Friday, April 25, 2008
TTC Strike After The Party
Diane and I kind of gel at the party. Not that we have a whole lot in common, except we're both older than 24. And neither of us can pull off skinny jeans, let alone lycra leggings.
A guy named Lloyd drapes himself on me in that way that makes my sciatica scream. “Oh my god," he slurs, "taste this gin, you gotta taste this gin, it has, like, 12 ingredients. No, no, no, you guys don’t understand. Regular gin only has, like, 8.”
“I have to pee,” Diane says. Lloyd loses focus and weaves away from us.
“Are you going to the club with everyone?” I ask.
“Depends. Is it the Velvet Underground? The one from the 80s?” Diane asks.
“I dunno. I think it’s just called the Underground. It's on Peter.”
“Well, fuck it. I never get to go out now with the kids. I'm here, let's do it.”
“I’m in.”
"But I better pee first."
I wait for Diane by the downstairs bar where the staff is shutting down for the night. The owner says something about letting the staff go early cuz of the strike.
“What did she just say?” I ask the server.
“TTC. Transit. On strike as of midnight.”
“Tonight?”
“You bet.”
Diane emerges from the basement.
“Diane,” I say, “You have half an hour to get to Scarborough.”
Quick hug, no exchange of numbers or email. We don’t have time for that kind of thing. That’s probably the last I’ll see of Diane.
Twenty minutes later I’m on an eastbound streetcar. At one stop, a very loud girl with very big hair asks the driver, “you all going on strike at midnight?”
“Yes, I think so,” the driver says.
“So what happens? Do you just walk off of your streetcar? Do you just abandon it?”
“I don’t know,” the driver responds nervously.
“Well, I support you guys,” she says. "Fuck the police!”
The guy next to me laughs, “what do the police have to do with it? Is it the TTC versus the police?” But the girl is gone.
I catch my connecting bus at Carlaw.
“Hurry up, hurry up!” the driver yells. We trip over each other trying to get on. “I will get you as far as the subway station if I hurry. But then you are on your own. We are on strike in four minutes.” Then he floored it, sending some poor old Asian lady and her shopping down the aisle.
Fastest bus ride ever.
posted by Working From Home Today
~ permalink ~ ~ social bookmark
|
0 comments:
post a comment ~ Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] ~ main page |
CURRENT MOON