Tag Archive: subway

In town with mom

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Sun. March 27, 2011

My parents don’t really venture downtown all that much. It’s mostly because they’re unfamiliar with it and my father kind of has a bit of taste aversion for the place. I wouldn’t call it a phobia, but he certainly wouldn’t want to be walking around there. Anyway, on several occasions my mom’s expressed interest in heading into the city with me. I think she missed being in more populous areas. I decided to make Saturday the day when we’d head down. I warned her though that there would be a lot of walking involved. Just like me she has horribly flat feet. And just like me walking around for extended periods used to be tough. Luckily, I know that the time she’s been putting into going to the gym has made her a lot stronger.

I walked over to their place early in the morning and head a bit of breakfast before the two of us headed out. We took the bus down to the subway station, and from there we headed into town. As we rode, I pointed out different stations where I’d get off to do my day-to-day activities. In doing so she got some sense of just how far I had to travel to get to things. It just so happened that this weekend a portion of one of the subway lines was closed. Unfortunately it was a section that we were planning on using. Instead I took her on a detour to a nearby station, and from there we walked to the downtown mall. As we walked I kept a close eye on her. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t feeling uncomfortable. She held up remarkably well. Really, she was spending some time just taking in the sights, and that was fine with me. When we arrived at the Eaton Centre she seemed kind of excited. She hadn’t been there in many years. I just followed her around for a bit before we split off. We agreed that she’d give me a call when she was done. I just wandered around looking at random things.

After we were done shopping we agreed to head to Chinatown. It’s a bit of a walk, and I think it would have been fine, but she revealed to me that she wasn’t really wearing sensible footwear. Well, midway there I decided it would be prudent to take a break and have lunch. We stopped by a Korean restaurant, and that’s where I introduced her to bibimbap. She enjoyed it, which made me happy. After that and a short visit to my favourite tea shop (she noticed that they knew my name) we hiked up to Chinatown. She seemed excited to go shopping for some exotic fruit. She ended up buying a dragon fruit just out of novelty. Since we were in the area I also took her through Kensington Market to visit some bakeries and the European deli. All throughout, people were milling about carrying out business as usual. I thought that it was a good thing to show mom that Toronto really can be a lively place. It’s easy to forget that if all you see are the suburbs.

When we were done instead of taking the subway all the way back I decided to have us take the 506 streetcar across town back to our neck of the woods before taking a subway and bus back home. I figured that it would expose her to other neighbourhoods that she would probably never otherwise see. We agreed that even though the streetcar was slower and more crowded, at least there would be more to look at.

In the end, I think she was satisfied with the outing. I’m sure she wants to head out again another weekend. I kind of want to show her how to access the trains from Union Station on her own, and I want to check out the St. Lawrence Market together one morning. I want her to experience the city as I’ve come to know it from working downtown. Those are all noble goals, but ultimately I’m just glad to be spending time with her. Ever since moving out we really haven’t done much together. This time is golden. Need to take advantage while I can, you know?

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Mired in the tunnel

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Thu. March 10, 2011

Have you ever been stuck in a subway tunnel? Like, stuck for 45 minutes? What if the train loses power and is forced to run off a battery? That happened to me earlier tonight. No word of a lie. I was on the train and it was slowly pulling out of Broadview Station when it suddenly lurched to a stop. That’s not particularly uncommon. Trains stop between stations for various reasons all the time. After a few minutes though the power seemed to be cut. There was some minimal lighting in the cars, but it was obvious things were powered down. The usual hum of the ventilation systems was missing. Things were eerily quiet. I can’t even begin to describe what that was like. I mean, the subway has a certain sound and feel to it. Without all of the background white noise things just feel abnormal. Over the announcement system someone stated that there was a delay both ways at Broadview Station (no shit) due to unauthorized access at track level. The announcer followed it up by stating that they’d release more information as it became available. Basically some moron was wandering the tracks illegally. So, I totally understand why they had to power down the trains. Even though the person is a complete asshole, it’s not good to take the chance of nailing them with a train.

