I Love The TTC

We all know the TTC is not a world class transportation system.  It stinks in all ways possible. No need to go into the whys and hows here, way too much time has already been expended on that.

The TTC is what it is (I love that phrase for its apathetic perfection) as a transportation system and that's obviously not why I love it.  I love the TTC because it allows me to engage in my most favourite pastime of all time, every single day.  I love people watching. And the TTC is FULL of people.  Scrunched up, unhappy, normal, not so normal, hot, package laden, old, young, annoyed, content, loud people.  And me.  It's great.  So, so great.

On a boring people watching day, it's just a bunch of people reading, but even this is interesting to me :  what's everyone reading?  How oddly amazing that the little old lady with the grocery buggy is actually reading Kafka.  The book cover contingent offers added intrigue :  are they hiding Nora Roberts or Dostoevsky ? Nevermind.  I love it when a book has taken over the mainstream and is being read by everyone  - Harry Potter, The Kite Runner, The DaVinci Code ... we should have started a book club.

My most exciting days revolve around watching the eaters.  I eat on the TTC sometimes, sure, but not food that requires utensils.  That seems bold and smelly and precarious in a "we're in constant motion how can you balance and please don't spill your spaghettti on me" kind of way.  Yes, really, spaghetti! A friend told me about a guy she saw who ate two full bags of Dad's Oatmeal cookies while on the subway.  The capacity astounds me.  It's also a shame he didn't share. Favourite of all time was the guy with a Starbucks coffee cup.  Without. A. Lid.  Why flirt with that kind of danger?

I love the iPod wearers as they're often so generous with their sound.  It is so kind of them to transform a personal music player into music for the masses.  I just wish I could figure out exactly what they're listening to.  It does help when they sing aloud.  And groove.  Love this lots.

It's doubtful the goofballs running the TTC had this value added feature in mind when they devised their "better way" slogan oh so many years ago, but I think if they tapped into this a bit when devising future ad campaigns they'd be onto something huge.  It's not a transportation system at all, it's an enterainment vehicle! LITERALLY !

Put in those terms, I bet you could love the TTC too.