Stranded Sunday

Yesterday was a particularly frustrating day, made far worse by my interactions with the TTC.  To be fair, a bit was my fault.  I no longer trust the main transit app and the bus service on Pape (specifically the 72) has gotten so bad, I basically jump on any bus whether it is running north or south.  In this case, I was trying to get to the Eaton Centre (with my daughter), so I should have just waited it out for the northbound bus.  Instead, we got on a southbound one, and at that very moment, I saw a northbound bus turn the corner.  On top of everything else, every single southbound bus was turning at Dundas (due to the Toronto marathon).  So we had to transfer at Gerrard.  For some reason, the Gerrard streetcar was running very late, but then there were no buses going back north (they were all coming south!).  I got so frustrated I gave up and went to Gerrard Square instead.  (I've certainly run across quite a few people who will give the TTC a few minutes but then give up and Uber it.  I expect this will become more and more common every year.)

I decided that I really did need to do a few things downtown, so we took a cab.  The crosstown congestion was pretty terrible for a Sunday, presumably because Queen and King were blocked due to the marathon.  While I don't get as bent out of shape for the marathon, as I do for TIFF blocking the King streetcar (mostly because it is the weekend), these events really do impose a significant cost on the general public's travel experience.  I suspect that means that had I gotten on that Gerrard streetcar, it would have been a miserable stop-and-go experience.  Anyway, the cab driver let us off at Victoria and we walked the rest of the way, since it was faster! 

I stopped in at BMW and didn't manage to sell a single book (most of which were in very good condition).  I might have had better luck at the bigger store, but this is so depressing and basically shows how books and CDs have essentially no resale value at all.  What a depressing commentary on today's society, and how different my children's lives will be when they hit college.  Rummaging through used books and CDs will basically no longer be an afternoon's entertainment.  I did pick up Berryman's Selected Poems.  As it happens, I have his Collected (I wasn't entirely sure), though this did point me to a posthumous collection I wasn't aware of.  I can probably find someone to offer up the Selected.

We made a very quick stop at the Eaton Centre to grab lunch to go, then got on the subway.  It was definitely the better travel option.  I put in about two hours at work, and then we came home.  I suppose I can take some comfort in the fact that I pushed through and didn't let the TTC derail my plans, but I was not a happy camper for much of the day.  My cold came back pretty strong in the evening, and I asked myself if maybe I would have been better off just resting at home...