Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

I’m in Richmond Hill right now. The Greyhound bus from Winnipeg to Toronto was a bit of a long haul, and would have been more comfortable if the seats were allowed to fully recline to their normal reclining capacity. “Raising Helen” [6/10] got shown twice on the TV but I only watched once. A movie with Jamie Foxx about a breakup book was on and was amusing [6/10], and “Taxi” [5/10] might have been better if I cared about Nascar racing one iota. Perhaps that lunatic minivan driver in Thunder Bay saw Taxi too, and figured running the red light, driving toward Ashley and me, was ok as long as she didn’t hit us or any vehicles.

The trip has been fantastic so far. I was dive-bombed by a red wing blackbird in Whitewood, as it chased me out of the province. I met some friends of my relatives in Sanford, my girlfriend’s aunt’s family in Winnipeg, and saw my Grandma while in the Peg. We watched a busker eat fire and escape a straight jacket in a blatent attempt to make money (all of the requirements for the Liberal Party leadership, if you don’t count speaking french).

My first 256MB CF camera memory is starting to fill up, but I still have 99 3Megapixel photos left on it. I have room to get a shot of the Shamrock Inn’s sign, which last time said something like “You can thank Chretien for the weather heated pool”, and this time has something like ”Never trust the Fiberals”. The Old City Hall looks more significant since watching it on This Is Wonderland. And I did not go up the CN Tower this time, preferring to save my $21.50 for another day punless I do it tomorrow while waiting for the train. It’s unlikely since I’ll be lugging my backpack, unless we find lockers like they have at the bus station. In 2003 they had lockers at Union Station, and I couldn’t find them this time. Asking the information desk lady where they were, I got the boringly familiar excuse, “They were removed after 9/11.” “I stored bags here after 9/11, in 2003,” I had to reply. “They were just slow in taking them out,” apparently is the reason for that. Ain’t progress great? Excuse me while I go blow up the bus station instead…

So Ashley and I hiked, no wait, we go smart and took the subway, since you can still take backpacks onto a subway train, just not store them away from the trains, and got off at College to grab some maps from CAA, then walked a couple blocks back down to the bus depot where we safely stashed our luggables. Taking our breakaway bags with us, we went to the Jays game and scored some tickets for less than face value.

Shocked that I managed to get Ashley to attend a Jays game, [unfortunately not the cancelled Iamnotafraid.ca game, but the one two days later] I enjoyed seeing the Jay’s whupp the Nationals, due in part to the pair of guys sitting behind us in right field who on about 3 separate occasions started a rhythmic clap that struck out several Nationals batters.

I was just out for beers and wings (over 105 flavours at All Stars), and I had Bloody Mary’s, Pandora’s Box, and some normal flavours. There are “apocalypse” wings where if you finish them you get your picture put onto the wall. The A bomb and H bomb wings sound bad enough, but the “cracked earth” logo gets the point across well. I also got my first ride in a Smart Car today, and it was surprisingly roomy, although the two seats meant that my aunt picking us up from the Viva bus stop had to make two quick trips.

Tomorrow it’s off to Von Mills Mall, or the Eaton Center before a Via train to Kingston and a night in Gananoque.

From the road, this is Saskboy signing off.