The above photo is not me…..but the bus driver in the photo, did not allow me on, citing my luggage was too heavy.(only 6 other passengers were lined up for departure..go figure?).
So, I leave the safety and security of the YWCA residence on Woodlawn Ave., in Toronto. “Here are my keys, and some food you might enjoy.” I say to the Saturday Security Guard, a pleasant well-mannered young man who has just called Royal Cab to take me to Dundas/Bay Bus terminal.
I bid adieu to my friends and feel like Audrey Hepburn in The Nun’s Story….leaving a secure place, venturing out into a world of men.
The Taxi Driver is pleasant enough, but in this world of bartering we arrange a price that we both can live with.
I have my duffel bag, bright orange(originally a laundry bag from Havergal), and my large pull olive green suitcase.
The first man I meet in the Terminal looks like a Rocker.. however he is actually going to Belleville to the School for the Deaf and turns out to be one of my main stays, one of the trusted males that I ask(as he asks me also to help him and does his communicating in sign language), to observe my luggage, when I have to leave to go to the bathroom etc.
The next 2 males whom I encounter are less helpful. The Bus Driver on Ontario Northland has attitude and his male assistance, less vocal gives me eye contact for one measured moment that says…”What the HEll!” “This suitcase is too heavy.”(0nly 5 passengers on the bus, granted one is disabled..with a new fangled hoyer to make her travel possible)….”.We are taking off right now.”
I do not begin to argue, as the Ontario Northland has peeled out of this terminal before I even begin to gather my thoughts.
So, “What Chah Gonna Do?”
I went back to a convenience store to buy another duffel bag, in order to redistribute the weight…then I went back to the MEGACOACH/ ONTARIO NORTHLAND COUNTER to the clerk, who lent me his pen(Forest Hill Animal Clinic}, and as I returned his pen, on hearing that my 11:00 am Ontario Northland Bus Driver had refused my entry, said “This is not correct: call this # and speak to customer relations.” and when I asked him about the pen, he said that his wife was a Vet- Assistant at this clinic.
Then I spoke to this Eric Rochon from customer service who job description was to facilitate in the act of calming me down(yet I was calm …why??…because I always set out expecting complications ).
2012thislandisyourlandseatosea 