Now, even though the announcements were stating that they’d provide more info as it became available they didn’t give much info at all. Most of us were stuck there just waiting for things to run again. And really, I’m sure most people figured that things would be up and running quickly. From where I was sitting though I could hear the radio from the operator’s booth. I could hear what the fuss was about. Apparently a couple of idiots decided it would be a good idea to run across the train tracks on the Bloor Viaduct. I could hear Transit Control actually asking other train operators if they could see the idiots running. If there was any doubt as to how serious things were, after about 10 minutes we saw police officers marching down the length of the train. Later an undercover cop went through. Hardcore, I guess, but yeah they needed to apprehend this idiot.

The time dragged on. At thirty minutes there was an announcement that they were running shuttle buses from St. George to Woodbine Station. That wasn’t useful to those of us stuck in the tunnel. We were basically committed. Ay 40 minutes the power was restored, but there was still no movement. From what I could piece together, one of the trains ran out of battery power while waiting. Oops. At 50 minutes, we were finally told to evacuate the train as it was going out of service. We had to make our way to the last car and exit into the station. As it turns out, our train was only halfway out of the station when the power was cut. On the platform I waited another 10 minutes before a new train came in and service was restored.

I’m not angry at the people in charge. Yes, I’m frustrated at having to wait so long in a tunnel, but I understand the motives behind the actions. It must be tough having to deal with idiots like that. I eventually got to where I wanted to go, and hey, I got a story out of it, at least.

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Getting on a shuttle bus

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Mon. April 26, 2010

So, after our improv class a bunch of us headed to the bar down the street to just de-stress. The class today was pretty hardcore with a large amount of truly laugh out loud moments. I swear, there were moments when I felt like I was going to burst because I was just laughing so hard. Anyway, as we were having our drinks we made note of the large amount of emergency vehicles with sirens and flashing lights passing by the bar. One of us made a comment about something happening close by. After a bit of silence we just went back to our conversations. It wasn’t until well after that I finally saw what all the fuss was about.

From the bar I went to the subway station to head home. As I turned the corner toward the station I saw the long lineup of those emergency vehicles that went by the bar earlier. As I came closer I saw a bunch of police officers standing at the entrance. A couple of other people were looking to get in, but the one police officer seemed to just motion to us to just go around the side. OK, well usually that’s a fine, but I guess we didn’t have a choice. I walked to the bus area, and none of the automatic doors were functioning. I went to the next door to look in and a whole bunch of construction workers and police officers were milling about inside, heading down to track level. I figured that the place was down for investigation so I decided to walk to the next station to the east. About a kilometre later I arrived at an empty station. I walked in, took out my pass, and just before I swiped it the collector in the booth tapped the glass telling me that there was no subway service. Damn! The ruckus at Broadview caused a big chunk of the line to not have anything going. The collector was at least nice enough to tell me that there were shuttle buses running to take us from station to station.

So, I went back to the street and and started waiting for the bus. After a few minutes of waiting, I decided to just walk farther east before taking a but. As I walked, a few shuttle buses passed by crammed with people trying to get home. It really was that kind of night. I did manage to get on a bus, and when I finally got to a point where we could go back underground, the whole bus load of people sort of rushed to the eastbound platform. The informational sign above stated that full service had resumed. Damn! So, if I had just been patient, I could have skipped the walking and the cramped bus. Then again, who could say when the problems would clear up? No matter. Anyway, kudos to transit for getting shuttle buses up and running in a fast manner, but…yeah…

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Who the heck is this schmuck in my kitchen?

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Thu. February 18, 2010

Very interesting night for me. Most of it was pretty unplanned, which is kind of fascinating for me because spontaneity isn’t generally something I’m known for.

