Calmes tes nerfs...

... was the moral of the story today coming home from Toronto by train.

Isn't it funny how this time 'festive' time of the year is usually the most stressful for everyone? People are running around, killing themselves over shopping and planning, just to squeeze the last ounce of joy out of the Holiday season. Travelling home for the holidays definitely adds stress to that equation, and this was a good example. After avoiding a potential disaster in picking up my ticket (they almost lost my reservation!), I sat quietly in my seat, just sensing the tension on the train. Some seats were doubled booked, and people were generally unpleasant and jostling about.

This one woman was really something. She bought a cranberry juice from the concession cart, and I noticed after a while that she was curiously looking at the bottom of the can. Then she called the vendor guy over, saying "This tastes funny, and the expiration date says: November 2006. I don't want to get sick you know..." with that last part in an acrimonious tone. The vendor guy (who was a Quebecois, god bless him) could tell that she was all bitter, but was all cool about it and offered her another one.

He didn't actually apologize for it or anything, but commented out loud a few moments later that it was strange that an old can would still be kicking around. The woman repeated "Well, I don't want to get sick..." like it was the Via Rail worker's fault for an expired can of cranberry juice... haha

The guy shook his head and said, "Tonight's not an easy night" in a joking manner; the people around him shared a laugh or three... it was funny, what can I say?? I peeked around to watch the woman's reaction, and she was not pleased. She was mouthing some less than clean language... haha I pitied that guy having to deal with these uptight people. Good lord, RELAX lady. Sheesh.

(In retrospect, this could be the topic for another article - the beauty and subtlety of Quebecois humour. Although he said it in English, saying "Tonight's not an easy night" in French would have been an absolute classic)

To top it all off, some guy getting off at Oshawa couldn't find his luggage at the front. He was basically holding up the train, since he was scrambling to find it. The conductor was yelling at him to either get off without his bag, or to stay on. Everyone could hear him... yikes. The guy was pissed off but stormed off, probably without his gifts, or clothes, or everything.

After all this, the guy next to me said, "Man, this is the most entertaining train ride I've been on in a while." I agreed, and remembered that the only reason he was sitting there was because his original seat was double booked.