Tales From the TTC

The Toronto Transit Commission, or the TTC, is the thing that allows me to get to and from my important work on the weekdays, and whisks me off to critical errands on the weekends. Many other people ride this incredible juggernaut of a transportation system too, and therein lies the source of many, many interesting stories. One would imagine. Or at least two sort of observation-type thingies that might fill a post.

The Eyes of a Child
This past Saturday was stinkin' hot and I tried to conserve my energy while I quietly rode the streetcar to the (not so) local shops. One stop was taking particularly long and I looked up to see a mother struggling to get her child in his stroller up the steps into the streetcar. I see this all the time, but generally the driver will get off his/her fat ass to help. Not today, he just sat there and let her struggle and sweat. Bastard. By the time I noticed and got up to help she had already fought her way on.

I was then prepared to forget her and the indignation I felt on her behalf. Then I looked at her kid. I thought, "Man, that kid looks tired. And a little sad." He was only about 2 years old, if that. I was just thinking, "what does a 2-year-old have to be sad about?" when he looked up at me. It was deeply unnerving. It was the kind of look that I've seen occasionally from certain kids before that makes me instantly think about the phrase "old soul". It wasn't the sadness of a "I didn't get a popsicle" type look, oh no. It was much more of a world-weary "I know where things are headed for us all. And there's nothing you or I can do about it" kinda thing. MUCH creepier and off-putting, lemme tell you.

I'm willing to accept that I could be projecting my own particular philosophical inclinations on the kid, though. I'm prone to that sort of thing, I know. But whatever the motivations behind it (maybe he was just really tired and didn't mean to make me question all of humanity in general and my place in the world in particular), I kept my eyes to myself after that.

I was just trying to get to the damn pharmacy, not re-examine my life and all my decisions thus far, thanks. Just for ONE day. Can't I even have that? Fucking kids.

I did hope that he got a popsicle later, though.

Adonis Takes the 504
One day on the way to work I looked up from my little bubble to take in the people on the streetcar for a moment. It's not something that I do often as there is not much there but disappointment and unpleasant smells, but every once in a while it can yield something nice. On this day I caught a glimpse of an arm. A beautiful male arm. It was strong and lean and hung casually beneath a muscular shoulder. The shoulder was attached to a very nice body. It was, in fact, a beautiful body. And it was riding the streetcar.

My desire to simply look at this beautiful man took me by surprise. I'm not much of a one for ogling the local male population anyway, but if I were, I'd say that I would be hard pressed to find ogling material on a daily basis. You generally see a lot of nice-looking or cute non-threatening men that you find sort of attractive in a day. But there are really hardly any beautiful try-to-continue-looking-at-inconspicuously men around. Really.

And so I continued to look, marvelling at how a pair of jeans and a t-shirt could get so lucky. That is, until the completely mediocre looking man stood in front of him, deliberately blocking my view (or at least it seemed to me).

I'm not sure what my point is with this story. It's not to let the world (well, you two at any rate) know that I, too, am subject to capricious bouts of lustful thoughts like any other normal red-blooded woman. I think it's more to illustrate how absolutely singular this event was. I could be wrong, but I think there may be many more women who have this sort of effect on men, but not so many men who can do this to a woman. Not that there are many truly beautiful perfect-ish women out there, either, but men tend to be much more forgiving in the visuals department (bless their lovely souls). Women aren't turned on as much just by sight as men, though, and a gallant gesture or winning smile can do as much as looks to make a woman take notice. It's just that it seems there are very few truly beautiful men out there who make you do a double-take, that's all.

But I could be wrong. Am I? Or is it just that I'm not trying hard enough to notice beautiful men? I don't know. I just don't know...

Well, there you have it. Two Tales From the TTC(tm). Not scary tales per se, but ones that leave you just a little more uncertain and uncomfortable than you were before. It's just like riding the TTC!

However, if this post didn't give you that exact feeling, perhaps this animated version of a completely baffling public service poster put together by the people who superintend the TTC will help:

Boo. Boo, I say.