Americanuck

There are two classes of commuter transit in this town, the bus/skytrain set (skytrain being our elevated light rapid transit system) and the Westcoast Express set (a true commuter rail line using actual train tracks) which services them rich folks out thatta way. The Westcoast Express services those that live on the North side of the Fraser and Skytrain takes folks from Downtown Vancouver into parts of Burnaby (which borders Vancouver) through New Westminster and on across to the ‘South Side’ of the river. That’s my ride.

I’ve mentioned it before, but seriously, Skytrain is full of some funky ass people. The Westcoast express, you need to show a transit pass or have a ticket to get on the platform, Skytrain there are platform people that stand there and watch things, and you get the odd transit cop every now and then but rarely are there ticket checks. See our transit system runs on the honour system. Yeah, how dumb are we?

Of course they count on the bajillions of us Canadians that are super nice and honest and don’t think about how us super nice and honest people who, yanno, PAY don’t want to ride along with the slobbo junkies and creepy people who use it to move from one place to another without paying to carry on doing whatever junkies and creepy people do but in a new locale. The cops I mentioned? Yeah they are a recent addition. They used to have ’security’ but now these are armed Transit Cops. There are no cops on the West Coast Express. What does that tell you.

Now ok, the Greater Vancouver area isn’t exactly that scary or anything (there ARE parts of towns I wouldn’t enter on a bet even in daylight but every urban center has those) but I don’t like to travel on Skytrain after it gets dark, even after it gets past rush hour because those junkies and crazy people come out in force then.

Sometimes during the day though, we get crazy commuters. Sometimes they are just bitchy and push and shove their way on, sometimes they yell something along the lines of: “OK, everyone move forward there are other people trying to get on the train” Even better when the person who’s standing in front of them starts yelling back, like today. I mean full on screaming match between a couple of women, their friends joining in. I don’t have any idea what these people looked like they were behind me and I was sitting down, keeping my eyes firmly on my book. I find it’s safest to do that. These yelling matches don’t have a gender boundary, both sexes feel it’s just A-OK to be an obnoxious ass.

Once not long ago I made the mistake of looking up while one was in progress. I have a very expressive face and it’s very hard for me to hide my feelings (which is why I keep my head down normally) and the minute we made eye contact I ended up being the target of their tirade. Yanno how it goes, them asking what I’m looking at, and how they saw my eye roll. “OH yeah there it goes again. What you think you’re better than me..” blah blah. Of course, being the way I am I’m not going to back down, nor stoop to their level. I just lifted my chin and kept staring at them trying to force a bland expression, only for them to eventually trail off muttering to themselves. Yeah, oooh I’m so intimidated. Pssshhh.

Another one of my commuter pet peeves are the people on the train that think that everyone wants to hear their conversations, either to the person sat next to them or even better a one sided cell phone conversation at 100 decibels with one finger pressed to their ear because they can’t hear the person over the train noise. Ok duh the person on the phone can hear YOU, you don’t need to YELL, get THEM to yell at you, I can’t hear THEM.

Of course now the weather is hot, we’ve got people with obnoxious toxic body odor polluting my environment. Yes, I realize some people have heavy manual labour type jobs who sweat but the ones that stink the worst aren’t always those dudes, it’s Joe cubicle down there with the huge creeping pit stain. It’s called deodorant people USE IT.

Don’t you just love the public transit system?

It is freaking hot here so far this week. The temps are up to as much as 95 where we live which is a bit gross at night. I stocked up on fans. Ok, well I bought two more. We were running on two fans that could qualify for the blue plate special and they just weren’t cutting the mustard. Fortunately I had the foresight to buy them before this heat wave. Past experience has dictated that waiting until it hits means the shelves are somewhat bare and the pickin’s are slim.

I was quite dismayed however to discover that things like metal..umm ‘k not sure what their official name is but the cage things around the fan blades. These days they are PLASTIC and seem somehow really cheap even if the sticker price isn’t. Not to sound like a grumpy old lady, but man! Whatever happened to the quality from the good old days?

Eh, well at least they are circulating the air in the condo. What sucks is that we only have a couple of windows that actually open and being only on one side this means pretty poor air flow. At least we’re not on the top floor roasting from direct heat. Mind you those places are fancier with roof top gardens and loft space with cool oak circular staircases leading up to them so I’m not going to shed any tears for them.

Tom was doing actual physical labour today setting up for Canada Day’s broadcast which is happening from Canada Place (the convention centre and cruise ship terminal area). This is their mobile set that they use for on location type broadcasts like when they do the Pacific National exhibition each year. He was lucky though there was a nice breeze by the water instead of complete stifling heat.

I was looking out for him from my table at a nearby restaurant where I was at a business lunch. I could see him from the distance which is amazing because my eyes suck. I totally recognized his stance and his gait when he walked back and forth from the truck. After lunch I wandered down to bug him and watch for a bit before heading back to the office.

It’s a nice short week this week. Two more days to work then I’m off for five in a row yippee!!

Click Here and Here

We had a great time at Playland the other evening, I wussed out and didn’t go on any rides (yes, yes I know) but it was all the better to take pictures. The evening started out a bit hectic though.

The thing started at 6:00 pm but we had to pick Chris up after work (he was supposed to be off at 5:30 but it was more like 5:45 before he came out) and we were going to head out straight from there. Best laid plans. It turns out that the button on his pants had busted off so we stopped by our place again to let him change. By the time we got there is was shortly after 7:00. We grabbed a burger at the White Spot stand in the park. Normally I love the Spot but these park ones were really pretty gross and on the cool side. It was a quick stuff stuff and off to the rides.

All the boys went on most of them, after a while Chris said he’d had enough and sat out the remainder with me.

Tom and Sean did the Hellevator again. Here is a Youtube video of the action, just click on the picture below:

The rest of the photos are in this set on Flickr

On another note, there is someone playing the tambourine somewhere nearby and it’s driving me insane. Rattle rattle rattle, bang, rattle, bang bang. Can I just say that it’s not an instrument that is meant to be heard playing solo.

It’s that time of year again “Media Day” at Playland (local amusement park) and all four of us are going once again to take over the park along with other folks from the local TV & Radio stations etc and their families. It was starting to look like Chris was wavering on the fence towards not going, but he pulled a flip-flop and decided to grace us and the rest of the world with his presence. His rationale for possibly NOT going was that he had to work all day first. AWWW Poor dear. Last year at this time he was just graduating and was an unemployed bum. *Hands over reality check*

Yeah Son, most of us have to work all day first, suck it up Buttercup!

Of course he will have fun once he’s there. We all do how can you NOT have fun going on rides?

Oh wait, yeah I can. I’m afraid of about 25% of them and no amount of pointing and laughing will make me cave and go on. Bring it on I can take it. It’s that or I pee my pants (or worse) and cry. Nobody, I say NOBODY wants any of that. I had a death grip on the bar in front of me on the Pirate Ship ride for goodness sakes. I had ridges from the metal on my arm. Even Sean made fun of me *sniff*

I do rollercoasters though, LOVE THEM. I freak out on the way up but love the ride coming back down (and around, and cork-screwing)screaming the whole time. I used to go on every single ride ever presented to me, running with joy, fearless.

When did I become such a pansy?