Well, well, someone chose Friday evening to jump in front of the subway. My friend C. and I had made it 4 or 5 stops from work when the announcement came over the intercom (no, not that announcement--just that there was "a track-level injury" at St. Clair resulting in trains being stopped in both directions. Other riders had heard about the suicide on the news.).
We all hopped off the train, and then there was a muffled announcement about shuttles taking people to Bloor, a central stop (and ours, as fate would have it). Everyone went up stairs trying to find the buses. We made our way to the regular stops for east and west buses (subway goes north/south). A bus labeled "Special" stopped, and people stuffed it completely. We didn't make it on, so then waited as dozens of east/west buses came roaring through. There was another announcement, but no one could hear it. A TTC worker walked by and everyone asked him what was going on; he said everyone was waiting on the other side of the station, but he wasn't sure what the plans actually were.
So, we wandered outside to that spot, and subway riders were flocking there in droves. Finally a bus pulled up, and we just barely got onboard. I was standing on the edge of a step off of the bus, with my back at a weird angle. After 20 minutes, we finally arrived at Bloor! Complete chaos. The whole thing made it seem like the TTC isn't prepared for these types of issues; it definitely should be.
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On Sunday I'm running in CIBC's Run for the Cure to benefit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. It's a 5k run, and the course goes right through my temporary neighbourhood. I'm back in a running groove, although I wouldn't be up for a 10k just yet. So a 5k for a great cause seems perfect...
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I got a leaflet in my door from Sandra Gonzalez, the NDP candidate for the Toronto Centre riding in the upcoming Ontario provincial election. Her website has welcome messages in Bengali, Somali, Vietnamese and Tamil, if English doesn't do the trick for you. While the NDP holds my riding-to-be of Trinity-Spadina, the Liberals are the incumbent party in Toronto Centre. The election is on October 10th...
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Last Saturday JM and I watched a heartbreaking overtime Crimson Tide loss. His wife met up with us, too, and she's really nice. She's also from the H.O.D. They're away for training camp now, so I'm left to my own devices to steer us through our game against the Seminoles, being played in the "neutral" site of Jacksonville.
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In four days I move! I'm also headed back to the US the day after that for a couple of days. Should be great, except for one thing: I'm missing the Hives' headline show in Toronto. They're the opening act (appallingly) on Maroon 5's North American tour, but are doing a handful of their own shows in select big cities. Ah well, next time...
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4 comments:
Eeek - sounds like a transportational adventure of epic proportions! While the fam is pleased as punch that you'll be home next weekend, I'm sorry to hear that miss you'll miss the Hives. (And the headliner - that gosh-they-sound-like-a-boy-band-with-guitars fave of yours...)
Roll Tide Roll!
That's OK, I'm sure Pelle and company will come round again. Roll Tide in 2 1/2 hours!
Sorry to hear about the transport chaos. It sounds pretty familiar to the sort of thing you'd expect over here. When everything is working well it's fine but if one thing goes wrong then it's a complete nightmare!
Best of luck for the run! I haven't ever been able to muster the energy for a 10K run.
Have a good trip home (or is that home from home?). Sorry you'll be missing the Hives but thankful you won't have to endure Maroon 5!
Ah, good to know it's not just Toronto, then!
Thank ya--the run went well. More on that to come soon...
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