Not the promised update

[mousme]

Post about work will happen later.

The really minor cold I've had since Monday got a lot better on Thursday and was almost gone on Friday except for a bit of a minor cough. The minor cough got progressively worse yesterday until I could barely get through three sentences on the phone.

Many liquids and cough drops later, and it's back to where it was yesterday morning, i.e. not so bad. I really hope it stays that way, because I came *thisclose* to losing a lung yesterday evening. I love being sick, don't you?

Also, I would really appreciate it if tonight the bus was on time. I have this fantastic problem with the buses that run along the two local routes: they pass early. Not two minutes early, no. They come five to ten minutes early. I'm sorry, but how hard is it to respect a schedule when you're early? Sit at your stop for a few minutes for goodness' sake! That way all your users won't be caught waiting for ridiculous amounts of time for the bus.

See, the buses around here pass every half hour at the best of times. I agree that compared to, say, the United States, that's pretty good. But let's pretend for a minute that I live in a city with a well-developed public transit infrastructure. That means that on most of the frequently-used lines, the buses come at least every fifteen or twenty minutes, and sometimes more. That's between three and ten buses an hour, compared to two buses an hour if I'm lucky. If I miss one, it means the next one is going to come half an hour later, and then I have to walk. Again, walking isn't a bad thing in and of itself, and it's an activity I enjoy, except when I wanted to take the bus.

Gnarr.

In other news, I have a large purring cat in my lap. Life can't possibly be that bad. :)

Comments

[bodhifox.livejournal.com]

Why do you people always knock us? I mean, every Canadian flister save one regularly posts something looking down on us. If we weren't here holding you up, you'd slide down the globe and bump into Mexico, and *then* where would you be?

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Are you seriously telling me that you have a well-developped, properly-maintained, inexpensive and accessible public transit system in the U.S.?

I don't look down on the U.S., except possibly when they vote en masse for Bush, but that's another kettle of fish. I was simply stating what I think is a pretty well-known fact: the U.S. transportation infrastructure is primarily geared toward cars.

[elanya.livejournal.com]

There are places in the states where this is less true - esp. large east coast cities like Boston.

The only good 'public' transport I have encountered in the South, though, if run by the universities and designed to get students to school. You can get other places, sure, but generally you do so by going to campus and then going to, say, the mall. But they dont' go everywhere you might want to go, either.

During the day and during the school year the schedules are pretty good - my bus runs every seven minutes, for example. But they fill up during peak hours/bad weather so that they can't fit people from the last stops, and at night and during the off season they only run on the hour (if at all). And they don't run when the school is closed.

So it is a mixed bag, and again, not exactly 'public' transit :p

[sorceror.livejournal.com]

There are places in the states where this is less true - esp. large east coast cities like Boston.

Ah, yes. The (infamous?) "T" .

[curtana.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of places in Canada that don't have good public transit either. Windsor, for one. Fredericton for another, just to name two I've lived in ;) I think it has a lot to do with the size and relative wealth of the city than anything else - though, like elanya says, there are plenty of big cities in the US that don't have such facilities, so obviously they're spending their money elsewhere. Different priorities, certainly. Boston and New York are good, at least ;)

[bodhifox.livejournal.com]

Well we have ten times the people you do, spread out all over the country. Of course we need cars. Though trains will be making a comeback in a few decades. If you weren't in a city even in Canada you'd need a car too.

What gets me is Canadians always comparing themselves as holier than thou to America. Always better when I don't think they really are, as persons. There's Canadians and Americans I value, but I don't think whether you live on one side of a border or the other is what determines your worthiness.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Sorry if I offended you.

[bodhifox.livejournal.com]

My apologies to you. This election is making me itchy and sensitive.

[tcaptain.livejournal.com]

If we weren't here holding you up, you'd slide down the globe and bump into Mexico, and *then* where would you be?

Drinking tequila in Cancun?

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

Yay for large purring cats.