Moo.

[Zelgadis 638]

Moo.

Sorry, just a reaction to riding in that underground cattle-car they call a subway in this city.

My six months in Toronto have taught me a few things about Canadians and Torontonians in particular.

1) Pedestrians, cyclists, motorists... They're all [censored] nuts! On more than one occasion, I've almost run a pedestrian down who was just casually jaywalking across the street not caring what was coming.

On another occasion, I almost ran down a rollerblader who decided to cut diagonally through a busy intersection.

And cyclists... Well, I could go on forever...

Motorists here are... amusing. The most interesting is the switch tactic. Pull up to an intersection. Stop. Then turn on the turn signal, leaving everyone behind them saying unmentionable things.

And my personal favorite. Parallel park on the street, then fling your door open into traffic without checking if any cars are coming. This happens daily.

2) There are car-owning people and non-car-owning people here. I have learned never to ask a non-car-owning person if there is anyplace to park near a location to which he just gave me directions. To do so will generate a conversation like this:

Me: Is there anyplace to park near there?
non-car-owning person: Why are you asking me? I don't have a car! I would never have a car! If someone gave me a car, I'd tell them thank you and then sell it and invest the money! Why are you asking me?
Me: Whoa dude!

3) Suburban Torontonians will violate any fire code and risk any parking ticket to park 10 steps closer to the door of the mall.

4) Torontonians can get mad. They'll yell and scream and stomp and slam doors. Then, when they're done, they apologize for blowing their top. That makes me giggle.

5) People will walk, on the escalator, at the mall. Guess they're in a stupendous hurry to get to a sale at the Gap...

6) Conversely, groups of people will ride the escalator at the mall, disembark at the top, and immediately begin congregating at the escalator exit while the other riders pile up into a mountain in front of them.

7) People will sprint to catch the subway train that's about to depart, even though there will be another one along in 30 seconds. This also amuses me.

Just some observations.

ISF

P.S. @vid: I notice that the subway cars are all built in Thunder Bay by Bombadier. Must be a big factory there. That's your town, correct?

[hummer0328 6]

I remember several years ago riding the subway in Portland on the 4th of July. Right after the fireworks were over we got into the extremely cramped car. People jokingly started mooing like cows the whole trip. It was hilarious!

[Mikeaut1 261]

Haha! Funny observations in Toronto, Zel. I've been to New York City so many times of course, and the cab trivers are crazy sometimes, and pedestrians can be daring enough to cross 5th avenue while cars are moving northbound and southbound, but I've really never noticed much else. It's just a bustling city with many people, both crazy and sane. Well it is cool to go around to other cities to visit, I've only gone to a handful of other cities in my lifetime.

[timotheus4 39]

What always amuses me about DC pedestrians is that they have the mindset it doesn't matter what the light says, as long as there's no cars coming along for 5 seconds I can run across the street.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

You have to remember that more than half of the drivers in Toronto are from the far east, mostly Chinese. They got their driver's licenses from a Cantonese-speaking driving school where they were coached through the written tests and tested by examiners who were all-the-same-my-cousins. You wonder where driver courtesy is: have you ever been to Beijing?

The pedestrians are about the same mix, with a strong stripe of the bush-brush.

Courtesy? You have got to be kidding. But it's not moo. It's baa.

I am sure in ol' Kentucky things are much more towards fine Southern Courtesy. If you want to live with human beings instead of sheep, come north to at least Bradford, and preferably Barrie or Midland.

[Duke87 1,070]

Date: 1/23/2006 8:51:08 PM Author: Mikeaut1

 pedestrians can be daring enough to cross 5th avenue while cars are moving northbound and southbound

There's an error in your statement: 5th avenue is one way southbound.

