Tag Archive: subway

The great downtown chase

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Sat. September 13, 2008

Last night I hung out with Hui downtown. After eating we went to the theatre to catch Tropic Thunder. Heh, that was a fun movie. It’s easy to see how the movie can be offensive to a lot of people, but the satire all makes sense in the context of the movie. Robert Downey Jr. was the standout for me. Tom Cruise also surprised me. Overall, I enjoyed it.

It was late when the movie ended. As we were exiting the Scotiabank Theatre I asked Hui what time his train was leaving. He checked his watch and said 11:42. I checked my watch and thought, “oh shit.” We had about 13 minutes to cover a 20 minute leisurely walking distance. If he missed the train, he’d be stuck there for an hour for the next one to come. I told him “all right, we’ll get you there” and started walking fast. About 5 minutes in I decided that it was unlikely that we’d make it and suggested that we do a light jog. He agreed so we started picking up the pace. I still had my work bag with me and that was shaking all over the place, so I grabbed it and tucked it under my arm. My shoes weren’t meant for running, but I felt like I was going at a good pace. As we ran we had to weave in and out of crowds of clubbers. Every time we hit a stop light we changed direction; as long as we were moving, we were making progress.

When we got close to Union Station, he suggested that we were close enough so we slowed to a normal walk. I checked my watch again and said that we had to keep going. We were almost at the station, but I figured that 2 to 3 minutes wouldn’t be enough for him to make it to the platform. When we got inside, I slowed down and just told him to run for it. I mean, I wasn’t under the gun–so I didn’t want to stress out too much about making it. So, he went off. I checked my watch and it was the scheduled departure time for his train. I figured he had a 50/50 shot of getting on, but even at those odds I couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty for leaving him.

As I headed into the subway area, I started sweating profusely. I hadn’t allowed myself sufficient time to cool down from the downtown chase so as soon as I stopped that’s when it all caught up to me. My face was absolutely drenched. I took a few papers from outside my bag and started fanning myself. A few people around me moved away. I kind of laughed at it–I don’t blame them at all. I mean, here’s this guy that’s sweating profusely–maybe he’s got some sort of weird contagious virus? When I got on the train, the subway car was heavily air conditioned so I just sat there letting my temperature head back down to normal levels.

About an hour ago I called Hui and found out that he missed his train. You mean to say that I could have prevented sweating like a hooker in church? Chee.

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Random thoughts on the commute

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Fri. July 25, 2008

  • I know that brown liquid splat on the subway platform; it was there yesterday when I was heading home. The stairway also still smells like urine just like yesterday morning. Was the cleanup crew not scheduled to clean this station last night?
  • There is a random guy chanting in a foreign language on the train. People are changing seats to get away from him. Though, it’s nothing that an iPod can’t drown out.
  • An old Chinese guy was busy pointing and chatting with himself on the streetcar. He was pretty damn loud. The girl next to me got up out of her seat and offered it to him. The Dundas St. stop could not come soon enough.

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Shabby man by proxy

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Mon. June 30, 2008

I was minding my own business on the train, eyes closed and blocking the world out when some guy sat next to me about midway through my ride. It took a few moments for it to hit me, but my olfactory senses came under attack. At first I thought a hobo sat next to me but upon further whiffs I noticed that the odour wasn’t so much urine tinged, but more just that of an unwashed body. I opened my eyes a little bit and looked askance over at the guy. In one hand he held a cup of coffee; in his other hand he held a spliff. Yessir, he was an unwashed pot head.

I closed my eyes again and just tried to ignore it all. All other seats were taken, and I wasn’t going to let a random guy force me out of my seat. Thing is, whenever the train was coming to a stop, the guy would lean over into me, pressing his filth into my vicinity. All I could do was grimace and attempt to suppress my general look of disgust: after all, I didn’t want to offend the person. I was suddenly worried that somehow I would pick up his scent and carry it with me throughout the day. I was pretty grossed out.