Yes, this coming from someone taking improv classes, but anyway…

So, this story starts at work. I was having a rough day, just questioning a lot about my past, and my general self-worth in terms of my career. I mean, really, if I look back to university, I’m hearing about a lot of my former classmates doing great things in our field. In comparison, what the heck am I doing with myself? And why is there so much turmoil at the moment? Anyway, I ended up staying at work for a while just talking with colleagues and discussing my options. As I did I was drinking a large amount of tea just to keep my system busy. Before I knew it, it was past 6 p.m. so I left and decided to walk my frustrations out. Somewhere along the way I decided to just walk along the subway line as far east as I could toward my place. I figured that if I get tired somewhere along the way I could just bail and go underground.

A good 70 minutes or so into my trek, I started feeling the urge to go to the bathroom. Instead of bailing, I decided to just stop at the next available Tim Hortons. I was at the one at Sherbourne and Bloor and ordered a small coffee because I didn’t want to just use the washroom without getting anything–that’s just rude, isn’t it? As I received my coffee I looked around and didn’t notice a washroom. I asked about it and I was told to head to the McDonalds down the road. Curses! I drank my coffee and headed out and saw that the McD was a good distance west. Instead of backtracking I just decided to tough it out and continue eastward.

OK, so I made it to the next subway station, at which point I was totally tempted to quit and head home. However, I saw that I was close to the Bloor Viaduct. I’d always wanted to walk across it so I skipped the station and decided to trek across. Before getting there out of the corner of my eye I saw some guy staggering in my direction. I kind of ignored him and went along my way. As I passed him I smelled that he was smoking a joint. Wow…mildly bold, right? I noticed that at both ends of the bridge there was a phone booth and a sign indicating that if anyone is distressed they should call the listed phone number. Interesting. I mean, I know that the bridge is known for being a hot spot for jumpers, but wow.

After crossing, I made it to the next station, I decided to just proceed eastward because I was rather close to the theatre where I take my improv classes. I was just curious to see what shows were playing this night. I checked the listings in the window but I wasn’t entirely gripped. However, by that point I really had to pee so I ventured inside. Since a show was starting in 5-10 minutes I decided to just buy a ticket. After relieving myself I sat down and took in the show. Playing was Macro Neato, in which advanced students take suggestions and put on a good show. Frankly, I was interested in seeing the improv principles that I was learning be put into action by people that have been doing it for a while. I was able to recognize people making offers and seeing other people running with them. I saw a couple of them struggle briefly, which was comforting to me because it showed that even after a lot of practice and stage time it’s still possible to draw blanks on occasion.

You know, I was prepared to just enjoy the show, but by chance I somehow made it onto stage. No kidding. There was one scene where there were two people working in the back of a kitchen as cooks. They were starting to rebel against their boss when the boss pointed out the angry customers that were still waiting for their food. One of the performers actually sat down next to me. I was wondering what was going on until she said that she and her husband had been waiting for their eggs for ages and were angry at the cooks. It took me a moment before I realized that I was her spouse. I didn’t say anything, but I nodded with the angry wife and tried to look frustrated, too. The cooks complained that they were better at other things. One of them suggested that they used to be in Cirque de Soleil. The performer next to me picked up on that and suggested that they perform. So the cooks went back up on stage. The performer–my wife–headed for the stage too but beckoned for me to come with her. Umm…OK. I didn’t know what else to do so I went up with her. At one point the person playing the boss yelled “Who the heck is this schmuck in my kitchen???” I just shrugged and played along with the wife. When the cooks did a move, the wife clapped and looked at me. I just clapped along furiously trying to look amazed. Aaaand, then the scene ended and I was sent back to my seat. Honestly, that was a lot of fun for me. I didn’t refuse anything that was asked of me and just went with the flow, which is pretty much a big aspect of improv, isn’t it? I enjoyed it.

In the second half of the show they were taking suggestions for movie genres. I threw out burlesque as one. That was tossed out. After a few more from others I yelled out “spaghetti western!” That almost got chosen but the emcee kept going. I finally offered “cheap disaster flick!” which the emcee took and got the ball rolling. All of the improv in that section had to be disaster films. That was fun. They did really well with that suggestion. All in all, it was a great night. After the performance, there was a chance to participate in “The Jam” which is open to anyone in terms of performing. I would have stayed, but I didn’t feel confident enough. Then again, the event was designed for all skill levels. Still, I think I wanted to just head home at that point. Maybe another time.

