Racoons Riding Buses...

Did you ever have one of those days that just seems surreal?  That was my Wednesday this week.

I had a terrible sleep Tuesday night after the daycare fundraiser.  I was just too wound up.  I just landed a new gig writing reviews of fitness clubs for BlogTO, a local online magazine.  Wednesday I was scheduled to check out a new fitness studio near where Adam works.  Adam had the car that day, so he recommended the best way for me to get there by public transport and suggested that an hour should be plenty of time to get me there, regardless of my legendary bad luck with the TTC.

The bus arrived at the bus stop down the street from our house almost immediately - in an unusual stroke of luck for me.  I made it to the subway, efficiently caught the first subway going east, and then was thrilled to find the connecting northbound subway pulling into the station as soon as I arrived.  I hopped on and sat down relieved that the trip was going so smoothly.

Then an announcement was made that smoke had been detected at Eglinton station and the entire subway line from Bloor, north to York Mills was being temporarily shut down.  F#*k!  Adam is right, I'm friggin' cursed when it comes to our city's transit system. 

I exited the train along with everyone else and stood for several minutes on the platform trying to decide what to do.  Eventually, I decided to take an alternate route rather than waiting for service to resume.  This entailed hopping on another subway taking me back in the direction I came, and then catching another subway heading north on the University/Spadina line, catching a bus heading east on Wilson, and sprinting 5 blocks south on Avenue Road to the club.  By the time I arrived I was sweating, stressed and completely discombobulated.  I was about 3 minutes late for the Gravity Pilates class I had registered for, but the staff were very forgiving and allowed me to join anyways.

I felt much calmer after the class and walked slowly back to the bus stop on Wilson.  Suddenly a racoon sauntered out of the bus shelter.  He brushed against a woman's legs and for a moment, I thought he was her pet, that is, until she screamed and ran away.  Then he came in my direction.  As cute as he was, I've heard too many stories about racoons being rabid so I kept my distance.  This little guy was so bold that he chased after anyone who came too close to him.  He wasn't being aggressive, in fact, he almost seemed friendly, but everyone was a bit freaked out since you don't usually see wildlife in the city being so bold. When the bus arrived, all 6 of us waiting were hiding out behind the shelter, while Mr. Racoon sat munching on a discarded orange peel by the curb.  The folks on the absolutely packed bus squealed in delight at the situation and highschool children began whipping out their phones and snapping pictures.  It also got perfect strangers, smiling at one another and joking about Mr. Racoon.

I found the whole situation so bizarre and amusing that it completely made up for the frustrations of my earlier trip.  You always have to look for the silver lining in every situation, no?

Happy Friday, have a wonderful weekend!