A few stops before I had to get off, from the spliff in hand it occurred to me that the man was likely heading to Kensington or perhaps College. Then it also hit me that damn, that meant that he’d be riding with me for as long as I’m on there. I was eager to prove myself wrong. When my stop came, I got up and rushed out–he didn’t move. When I stepped off though, he let out a big moan, stood up and headed out. Boo!

I rushed to the streetcar and hoped that it would leave before he’d get on. I didn’t want to get too close to anyone for fear that I was carrying his odour with me. I didn’t want to be the shabby-man-by-proxy. The car was packed, and the doors were about to close but somehow he managed to get on-board. There was some distance between us, but I could still smell him. Or, perhaps that was me that I was smelling. God, I was so paranoid. It was only then that I finally got a good look at him. His air was unkempt and rather long. His shirt was wide open, exposing a body ravaged by time.

College St. came around and I was proven correct: he was getting off at that stop. When he did, I took a discreet breath. I sniffed around for a few moments and to my relief I didn’t smell any thing wrong with my clothes. Thing is, maybe my nose has gotten used to the smell. I wasn’t sure. The air was clearer in the streetcar. Someone in there must have been wearing something like cotton candy lip gloss or something similar. The scent became so strong without anything there to compete with it. Smelling candy after that guy left just made me laugh.

Just another day.

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Viking sword gaze

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Tue. February 27, 2007

Usually, when I’m on the subway I have my earphones planted well into my ears in an attempt to block out most of the outside world. I also close my eyes so that I won’t have to play eye-tag with anyone around me. It’s what I do. I usually manage to maintain a bit of a sense of calm as a result. Today, someone was testing my patience.

At one of the stops, this hygienically challenged guy came in and sat in the seat perpendicular to mine. His knees nudged me in a rather rough manner, kind of rousing me from my relatively serene state. I opened my eyes a bit, but shut them back thinking nothing of what happened. Oh, but I could get back to my peaceful place because this same guy was reading a newspaper and frequently rested the paper on my leg. He would sometimes shake his newspaper hitting me in the elbow a few times. His knee would bob up and down hitting mine, again, causing me to be startled and open my eyes.
I kept my eyes closed, but I was becoming frustrated. My brow was scrunched up in anger, however, I said nothing. I told myself, “if this continues, ask him to stop in a polite manner.” The thing is, I was pushed far enough over the edge to make me speak up. This was a ridiculous situation. I mean, if I was a New Yorker, I’d imagine I would’ve told him off long ago, you know? I would have changed seats, but the train was pretty much full. I wasn’t about to give up my seat to that jackass’s knee–it was a matter of principle.
At one point, I formulated a plan. I decided I was going to give this guy a horrible look. I know my eyes are very expressive and often carry strong emotions. I vowed to give him the worst stink-eye that I could muster up. When he shook his newspaper next, I opened my eyes and give him the look of death. The guy seemed to be in his mid-to-late teens. He was engrossed in his newspaper while listening to his iPod. It imagined my gaze was a viking sword, slicing through his body right down to his core where he’d surely feel me. His reaction? Nothing: he was much too absorbed in his music to notice. I was frustrated. I was sort of looking around, and I think other passengers around me noticed my evil eye. I ended up just closing my eyes again and put up with the idiocy.

By the time we got to one of the major interchange stations, the person sitting next to him had to get out. He turned to let her out. As she headed for the door, he called out to her because she had dropped her gloves. I almost left my mouth agape. When he spoke, he spoke slow and with a slight speech impediment. Jesus. Did I just act stupidly towards someone with a disability? Was he slow? Did he even know what was going on? Well, instead of pondering the imponderables, I just got up out o fmy seat and waited by the exit: my stop was coming up anyway.

Doesn’t it seem like I’ve been attracting weird people as of late? I know I’m an oddball myself…but…I almost feel like I’m being tested on some large scale in the grand scheme of things. I kind of feel like I’m currently failing my tests.

