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Just a shortie today, Nexties, because I am positively bedeviled in work, but I want you to know that I took the bus to the Free Press today for the first time under the new world order and you know what? It was fine.
The D16 is a quick little rip up Academy Road to the D11, which you catch by Kelvin High School (a.k.a. ye olde alma mater) and it goes down Sherbrook-William-Isabel-Salter to get to the North End, versus my old route, which took me through downtown and north Main. It did feel faster and more direct as my commute is now three short trips instead of two medium ones and, unlike my old route, there isn’t a big wait downtown. It still takes about an hour (or more, depending on what itinerary I choose).
The only real hiccup was during the third leg and having to wait a bit for the 38 bus that goes down Mountain Avenue, but the new stop is right outside the Free Press gate, which is a welcome change from the old 15 Mountain-Fife, which dropped me off at Fife Street and forced me to walk on a road also used by semis.
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This is not, like, a ringing endorsement of the new Winnipeg Transit system, which I know is extremely frustrating and inconvenient for many of you, and I know that because we’ve received many letters about it. This is one successful trip on a nice day with no missed connections. And actually, two of my buses arrived much earlier than Google Maps indicated, so it was a good thing I made sure I was early, too.
Sidebar, real quick: I don’t know why Google Maps and Navigo, Transit’s own navigation system, return such different trip plans, nor do I know why both offer some truly zany proposed routes. There is a suggested itinerary that just straight up begins with 25 minutes of walking which is fine on a nice morning but lol, come on: this is not a realistic choice for many people. (I miss the 68 Crescent, and I know many school kids do, too.)
Anyway, I am going to experiment with a few different routes, and I am also going to try experimenting with making commuting on public transit an enjoyable part of my routine. Maybe I’ll play all my New York Times games on the a.m. commute and read my book on the evening one. I know I will definitely pick up some extra steps. I’m going for cautious optimism here because I just think if you go into something thinking it’ll suck, it probably will.
All that said, we’ll see how getting home goes.
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READING/WATCHING/LISTENING
I binged Netflix’s Black Rabbit over the weekend, a very stressful little crime-thriller limited series in which Jason Bateman and Jude Law (who really struggles to hold on to that New York accent for eight episodes) play two screw-up brothers who own the titular restaurant and get mixed up in all kinds of trouble. I love Bateman and the particular deadpan (and way he says “buddy”) he brings to everything, and this is no exception.
Incidentally, there used to be a Winnipeg bistro called Black Rabbit located, I believe, in the space now occupied by Baby Baby and Shirley’s. If you go to Shirley’s, get the devilled eggs. There’s two recommendations for ya.
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