The.First.Sign

As a commuter you know summer has arrived by the various changes that occur. Whether is be the passengers or the train itself you can always tell when something changes.

My personal favourite is for me the first sign that warm weather is here to stay. Skirts and running shoes.  Practical really but not the greatest fashion statement. I wonder what Alexander McQueen would say?  I admit that I don't wear my heals while traveling (if I can help it), but I don't wear runners either. I find that a cute pair of flats does the trick nicely.

Next tell tale sign that warm weather is imminent is the temperature on the train.  For some reason the train is always cold. Well apart from the times when the A/C is broken and everyone starts stripping (trust me this isn't a good thing with commuters). For example this morning walking outside you can easily get away with a skirt and tee shirt without catching a chill. On the GO train, you for sure need a cardigan and you may even wish you had pants on (like I am a little). Why so darn cold GO Transit?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news there are a couple of passengers that have allowed the train to be privy to their goings on. He is a long haired, scruffy fellow. He travels with a long board and is obviously holding on desperately to his youth. She is a preppy, casual woman that you can tell enjoys a beer or two.  She's been married for 26 years and has an obvious attraction to him who is not her husband.

When the conversations started about a month ago they were innocent. Talk of the weather, plans for the weekend, the usual.

I typically tune them out but today their conversation has peeked my attention. Apparently she's leaving her hubby!  I hope it’s not for this schmuck, oy.  Oh man gotta love commuter gossip.

P.S.  As I finished writing this he and she began barking.  Yep, they're barking like dogs.  What the heck?  I guess it's truly a match made in heaven. 

I.Am.Not.A.Fan

Tonight (Friday) I'm learning something new about myself.  I am not a fan of the Blue Jays. I'm not fan of Kid Rock. And I am also not a fan of commuting with those who are.

It's 10:43 pm and the train is packed. Normally a full train doesn't bother me but for some reason it is right now. I think it has something to do with the fact that these people aren't the types that I'm used to.

Hmm maybe that last statement sounds snotty. What I'm trying to say is that the folks that ride the train at this hour are not the businessman/business woman type. We have some Ginos and Ginas. Sports fans, well, Blue Jays fans at that. Older couples, younger couples, and of course, some rowdy teenagers.  It's a culmination of loud conversations and odd smells. Yep it smells in here. Cologne, hotdogs, beer and people's takings from their dinners out.  I'm not entirely blameless; I too have some leftovers from Jack Astor’s keeping me company.

Totally off topic but I would like to note that my dinner out was fantastic!  My cousins sure are a good time.  I heart.

Barefoot and all!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Fast forward to Saturday morning (and yes, I'm going to work on a Saturday. Boo to that.). 

Now this is a kind of commuting that I could get used to. There are only a handful of other passengers and I have a whole set of 4 seats to myself!

I don't have to share my arm rest with anyone, my purse has its own seat, and so do my feet.  Ahhh it’s so comfortable. I think I'm going to take this opportunity to have a nap and dream about how I can make all my commutes as enjoyable as this one. 

Is.It.Yours? Or.Is.It.Mine?

The armrest.  What a great little invention.  No matter where its located, couch, car, movie theater, public transit, it always seems to make you that little bit more comfortable. 

The question is, when there is only one armrest and 2 seats what is the proper etiquette?  Does it go to the person who was first sat down?  Does it go to the person who is larger in size?  Or does it go to whoever wins the elbow war?  Personally, I think that it should go to person who was simply using it first. 

If my way were the way of all other commuters, right now I would be watching 90210 on my laptop with my elbow comfortably resting on the little ledge in the middle.  Today, however, the unwritten rule believed by my armrest buddy is that he should get it by size default.  One bump of the elbow and off I was.  I hope he’s enjoying it while he plays his Metro Play games in comfort. 

I suppose it’s not all bad though because it’s given me not only something to write about, but also something to do that does not require an armrest (as I’m preparing my blog via Word while on the GO).

Not going to lie though, as you may have gathered already this type of situation erks me.  Yes, I’m smaller then this particular person.  Heck I’m smaller then most the people on here (given they’re mostly men).  That aside if you take in the other factors of my little scenario into consideration, what outcome would you come up with? 

Fact #1 - I was the first to sit down.

Fact #2 - I was using the armrest first (all set up and ready to watch some TV) and;

Fact #3 - I paid the same amount for my ticket that he did.  Shouldn’t I be entitled to the same amount of space?  (Perhaps that’s another story but I mean not only does he have the armrest but he’s also invading my little bubble.)  

Ok, ok, maybe I’m being a little over sensitive about it.  Maybe it’s because this is a day in day out battle?  I guess it just comes down to the day.  Sometimes I fight and sometimes I give in.  Today, I’m just choosing to complain about it.

Where.Am.I?

I know Canada is a very diverse, multicultural country and that is one of the many things I love about it.  I mean if it wasn't I feel like I would be missing out on so much.  Food, people, traditions 

etc. they're all fantastic in their own way.  

So, in amongst all this multiculturalism do you ever feel like you the tune "one of these things just doesn't belong here" is playing in your head?  I know I sure have and this morning’s commute was one of those moments.

I may have been a little lethargic (it was the morning commute after all) but I really felt like an outsider.  Someone that was plucked out of my predominantly English speaking country and dropped right smack in the middle of another, and another, and then for good measure, one more.

I got on my usual car (as mentioned previously, I'm a creature of habit).  It was a little empty today but I thought nothing of it.  There were some familiar faces and there were some new ones. The first set I noticed was a couple of sisters.  Excited to see each other they discussed the goings on of their lives quite loudly.  Also on the train was another group of 4 that must meet up on the regular.  They chatted about this that and the other, but nothing out of the ordinary.  

At this point everyone is speaking English and loudly.  We pull into the next station and as you would expect, more passengers got on.  In particular a couple, as you also may expect, they were talk loudly.  The difference between them and the others was they were speaking either Mandarin or Cantonese.  For some unknown reason after the other chatty folks realised there was a competing language being used, they decided to change it up.

I felt like I was in a twilight zone (queue Twilight Zone - 2 Unlimited).  The sisters are now speaking to one another in Italian (I think) and the group of commuter buddies is now speaking an Eastern European language (I want to say Polish but I really don't have a clue).  That’s 3 conversations in 3 different languages and none of them are in English.  I feel a little left out.  

I guess what I can take from this experience is that I need to beef up my language abilities.  I have English down pat and a little bit of ASL but I should really work on expanding.  Anyone want to learn a new language with me?

Stand.Clear.Of.The.Doors

When riding the GO train one of the most common things you hear over the P.A is "stand clear of the doors". Pretty simple request really but you'd be surprised how many times this message needs to be repeated before it actually sinks in. 


Day in, day out, and at every stop along the way.  I've found that if it has to be repeated more than 3 times at any stop you can hear the request become a little less friendly.


Sometimes the conductor gets louder. As if yelling it into the P.A. is going to make people listen more.  Sometimes they just start repeating themselves over and over continuously until everyone has finally clued in. My personal fave is when it gets repeated by someone that sounds like their half asleep. Obviously bored at the fact that they've had to say the same 5 words incessantly.


What I wonder is, why the heck does it take people so long to get the message?  Is it just complete disregard for the conductor?  Or is it simply too early in the morning for passengers to compute  the message?  I mean come one folks. Stand clear of the doors so we can get this train to it's destination!