TTC Fare Hike

It's been a slow week. Not much to report. I was discussing the proposed 10¢ TTC fare increase with my roommate's roommate this evening. He's dead set against it. Especially since some of it is supposed to go towards paying for free rides for children 12 and under.

I told him, I didn't care because it was only 10¢. I mean, really, who cares about 10¢? He said he doesn't want his tax dollars to go towards subsidizing rides for someone else's children. This is from someone who not only goes to the doctors every time he has a runny nose or a little pain here or there. Not only that, he also mentioned he once was on social assistance.

I said that since he got free money from the government, how could he complain about children riding free on public transit? He replied, social assistance "isn't free". Incredulously, I asked him exactly what he had to do for it. He couldn't come up with an answer. He just repeated, it wasn't free, and that he paid for it with his tax dollars in the past (as if no one else in the country pays taxes). His answer had nothing to do with the question because, of course, social assistance is free money. So, what could he say?

He then said I was lucky not to have needed social assistance (as if everything I have magically appeared out of nowhere). I told him people were stupid with regards to how they manage their money.

He helped prove my point by telling me about how one of his customers at the LCBO asked him to help him get a job there. He said the guy had two kids and had been out of work for half a year. He was trying to prove the point that some people are struggling and need social assistance. I asked him why the guy was buying booze at the LCBO if he was out of work and had two kids to feed.

For the record, I don't have a problem with people getting social assistance. Nor do I have a problem with paying 10¢ more to ride the TTC in order for someone's kid to travel for free. It's just not that big of a deal to me.

In the end he just said he's happy to live in Canada where everyone is allowed to express their opinions freely (which had nothing to do with anything either). We left it at that.

Doors Open Toronto 2014

I hit Doors Open Toronto again this year. I try to go every year if I can. This year I could only go on Saturday because I had the boarding home visit on Sunday afternoon. Though I did manage to sneak in one place after church on Sunday before I went to volunteer.

I chose places I hadn't been to in previous years. Many of the buildings/places have been open to the public to visit for many years already. It's getting hard to find news ones.

The first place I went to was the Toronto Necropolis (which is just a cemetery). Run by the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries it's located east off Parliament, north of Carlton right beside the Riverdale Zoo/Farm.

I thought I'd visit it because the picture of the chapel there on the Doors Open website looked nice. All cemeteries are generally nice. They have lovely landscaping and are peaceful and quiet. This one was no different. As far as cemeteries go this one was pretty small. It only had one road that looped through it.

A number of notable Canadians are buried here such as George Brown (founding publisher of The Globe and Father of Confederation); Ned Hanlan (World Champion Oarsman); William Lyon Mackenzie (first Mayor of Toronto); and Jack Layton (whose real name was John Gilbert Layton, leader of the Federal NDP).

Next I went to the Russell Carhouse on Queen Street by Greenwood. It's where the TTC stores its streetcars. I went here mostly because it was on my way to another building I wanted to visit.

They had some historical streetcars there on display. You could even take a free ride around the building in one of them. They also had the new extra-long street cars on display there. I didn't take the time to go on any of them. I was just there to take pictures.

After that I went further east on Queen Street all the way out to Victoria Park. The R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant was there. It's a really neat looking Art Deco building. I took a number of pictures here.

My last stop on Saturday was the Munk School of Global Affairs on Bloor, west of the Royal Ontario Museum. Originally constructed in 1909 the building served as a meteorological observation centre and home to the Dominion Meteorological Service. I've always admired this building whenever I walked by it. I was happy they opened it up.

On Sunday I rushed over to the Arcadian after church. I only had about an hour or so before I had to leave for my boarding home visit. The Arcadian is an event centre located on the 8th floor of the Hudson's Bay building on the southeast corner of Queen and Bay.

It was originally opened in 1929, and, in 2011-2012, the 8,086 sq. ft. historical and cultural gem was restored to its original Art deco glory.

Interestingly enough I bumped into my floormate/former classmate, Anne-Marie, there. She was checking the place out with her friend. We live two doors down from each other in the same condo. As well, we were classmates in the graphic design program at George Brown College.

Subway Hanging Contest

I was riding the subway home from church one Sunday not long ago. I was on my way to meet a couple of my condo floor mates (from the two units beside me) for lunch and was running a bit late.

I got on the southbound subway at St. Patrick station intending to take it around the loop at Union Station and back up to Eglinton, my stop.

Since I was short on time I wanted to try to get to the subway car nearest to the front of the train. That way when I arrived at Eglinton Station I could immediately go up the stairs and run over to my condo (where I was supposed to meet my friends in the lobby).

Unfortunately I only made it to car number 3 (from the front) when the train arrived in the station. So that's where I hopped in. I knew the train would stop a bit longer at Union Station and planned to move up one car there.

When we arrived at Union Station I quickly changed cars (before the doors closed and would end up stranding me until the next train arrived).

I found a seat opposite these four 20-something-year-old girls, two of which were getting ready to have a "Hanging Contest". Basically they were waiting for the train to start moving then they would see who could last longest hanging from the ceiling bar.

All four of them moved up the car a bit to a less crowded spot because they thought they might inadvertently kick someone while they were hanging there.

One girl who was sitting brought her smartphone out and her friend said, she'd better not be videotaping them. The smartphone girl said she was just taking pictures. She then turned to me and said I should join in their contest.

At first I resisted, saying I'd just watch. But, then I thought, why not, and opted to join in.

It was pretty funny. The subway car wasn't that full, but I'm sure the passengers there probably thought we were crazy. We were laughing our heads off all the way up towards King Station.

The girl on the far right of the photo dropped first. It was harder than she anticipated. The girl in the middle and I lasted until one of the other girls who was sitting figured, enough was enough, and tried to tickled us so we'd let go.

Silly fun.