 

the avenues in manhattan are a bit sketchy on the numbering, though. East of 1st avenue, you have Avenues A-D in the East Village, York Avenue from 59th st to 92nd st, and Pleasant avenue from 114th st to 120th st. Most of what would be 4th avenue is Called Park Avenue, and it's one of three avenues between 3rd and 5th. 6th avenue is officially called Avenue of the Americas south of Centra Park and Lenox Avenue (aka Malcolm X boulevard) north of it. 7th avenue is called Adam Clayton Powell Junior Boulevard north of Central Park. 8th Avenue become Central Park West, and then Frederick Douglas Boulevard. North 0f 57th street, 9th avenue is Columbus Avenue, 10th Avenue is Amsterdam Avenue, and 11th Avenue is West End Avenue. And Amsterdam Avenue goes back to being 10th avenue north of Dyckman Street.

 

New York has in recent decades also gotten the bad habit of giving streets a second name or renaming part of a street when they want to stick someone's name on a street but don't want to get rid of any names. Besides Lenox (6th) avenue being Malcolm X Boulevard, 125th street is Dr Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard, 110th street west of central park is Cathedral Parkway the parts of 12th Av, 11th Av, and West Street which form the west side highway are the Joe DiMaggio Highway The Marine Parkway Bridge is the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. 155th street by trinity cemetery is Audobon Terrace. Southern Bouvard north of Fordham Road is Dr Theodore Kazmiroff Boulevard 149th street in the bronx is Eugene Mariano de Hostos Boulevard.... and that is only a small sampling. Al over the city, streets along a block or two, or even just intersections are given blue street signs in addition to their reguar ones depicting a second name that it was given.

 

The odd irony here: the renamed streets in harlem are all named after black people, and the renamed streets in the south bronx are all named after hispanic people. You may draw your own conclusions to that.

[Joesocwork 4]

Date: 1/23/2006 9:00:33 PM Author: timotheus4 What always amuses me about DC pedestrians is that they have the mindset 'it doesn't matter what the light says, as long as there's no cars coming along for 5 seconds I can run across the street'.

DC definitely has transit culture that takes some getting used to.  Much of the downtown is made up of either tourists or government workers and never the twain the two shall meet.  On the Metro (subway) stops you can tell the difference b/c tourists will sometimes hog the left lane on the escalators and the workers are the ones telling them to get out of the way!  Oh and let's don't get into rush hour and the use of the turn signal.  People usually don't use them.  That's probably b/c people see it as a cue to cut off those who do before they can change lanes!

[vidioman 21]

P.S. @vid: I notice that the subway cars are all built in Thunder Bay by Bombadier. Must be a big factory there. That's your town, correct?

Under Ontario law, any major government operated transit vehicle orders are awarded to Thunder Bay Bombardier. It's the last remaining shred of our economy, since softwood is out and theres no hope in hell of ING or Canada Life relocating their head offices here!

And the plant is really busy, they're filling out order for places as far away as New Mexico, and Korea.

[your_adress_here 11]

HA! If you thought Toronto was bad, try Ottawa. My dad likes going to Toronto cause he says people know how to drive there!

Any now something from our freinds at www.joe-ks.com

How To Identify Where A Driver Is From

1. One hand on wheel, one hand on horn: MONTREAL

2. One hand on wheel, one finger out window: TORONTO

3. One hand on wheel, one finger out window, cutting across all lanes of traffic: OTTAWA

4. One hand on wheel, one hand on newspaper, foot solidly on accelerator: BOSTON

5. One hand on wheel, one hand on non-fat double decaf cappuccino, cradling cell phone, brick on accelerator, gun on lap: LOS ANGELES

6. Both hands on wheel, eyes shut, both feet on brake, quivering in terror: SASKATOON, but driving in TORONTO

7. Both hands in air, gesturing, both feet on accelerator, head turned to talk to someone in the back seat: QUEBEC CITY

8. One hand on 12 oz. double shot latte, one knee on wheel, cradling cell phone, foot on brake, mind on radio game, banging head on steering wheel while stuck in traffic: VANCOUVER