Remedial course, anyone?

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Starving for attention

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Mon. January 22, 2007

When I got to the train station this morning, I pulled out my iPod, and got the earbuds ready so that I could block out the world for a moment. As I stood on the escalator about to plug my ears, someone behind me called my name. I looked back, and took a few moments to realize just who did the calling. It turns out to be an old neighbor who had moved out about 2 years ago.

We caught up on news and gave each other updates on our families and such. It was nice to hear from him after a long while. I remember that he used to give me rides in the morning, and I’d often be scrambling to make it outside to meet him in time.

Anyway, as we were speaking on the train, an old man sitting one or two seats away from us decided to join in the conversation. He seemed keenly interested in our conversation about work and children and such. The old man felt the need to say that he admired and understood our way of life. He announced he was Jamaican, and said “I know you two are Filipino. We Jamaicans and Filipinos get along because we’re good people!” My neighbour and I were just smiling politely and nodding. To be frank, I couldn’t understand much of what the old man was saying, but I picked up some key things from his ranting. He was lamenting the fact that you cannot spank children nowadays or else you’d get locked up. He spoke about how the children nowadays have no respect (which is why he seemed to like the two of us…seeing as how I was respectful, etc). He spoke about welfare and how he didn’t want pity money—he was proud to spend only what he earned.

At some point, I felt like interjecting. I had a feeling that I knew what type of attitude this old man had. I said “The world has changed.” “What?” he replied. I repeated what I said. Again, he couldn’t hear me. With a slight hint of frustration, my old neighbor said “The world has changed.“ The old man seemed to have a gleam in his eye, knowing that I understood where he was coming from. Oh Lord.

Somwhere along the way, my neighbor had to get off at his stop. It’s kind of a pity I didn’t get to talk to him longer, without the old man interrupting. The old man continued on for a few more stops talking about his health, and how red meat was bad for everyone’s health. My stop came along, giving me a chance to mercifully end the conversation. I wished him a good day and scrambled off the train.

You know, I wouldn’t classify the old man as crazy. I’d more likely say that he was just starving for attention. If he was talking so much about his disdain for the youth of today, I can only imagine that he’s not so much getting the respect he probably deserves. I mean, it seems like the man had lived a rich life and was full of wisdom.

Maybe his kin just can’t pick out the wisdom from his mumbling.

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Of no consequence

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Fri. October 6, 2006

Hmm. Just some random thoughts today.

Let me start off by saying that the moon is looking absolutely amazing tonight. As I was driving east on the highway at dusk, I was shocked by the pearl-like beauty of the moon against a cityscape backdrop. I kind of just wanted to stop the car right there to take a picture, but that would have just been irresponsible.

The other day, as I drove into the garage and put my car in park, I was hit by a ridiculous amount of excitement. The odometer on the vehcile had stopped at 123456. Heh. I took a picture, which I’ll post here sometime later.

Today, I was on the subway with my coworker. We head in the same direction, but today was the first day I’d travelled with him. His view of life seems to be a lot more buoyant than mine. He’s excitable and looking forward to the future. His optimism and positive attitude is very much in contrast to my usual stance on life. It’s not that I’m depressed or wholly negative. I guess I’m just…more critical of thinking so far ahead into the future. Who knows what will happen, you know? As he spoke, I felt my mind becoming almost overly critical of his positivism. Of course, it has served him well in life up to this point, so I guess I could be wrong in being critical.

My coworker sat on my right. The guy on my left was listening to his iPod on full blast and really *feeling* the music. He was bopping his head along to the hard guitar riffs and shaking his body with nervous energy. There were times I’d peer over just to see what this guy was up to. I thought he was on some sort of drug. Most people have their earphones at a reasonable level and keep still while enjoying their music. This is for the benefit of other people, as well as to not make a fool of themselves in front of complete strangers. This guy though was oblivious to the surrounding world. To tell you the truth, I almost envy him in that he didn’t care what other people thought. He was able to lose himself entirely and give his soul over the rhythm. I don’t think I could ever be that carefree.

