Yesterday was a long day. Or at least, it felt very long despite not having to really do all that much. At 7:40am, I was dressed and ready to go. I caught the city bus, rode it for almost an hour to where I could pick up the Go bus and rode that bus for about an hour and a half. I finally got to Square One, another transfer point, at about 9:55am and had a little bit of time to kill.
I figured I should get the bus ticket-buying business out of the way right off the bat, so I found the ticket booth and waited patiently in line.
"I'd like to buy two city bus tickets and a Go bus ticket please."
"We only sell city tickets in packs of five."
"Oh.....but...I'm only going to use two."
"You can just pay $3 in change."
"Hmm...I have no cash......(pause) well....I'll take the Go bus ticket anyway. On Visa."
*taps the glass*
"We don't take credit."
*stunned look on my face*
"You don't take credit?"
Normally I'd be all 'Sure, I'll pay debit.' but keep in mind that I've been an unemployed student for quite some time and am now simply unemployed. I had too little money in my account to pay for the tickets. A little miffed, I made the journey to the other end of Square One where I could go to the TD Bank and get money from my husband's account (isn't marriage lovely?) and then got some breakfast and bought my Go ticket, making sure I had enough loonies and toonies to get to where I was going and back.
I had an additional half hour bus ride to my final destination and then had another half hour to kill until my interview. I walked around and made note of the surroundings. I was apparently in Streetsville. And Streetsville has its own Go station mere minutes walking distance from where I had to be. If only I'd known.
The interview went well (I think/ I hope) and soon I was on my way back. The half hour bus ride, then the two hour wait for the hour long bus ride and then a 15 minute wait for another hour long bus ride. I got back home sometime after 5pm. So really, it was a pretty long day, just very boring and tedious...with lots of going from place to place.
Can you imagine how much time we'd all have on our hands if we didn't have to take time for transit? Most people I know commute anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half twice a day just to work. That's up to 3 hours a day just traveling!
All I'm saying is I wish they'd go ahead and invent that teleportation device already.
Showing posts with label public transit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public transit. Show all posts
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
Olé!
I had the misfortune the other day to be caught on a downtown bus on the last day of exams at about 11:30pm. For those of you who are not familiar with the city of Guelph, it's a relatively small city and at least half the population is comprised of university students. Maybe not half, but that's what it feels like. Regardless of the exact proportion, the city is literally taken over by students, especially at night.
Now, I myself am a student so you would think I'd join in and enjoy it. However, you'd be wrong. I find it difficult if not impossible to simply shrug my shoulders and join in the madness. My pride, dignity and self-respect is too valuable to throw it away just for the sake of the 'university experience'. For example, regardless of how fun it may be in the moment, I'd never let myself forgive and forget if I was swinging from the bars of a bus, possibly singing Lady Gaga, while others watched, laughed and recorded it on their iPhones.
Yes, that exact incident happened. Except it wasn't me, it was some poor drunk student gone half crazy from the peer pressure. She swung from the handle bars, danced on the seats and I'm sure she exposed herself a number of times as she was wearing an incredibly short skirt despite the frigidly cold weather.
About two minutes after she'd had her fill of dancing, the bus stopped somewhere (I was unfamiliar with the route and the windows were impossible to see out of) and suddenly the bus went from holding about 15 people to suddenly being so packed that I was squished between the window and a very skinny, less annoying girl who at least had the decency to apologize for the inconvenience. The bus smelled like alcohol, in fact, I saw at least one person drinking an open bottle of some sort of hard liquor, not even attempting to hide it. The mob sang a number of indecipherable Christmas carols then perhaps realized they were indecipherable and switched to singing "Oléééééé! Olé! Olé! Olééé!."
The girls were wearing dresses so short you could almost see their asses, but oh wait, they were also tight enough you could essentially see them anyway, so what does it matter? Don't get me wrong, I like to look hot, too, but there's a better way. Especially when the body/skin you're showing off isn't exactly in mint condition. Hide your flaws and accentuate your assets. I think they all misheard that tidbit of advice and thought 'Oh, I need to accentuate my ass! Maybe I should accentuate everything I can...or just, ya know, wear less clothes than a lingerie model.' Yeah, that must be it. The guys were slightly better, but only slightly. They at least were likely to be warm. However, their pants were pulled down so far and the belt was tightened just so, so that they essentially framed the bulge in their very visible underwear. There's no way that's comfortable.
I don't know if this is a familiar scene in cities with a smaller proportion of students, but it is one aspect of university that I will not miss a bit. I long to ride the bus in relative peace.
Now, I myself am a student so you would think I'd join in and enjoy it. However, you'd be wrong. I find it difficult if not impossible to simply shrug my shoulders and join in the madness. My pride, dignity and self-respect is too valuable to throw it away just for the sake of the 'university experience'. For example, regardless of how fun it may be in the moment, I'd never let myself forgive and forget if I was swinging from the bars of a bus, possibly singing Lady Gaga, while others watched, laughed and recorded it on their iPhones.
Yes, that exact incident happened. Except it wasn't me, it was some poor drunk student gone half crazy from the peer pressure. She swung from the handle bars, danced on the seats and I'm sure she exposed herself a number of times as she was wearing an incredibly short skirt despite the frigidly cold weather.
About two minutes after she'd had her fill of dancing, the bus stopped somewhere (I was unfamiliar with the route and the windows were impossible to see out of) and suddenly the bus went from holding about 15 people to suddenly being so packed that I was squished between the window and a very skinny, less annoying girl who at least had the decency to apologize for the inconvenience. The bus smelled like alcohol, in fact, I saw at least one person drinking an open bottle of some sort of hard liquor, not even attempting to hide it. The mob sang a number of indecipherable Christmas carols then perhaps realized they were indecipherable and switched to singing "Oléééééé! Olé! Olé! Olééé!."
The girls were wearing dresses so short you could almost see their asses, but oh wait, they were also tight enough you could essentially see them anyway, so what does it matter? Don't get me wrong, I like to look hot, too, but there's a better way. Especially when the body/skin you're showing off isn't exactly in mint condition. Hide your flaws and accentuate your assets. I think they all misheard that tidbit of advice and thought 'Oh, I need to accentuate my ass! Maybe I should accentuate everything I can...or just, ya know, wear less clothes than a lingerie model.' Yeah, that must be it. The guys were slightly better, but only slightly. They at least were likely to be warm. However, their pants were pulled down so far and the belt was tightened just so, so that they essentially framed the bulge in their very visible underwear. There's no way that's comfortable.
I don't know if this is a familiar scene in cities with a smaller proportion of students, but it is one aspect of university that I will not miss a bit. I long to ride the bus in relative peace.
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