9. One hand on wheel, one hand on hunting rifle, alternating between both feet being on the brake and both feet on the accelerator, throwing McDonald's bag out the window: RED DEER

10. Four wheel drive pick-up truck, shotgun mounted in rear window, beer cans on the floor, raccoon tails attached to the antenna: PRINCE GEORGE

11. Two hands gripping wheel, blue hair barely visible above windshield driving 40 km/hr on Hwy 1 in the left lane with the left blinker on: VICTORIA

12. One ski-doo mitt on steering wheel, one ski-doo mitt scraper in hand out front window scraping frost, Guess Who on 8 track playing Share The Land, hockey equipment smelling up car interior, waiting at lights for snow removal equipment to finish clearing intersection: WINNIPEG

13. One knee/thigh on steering wheel of SUV, cell phone tucked under chin, two hands giving the Italian salute, head alternating between screaming at kids in the back seat and mouthing obscenities at traffic while maneuvering through a Tim Horton's drive thru for breakfast: MISSISSAUGA

[marryescher 0]

zeldagis - I live in a college town, and we have those pedestrians (students)stepping out in the street without looking all the time too. I just dread being caught downtown during class change. They are walking in large groups and take over the streets. I get stuck sitting in the middle of a block, while crowds of people cross. I dont think they know what a cross walk is. Ive seen those students step in front of speeding busses and crossing diagnally also. People on bicycles zipping around everywhere. Some of us non-college students like to really slam on the brakes hard so the tires screech real loud, when one of the students steps in front of our car without looking, again. I cant do that anymore, darn anti-lock brakes.

your_adress_here  That is hillarious! 

Also, that is so true. Ive been to most of those cities.

[dev 47]

I guess I'm one of those daring people...heh...It doesn't bother me, I'm not worried about dying.

Anyways, even in my small population 2,000 or something town...on the 4th of July...after the parade...it was horrid! I was on my way to a Braves game and when I drove through town, it was mad! All the police went down to the festival, and everyone was running over everyone else in downtown...

[hello_SC4 1]

Bombardier, eh? So that's where those CRJs came from! They had 8 CRJs flown in from Canada for Adria, one of our carriers..

 

Anyway, your description in many points sounds like a Southern European country.

[justanothersim86 83]

Toronto's bad? Try London (Canada) or Montreal. In Montreal, I was fearful being a pedestrian crossing a downtown street, even if my light was green. In London, you simply have driver stupidity.

No hands on wheel, one on Tim Hortons French Vanilla, other giving the one fingered salute swerving between lanes and going through red lights and making left hand turns at red lights. That before parking right in front of a stop-sign or ambulance parking zone. - LONDON, ONTARIO

[SamFlash 0]

Pretty funny your_adress_here and unfortunately, quite true.  The world is populated by bad drivers and their getting worse.

[Zelgadis 638]

your_address_here, you forgot New York: both hands giving single finger salute, both feet on horn.



ISF

[Joesocwork 4]

Date: 1/24/2006 8:29:16 PM Author: zelgadis
your_address_here, you forgot New York: both hands giving single finger salute, both feet on horn. ISF

quote>

At least they are in compliance with the new no hands on the cell phone law!

[Duke87 1,070]

In New York, when in traffic on the city streets, you need to drive agressively, or you'll get nowhere, everyone will just keep cutting in front of you. If you have out of state plates, expect to be taken advantage of, and honked at, yelled at, and fingered at more often than a local. If you have New Jersey Plates, however, your status falls somewhere between New York and out of state. The worst plates you can have are Connecticut plates. New Yorkers genereally stereotype Connecticutters as wealthy, snobbish, and wussy. This likely stems from the fact that the towns in Connecticut which are closest to New York are some of the most expensive places in the Americas to live.