So yeah, that’s my night. Because of work it could have turned into a self-pity night, but I was able to forget my worries. After a good night’s sleep I can face tomorrow with new vigour.

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From the roof to my crotch

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Fri. June 12, 2009

Honestly, what the hell was that?

This morning I was just resting peacefully on the train waiting for my stop to arrive. When I pulled in, I grabbed my bag off my lap in preparation to get back on my feet. In my half awake stupor, I was surprised to see this stream of water appear in front of my eyes. At first I thought I was dreaming, but no, it was very real. So real, in fact, that it landed directly into my crotch. No, not even off to the side or anything: it was a freaking bullseye. I looked up, and found that the stream was coming from the ceiling of the car. THE HELL. I suppose at least it wasn’t from some guy pissing on me, because that would be much much worse. Still.

Anyway, the doors were open, so I didn’t have time to examine the crime scene further. I stuffed my ear buds in my ears and got up. I looked around to see if someone saw me. Two guys off to the side were just in shock. I wanted to say something to acknowledge them but I had to get off. I stepped off the car and examined the damage. My khakis were visibly wet looking like I’d obviously had an accident. A saving grace really was that there wasn’t any scent of urine. I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself than necessary so I held my ghetto messenger bag in front of me. I couldn’t help but think though that it looked like I was trying to hide something. Well yeah, I was, but it could have looked like I was hiding some sort of aroused state, except…NO.

I made it on the streetcar without much fuss and ended up having a pleasant but long ride to the office. Thing is, a few stops before my stop a friend called. So, as I was moving around I had to juggle holding my bag strategically all while attempting to have a meaningful conversation. I think I was successful, but the whole ridiculousness of the situation had me laughing. When I got to my office I just turned on my desk fan full blast at my pants. There were moments where I wanted to check my levels of dryness but I figure that pawing at my crotch could be deemed inappropriate, so I behaved.

So, all right, I just have a few questions about the incident. Why did the water come down at that moment and not at any other stop? Why wasn’t my seat wet from any supposed previous leaks? I’d assume that it would have happened there before. If we’re inside a tunnel for most of the distance, where would the water come from?

This is all crazy!

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Subway mechanical difficulties

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Tue. January 20, 2009

Yeah, not too happy with the TTC right now. I understand that from time to time there will be mechanical difficulties with subway trains. All the same, that fact doesn’t invalidate the frustration I have at the moment.

So, I left work a little past 5 to be able to make it to my Running Room Clinic by 7. The streetcar came and took me to the Bloor-Danforth subway line. No issues thus far. As I walked on the eastbound platform, I noticed that a lot of people were looking at the info screen. I looked up and read a notice saying that shuttle buses were currently being run between 3 or 4 subway stations right in the core of the system. As I looked to the end of the platform I saw a train waiting in the tunnel, but it wasn’t moving. In a split decision I ran over to the Yonge-University-Spadina line to try looping around. After hiking the distance I came to the realization that the route would have been horribly inefficient. So, I headed back to the other line to see if I could find more information. As I got back to the platform I saw the previously idle train start coming in. Nice.

If that was the only problem, then I would have been fine. However, that’s not where it ended. About midway to my destination, the train stopped at Pape station. It was taking longer than usual there but no one thought much of it thinking that maybe the delay was just due to a driver exchange or something. Another 5 minutes later there was an announcement that the train was having some mechanical issues and that crew was already dispatched and would arrive shortly. Fine. I could deal with that. So could the majority of people waiting on the packed train. After more minutes of waiting, an announcement was made at the platform level that shuttle buses were being run from a couple of stations west and east of where I was at. It figures that I’d be right in the middle. From the train itself I didn’t hear the announcement clearly. I had to take out my earbuds and strain hard to get the message being pumped elsewhere.

