. . . And The Wisdom To Know The Difference

Along the lines of what my buddy Peter calls my GO train commando journalism from a previous post, I’m sitting typing this while our train is stuck at about 6:49 PM on Monday evening on the Lakeshore West line about 20 metres from Burlington station. Yes, you could throw a timbit and hit the Burlington GO platform from where we are right now. But this isn’t a game of horseshoes or hand-grenades; it’s the game of commuter transit.

Apparently, the CN signals across Ontario are down.

We’ve been sitting here for a good forty-five minutes now. If I actually had a timbit, I wouldn’t throw it, I would be savouring it.

And, while I would much rather be home, spending time with Francine and Alexander, I know that there’s nothing I can do about this situation. (Legally, that is, because I’m sure that I could kick out a window and start walking, but I doubt I’d get to see my loved ones any faster that way)

So while I sit here, working on functional spec’s for work as well as personal writing stuff, I’m at least slightly amused by some of the antics of GO passengers sitting in the aisle across from me. Maybe it’s a case of claustrophobia, maybe they’re new to the whole GO train experience (I consider myself a bit of a veteran with 6 years of GO commuting behind me now), but no matter how excited you get or how many times you ask the GO staff for more info, or if they’ll open the doors to let you walk along the tracks, it will get you exactly where you already are. It’ll just be much ado about nothing. Sure, I understand that we have agendas to adhere to, places we need to be, commitments to keep, loved ones to see, but there's not much we can do, perhaps it's best to try to keep the blood pressure down.

So while I sit here, typing away, I watch them squirm in their seats, let out huge exasperated sighs and get all frustrated and frantic and excited. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pleased (for example, in the past half an hour, I’ve tried about a dozen times to call Francine and warm her that I’m going to be later than originally expected -- with nothing to greet me but a busy signal) but at least I’m relatively calm about the whole thing. And, of course, thank God I have a much better battery on this laptop now (I can go for another 6 hours or so if I have to). On another positive note, at least that sleeping farting guy from this morning who was licking his fingers as often as if he was eating a bucket of KFC isn’t sitting beside me. Actually the guy beside me is quite calm (reading a book actually) and hasn’t even farted once. But the night, of course, is still young.

If I really wanted to start trouble perhaps I would suddenly blurt out the old chestnut that sometimes gets people through trying times:

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The strength to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference

Much like my work buddy Gwen, though, I guess I’m surrounded by a bunch of dumb assess. Or if not that, at least people not wise enough to know the difference.

Reporting from car 2275 on the GO Lakeshore line, I’m Mark Leslie Lefebvre. Good night.