There's also a bit of a monkey see, monkey do attitude. Once one person takes a convenient but either illegal and/or slightly dangerous shortcut, at least a few people will follow them. One time, a big accident closed all three lanes of the southbound bruckner expressway right before the Bronx River drawbridge. All cars had to get off the exit right before that and go onto Bruckn er Bouevard (the service road). Thing is, that over the drawbridge and right before and after it, the service road and the highway share a right of way, seperated only by a small concrete curb. the highway on the other side was empty, past the accident. The service road was packed. Sure enough, one guy in an SUV in the eft lane decided to just drive over the curve and onto the empty but completely usable highway. Seven or eight people followed suit. My mom (who was driving), considered doing so, but then decided against it when she remembered she had connecticut plates, and was driving a minivan. We instead followed Bruckner bouevard all the way down under the elevated part of the highway and got back on right before the triborough bridge. Having connecticut plates on local streets in the south bronx just 15 years ago woud surely have resuted in someone washing your windsheild while you were at a red light and then demanding to be paid for it. Fortunately, things like that don't happen anymore.

[Ratieya455 1]

Fargo drivers are interesting. There is a bit of a combination of the outgoing and speedy nature of city drivers and lack of skill and overall cluelessness of small town drivers. Makes for an interesting mix. I just wish they'd use their turn signals more often.

NDSU has an absolute pedestrian right of way, meaning that you have to stop for a pedestrian wanting to cross the street anywhere on campus, and also a 15MPH speed limit. People almost always look before crossing, but don't slow their pace at all. Most drivers are pretty good about keeping the speed down and watching for pedestrians, but some of them rip through campus at 30+MPH and don't watch for people crossing the street. I've never seen someone of college age driving like this, only middle aged and elderly people.

[your_adress_here 11]

Date: 1/24/2006 8:29:16 PM
Author: zelgadis
your_address_here, you forgot New York: both hands giving single finger salute, both feet on horn.





ISF

quote>

Haha! I don't make that list thoufg, it's from www.joe-ks.com

[GingerBlokey 30]

I notice the same thing about the escolators and the running for the tube. In London, for instance, I would be walking down to the platform for the tube and a train would pull up just as I reach the bottom, I slowly disembark and suddenly a torrent of commutters run to get on and squeeze sideways through closing doors. The trains arrive like every 30 seconds.

[xiziz 11]

Most of this is so true for Stockholm too, Though especially #7, i just point and laugh at people that just miss the train, so funny seeing people run as fast as they can and get the doors closing on their nose ^^

Myself is just on the verge to become a Car Owning People from beeing a non car owning people for 18 years.

Though i have to admitt, when im a pedestrian, i dont care about the cars, when im driving through town i curse those evil pedestrians and that stupid zebra-law...

(The Zebra-law = Car driver is responsible if he hits a pedestrian crossing the street, even if the ped is crossing where there there is no crossing or crossing against a red-man)

... And for the topic: Nandayo moos loudly...

that is my Wow Tauren Char

Cheers
//Sim

[bmwboy 0]

Ahh, you live in Canada, eh? Sorry bad joke. Anyways, i was in Canada one time in the little town of Attikocan and there drivers were bad. There was only a few of em, but dear god. We nearly got in a head on wreck 3 times in an hour.  But still, traffic in Nashville is bad. People don't know how to drive. Its basically people that have never heard of a turn signal, brake, or emergency flashy things. And then theres all the soccer Moms in giant Toyotas/Lexus' (mine included) that see the park, and swerve, muttering under their breathe, blaming it on them. It drives me crazy.

[vidioman 21]

Anyways, i was in Canada one time in the little town of Attikocan and there drivers were bad. There was only a few of em, but dear god. We nearly got in a head on wreck 3 times in an hour.

Atikokan, and they're mad because the government just evicted half their tax base!

If no one is using turning lights (but turning anyway) or if they are using turning lights, but not turning, or if they're running through a red light, you're in Thunder Bay! Also, be careful of the busses, they like creeping up on people and running yellows.