking through the lobby was a wide-eyed tourist wearing a green T-shirt with the message, “I ♥ Mt. Baker.”
15. On the OLG ads in Fallsview, they brag that 100% of the money goes back to Ontario. Wrong. It goes back to the Ontario government. BIG difference.
16. On the day, I couldn’t help but notice the number of Americans around. In addition to plates from the Great State of New York, I spotted plates from the Great States of Pennsylvania, Colorado, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina and Connecticut. I also spotted plates from other exotic locations such as Quebec and the Socialist People’s Republic of Manitoba.
17. This sign was on a garbage can outside the Ontario travel information center at the corner of 420 & Stanley. These folks need a friendly reminder that government buildings are PUBLIC property.
18. While waiting inside the shelter at 420 & Stanley, a black guy wearing brand-new black runners with the tags still on them walked up to the ticket machine. With his Presto and TD Visa cards in hand, he started fumbling about, swiping his credit card and punching numbers. Five minutes later, he finally got a receipt for something, which he examined, then threw away before trying his luck again. All in all, it took him more than ten minutes to get his card loaded. No, these machines are not that complicated.
As this was all going on, the good Samaritan in me thought of getting up to offer some help. Not just to be helpful, but to find out in more detail what was giving him such difficulty. But in the end, I just didn’t want to get involved, and it was probably the right call.
19. Boarding behind me at 420 & Stanley was an Asian girl who asked the driver, “Is this bus going to Burlington?” No, it’s turning around going back to the Niagara Falls Bus Terminal. It was more of the same at Niagara College, where an Indian girl asked the driver, who was standing outside, “Where does this bus go?” When she got her answer, she boarded, then couldn’t find the machine to tap on, leaving her to ask the driver, who pointed out the machine staring her right in the face.
| Previous post |