Now, when I think of shuttle buses I always think of the horror stories I often see on the news whenever there’s an issue with the subways. The shuttle buses are inevitably full with many irate people waiting out the cold trying to jockey for position. And usually, by the time you get on one the trains are usually working again making the whole process pointless. I’m quite sure that most people on the train felt the same way about shuttle buses because just about everyone that was sitting down remained seated. We were all willing to wait out the problem. Thing is, half an hour after arriving at the station with only one or two announcements keeping us informed, there was an announcement telling us that the train was now out of service and that we all had to get off. There was another train right behind, but it already had its own load of people, so we all had to cram in there.

In the end, I got back to my car about an hour later than when I wanted. It was late enough to make the commute up to the Running Room pointless. So, I missed my scheduled 6K run today. Yeah, I’m not happy about that. I guess, all I can say is that these things happen from time to time. I can’t hold it against the commission (as much as I want to) because it’s not like the driver wanted to delay us for that long period. Perhaps a little more information could have been disseminated to us, you know? Well, tomorrow is another day, and I’m sure the commute will be uneventful. That’s really how it should be, right?

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Why I commute the way I do

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Tue. October 7, 2008

Well, I dropped off my car at the mechanic that specializes in electrical problems. Hopefully he can determine the exact issue. I’ve allowed him to have my car overnight, just so he can see for himself just how bad the issue is.

Hint: it’s pretty damn awful.

So, well, since I had to leave the car I had to take transit all the way into the downtown core. I usually cut out part of the trip by transit by driving to a subway station. Today I took the 39E Finch East bus to the station. This is one of the busiest bus routes in the system. No kidding. When I got on it was already packed. With a large steeped tea in hand I was struggling to find something to grab onto. The driver seemed to be fond of accelerating and slowing down unreasonably. Or maybe the close quarters were just amplifying every single bump in the road for me. The density of human bodies raised the temperature and triggered sweating for me. It was like that until we got to one of the high schools where a good chunk of riders got off.

All in all, I got to work about 20 minutes later than I would have if I drove part of the way in. I really don’t think it’s that bad. Or…perhaps I’ve just gotten used to having ridiculously long commutes despite being within the city boundaries. Seriously. Commuting in from the far reaches of Scarborough is a very time-consuming task. It takes the same amount of time for me to drive out west to where I used to go to university, and that was some ways out.

I think my bus experience this morning underlines for me why I drive in to the subway stations. I don’t mind subways or streetcars because they have a high(er) capacity. On a good day I can enjoy the ride in peace with a sense of my personal space still being respected. And the ride is usually fairly smooth because of the movement being guided by tracks. Makes sense, right? With buses, they’re usually packed and very much a stop/go/stop/go affair. There are more factors contributing to the speed of a bus trip, such as traffic and embarking/disembarking. All in all, even though I have to spend money on gas, I don’t mind doing so because it gives me an opportunity to bypass the bus. I guess I’m lucky in that I have the luxury of having that option.

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Clang!

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Thu. September 25, 2008

At a time when I should be getting a bit more rest and relaxation I actually feel like somehow my body is craving inactivity, and that fact is manifesting itself in subtle ways. On my way back to my car from work, I usually get a light nap on the train. I close my eyes and focus on the music coming from my iPod. Usually though, it really is just a light nap–I usually still have control over my head, you know? It’s not uncommon for me though to zone out for a few stops. The other day though, I really fell asleep. I think I was listening to something quiet when I fell under. Next thing you know: clang!

You know those guys that nod off in their seat and their heads bob up and down drowsily? Every now and then their heads would dip perilously close to hitting something but they back away all of a sudden. In some weird perverse way, you sort of hope that their head would make contact but it hardly ever does. Yeah, I was that guy, except…I actually did hit something. My head hit the bar next to my seat. Not only did I hit the bar, but also the hand of this cutie hanging on while reading a book. With drowsy eyes I looked up and apologized. She just nodded and smiled.

It’s all good, man. A bit of normalcy is just around the corner.

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