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“He go to Bangkok”

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Fri. September 29, 2006

“He go to Bangkok” is the punchline to a joke related to today’s events.

Yeah, the TTC was misbehaving today. When I made it to the end of the Bloor-Danforth line, I switched over to the Scarborough RT and sat on the unmoving train for a good 15 minutes. There was some track trouble which prevented the train from leaving the station at all. They eventually announced that there were shuttle buses running now between stations because the wait was unknown at the time. So, alright, I went to the bus bays and hung around waiting for the shuttle buses. A huge crowd had formed, waiting to get on with their commute home. After 10 minutes of nothing, I went back in, checked a map, and got on a different bus. About 10 minutes later on the crowded bus, I got off next to the station where I parked my car and walked to the lot. As I neared the station, I saw people waiting around and I thought, “man…poor fools…don’t they know the RT is down?” Ah, well, sure enough, a train arrived coming from the station that I was just at.

I exclaimed out loud, “that just makes me so bloody angry!”

—–

Earlier this morning, at the very station I would be trying to get to later that night, I put in a token in the turnstile and started walking through. I don’t know what the hell happened, but the bars rotated and hit me in the crotch. I was in shock. I decided not to back out. I kept on moving forward, but as I did the bars kept riding higher and higher up. I ended up bringing my legs way over the turnstile while hopping, all in an attempt to get through. One spectator exclaimed, “crazy, man!” I’m sure the booth collector found it all amusing. Those turnstiles are death traps, I tell you.

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Transit enthusiast’s wet dream

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Mon. May 15, 2006

Wow, I don’t think I’ve actually mentioned this here before, but I’m going to be heading to Tokyo at the end of June. I’ll be there for 10 days to see the sites and take in as much culture as I possibly could muster. My interest in Japan has been slowly developing since 1995, and now, I think it’s about time I headed there to see things for myself. Tickets have been purchased, rooms have been booked, everything is all right. Although, I am a bit worried about having enough spending money on me. I have so many things I need to pay off here. In the end, I’m hoping that everything will be OK and that things will take care of themselves.

Been doing some research on the Tokyo subway system. Turns out my friend can’t meet me at the airport on the day that I arrive, so I’ll have to trek to the hotel by myself. I was pretty apprehensive when I found out that I had to do so by myself…however, after doing some reasearch, I’m raring to go at it and explore on my own. Have you seen a map of the Tokyo transit system? I mean, Jesus, that thing is immense, and quite complicated. Do a Google search for Tokyo subway system and check out one of the maps online. It’s insane! Oh, how I wish that the TTC had lines going all over the city. Check out the Transit Toronto website (the site makes for a pretty good read), look under Other TTC Maps for the “Fantasy Future Subway Map”. Oh man, if only. It’d be like a transit enthusiast’s wet dream, you know?

Anyway, no use pining for something that won’t be…not even 100 or 200 years from now, I guess.

Anyway, back to Tokyo’s system. The fare that you pay is actually based on how far you’re going. So, going a short distance may only cost you 160 yen, while going cross town may cost you…230 yen. That’s still pretty cheap. What I’m still apprehensive about is that fact that the trains will likely be packed. How am I going to manage, especially with luggage and such? It should make for an interesting experience. I wonder if I’ll be able to take it in with a good state of mind, despite the impending culture shock which is sure to happen pretty quickly. Looking forward to it.

Most of all though, I’m just ever so slightly concerned once I make it above ground again. I don’t know how clear street markings will be. I’m a bit afraid of going in some opposite direction and ending up in a totally wrong location. I know very few kanji, so I’m hoping it won’t take too much effort to get by.

40 more days to go.

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