My carpool driver, Louise, is so nice that she dropped me off right in front of the bus station after lunch. I met her in the parking lot and explained how to take care of Alpenhorn, said goodbye and waited in line to buy a ticket for Keith. Our bus wasn't scheduled to leave until 2:30, so he wasn't there yet.
So, I leisurely stroll over to the departure gate, and wait for what I think will be two or three hours before our bus leaves. I talk with a few other people, and the line for an indirect bus to Toronto starts moving. Keith shows up right on time, and we decide to get on the early bus, since there was freezing rain in the forecast.
This was probably the wrong decision. We end up just barely making it onto the bus, there are only two seats left, and we manage to snag the very back spot. (The row with the most leg room, incidentally). What I didn't expect, was that some retard, wearing sunglasses inside would be playing on his portable Playstation some "shoot the monster" game for hours on end...WITHOUT headphones. We mercilessly mock him from three rows behind, which he can probably hear, and I try and tune out the incessant noise of fabricated sword strikes and machine gun blasts.
Tap, tap, tap. I tap the child-man on the shoulder.
"Do you have headphones for that? Would you like to borrow mine?"
"Yeah, OK."
Getting up to grab my coat from the overhead compartment, (my headphones are in my pocket), he turns around and tells me he has headphones, but thank you for getting mine. His ugly wife is laughing at me, so I smile sarcastically back.
"Oh, I didn't know, alright."
I sit back down, assuming he is going to put them on. I wait for about 15 minutes and no such thing happens. I decide to ask the bus driver what to do when something like this happens. He tells me to ask him to put his headphones on again. I do that, he says no, I say fine and his wife yells at me "What is her deal?! That kid over there is making way more noise, plus he turned it down and can barely even hear it now!" as I turn around to go and ask the bus driver what to do again. The driver says he'll go talk to him when we stop for a break.
I return to my seat, hoping he'll stop. Nope. For the next two hours, he continues with his unhealthy addiction to his child's game. I keep trying to tune it out, to know avail. At the rest station, I ask the bus driver if he'll talk to this person, and I point him out. He does, but when the bus starts going again, they decide to have a poker party on the bus, using their headphones as speakers, blasting cheesy reggaeton music, undoubtedly disturbing more people than ever. I don't say anything for what seems like hours, until he breaks out the @(#$* Playstation again.
"PLEASE put headphones on when you're using that."
"No! I turned it down, you can't even hear it! Just chill!"
"Just sit down and read your book! Guy, man, guy..." says the annoying lady sitting beside him.
Some guy in the line in front says to me, "You're ruining my trip just sit down!"
WTF... I go to the front of the bus again, and as I'm on my way, he yells something derogatory at me, while using some form of a becoming four letter word. The bus driver offers me a seat in the front, so that I don't have to hear his noise. This would've been a fine compromise, if there were lights in the front of the bus, so that I could read my book. Nope, no lights though. It's only about 30 minutes until we stop in Peterborough, where I assume they are getting off, so I just stay there and read until it's too dark.
The rest of the trip to Toronto is uneventful.
We get there at 7:30, look at the departure terminals, there is no bus leaving until 9:30 p.m. Our regular scheduled bus, we didn't actually save any time by leaving Ottawa early after all. That's OK, Yonge St. is a block away, so we go check it out and try and kill some time somewhere. We don't find anything except the Hard Rock Cafe, Red Lobster and the Pickle Barrel open on Christmas Eve. *sigh*
Across the street from the bus station is the "Fabulous" bar and cafe. Interesting. There are leather couches and Tankhouse is on tap, so we hang out there until 9 ish, and we presume our bus is leaving. There is a big lineup on platform 1, so we assume the bus is about to come. Nope, it's 10 p.m. and the bus still isn't here. Finally one comes and people start getting on.
"Where are you going?"
"Niagara."
"Get in this other line over here."
Really? We wait another half hour for another bus, and finally get on our way. We end up in Niagara at about 12:30, way later than originally expected.
Mom and dad are waiting for us there. I called them when we stopped to let people off in St. Catharines. They bring us home and a three course meal is waiting for us! Shrimp salad, wine, pizza and more, fresh, warm and delicious. Mom gives me my annual present of pyjamas for Christmas Eve, and by the time we get to bed, it's 3 a.m. phew.
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