Over the River LXXXV
November 19, 2024
Highlights and lowlights from my 85th two-wheeled trek to the Great State of New York:
1. Upon my arrival at Fairview Mall, I noticed a middle-aged couple standing in front of the Presto machine. Though I wasn’t planning on taking a GO bus, since I was there, I wanted to take the opportunity to reload my Presto card, yet when I walked up, they acted like they were doing me a favor by letting me use it. After I had finished, I noticed they were asking a St. Catharines bus driver when the next GO bus was scheduled to arrive. He didn’t seem to know, nor should he have been expected to know, so I told them. “How did you know?” she asked. “There’s nothing findable on their website.” Oh really, I thought. For all their faults, GO’s website is quite user-friendly and the trip planner, prominently featured on the main page, works well, including displaying the stops and giving the fare.
Upon further discussion, it was clear that they just showed up and hoped there would be a bus in short order waiting to take them to Burlington. It doesn’t work that way. As drivers have said, this is public transit, not a taxi service. Peeved at having to wait more than an hour, they got back in their car and took off. As I would soon discover, they weren’t alone in failing to check schedules. A black guy later approached me and asked about when the next bus was coming and when earlier buses came. This was soon followed by another woman who got out of a waiting car to ask me when the next bus was scheduled along with another guy on the platform with the same question.
As I’ve said before, I don’t mind helping out when I’m able, but sometimes I think Metrolinx should offer me a part-time job as a customer care rep. There are times when I know more about their service than their well-paid staffers do.
2. I hope the driver of the stalled car in the curb lane in middle of the Garden City Skyway didn’t get rear-ended before help arrived.
3. Someone left their shopping list behind at the Morrison & Dorchester transit hub . . .
4. Jingle Falls USA . . .
5. Murals along “historic” Main Street:
6. Prime redevelopment opportunities with unlimited potential . . .
7. Spring into a healthier yo . . .
8. Walking along Main Street was a black guy on his phone telling someone, “Don’t force my hand, bro. Don’t force my hand, bro.”
9. Here, in the middle of the ’hood, I would guess that the only thing students learned was how to sell crack . . .
10. No human is illegal. Unless you haven’t taken poison, in which case, like what happened with two of my friends during the war, you get denied entry under Title 19. Women are in charge of their own bodies. Just as long as they’ve taken poison. Hate has no home. Unless it’s directed at those with differing political views.
11. History lives here, but no one else does . . .
12. Does this yield sign really need to be here? If you come along and there’s a train, someone’s yielding and it’s not the train.
13. At the Tim Davinder Hortons in the Town of Niagara, I followed a chunky 20-something punk inside. Whereas I actually ordered something and paid using my gift card, he just took a seat, bummed off their Wi-Fi for a while, chatted with a buddy, then promptly left the restaurant. Not to defend Tim Davinder Hortons, but it was a little tacky, to say the least.
14. Behind me, a couple of young college-age employees on their break were chatting. One of them, who was driving a white pickup truck, was looking for another car. “I, like, took it for a test drive, and I, like, ordered it the same day,” he said. “It will, like, take a while for it to come.” His colleague, meanwhile, was planning to enlist in the Army. “Go to the Air Force, dude,” his buddy said. “The pay is so much better.”
15. Rentable scooters for kids in the fashion outlet mall. And once again, based on the lack of customers, they have plenty of room to roam.
16. Billy Buffalo . . .
17. Now they’ve at least got a chair ready for Santa . . .
18. Someone driving a white SUV with Ontario plates stopped me on Military Road to ask where the Target was. Wouldn’t she have been surprised to learn that I was also a visiting Canadian.
19. Rite-Aid is making one last push before RFK, Jr. becomes Secretary of Health and Human Services . . .
20. If the city doesn’t fix your street, take up your cause by spray-painting messages under a bridge . . .
21. After returning my passport, the CBSA officer who served me said, “See you later.” And I suspect he will. After all, I do have an extensive crossing history.
22. Upon my return to the Morrison & Dorchester transit hub, I spotted an old guy with a straggly gray beard pushing a walker. He promptly went running after a departing bus, thinking it was his. After he turned around, he walked past me and asked, “Where do I catch the bus?” As if I was just supposed to know where he was going. And since I didn’t know, I asked. “The Welland Terminal,” he answered. After I explained which bus he needed and where it would come, he told me he lives in rural Wainfleet. “Out in the sticks,” he said. “It’s hard to get rides and cabs are expensive.” He went on to say that he knows his way around Welland, but he needs maps of how to get around Niagara Falls and St. Catharines.
23. Whereas most often it’s the driver who asks passengers to turn their music down, the driver of the regional transit bus that took me back to St. Catharines was the one playing loud country music.
24. At the Niagara College stop, the driver pulled in behind another waiting bus at the end of the platform. As several waiting passengers began walking toward the bus, the driver abruptly took off, leaving them aghast and one such blown-off passenger threw his hands up in the air. Yes, this was reported. This is not the Old Country, where such things are almost to be expected.
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