Xmas Shopping

Dear Blag,

So I finished all my holiday shopping early this year, and after having braved the stores and taken in the seasonal storm of real news, as well as editorial BS, I've done a little bit of thinking of my own.

One thing that keeps coming to mind is the weather. I'm constantly reminded of it, looking out my window, or walking around outside, or watching TV. In Toronto, our snow removal service gets kind of a bad reputation, due mostly to an event that happened years ago that no one remembers. Of course, it's something we'll never really live down, and have become increasingly panicked over the slightest sign of snow at the outset of winter every year. It reminds me of the way they treat snowfall in the United States.

But I have more interesting things to talk about besides the weather. Christmas shopping has taught me something very important. People who commute a lot on public transit know three very important things.

1. On escalators, walk left, stand right.
2. If you need to stop in a crowded terminal, move to the side and get out of the way.
3. Respect personal space, and keep your eyes open.

The problem with the holidays, of course, is that those who rarely commute (or do so but don't respect the rules) come out of the woodwork in droves, dashing to the stores to get their Christmas shopping done before it's too late. This means that basically everyone in the city has to cram onto an already packed subway at rush hour, and breathe into the mouths of the commuters who just need to get to and from work or school. It is a common sight to see people walking in horizontal lines of five or six teenagers, all texting and gabbing, incapable of hearing the obvious cries of "excuse me" behind them. All too often I see parents barging through line-ups or crowds to get at the subway doors first -- as if the train will not still be there if they get on last.

The panic that this causes is incredible. It's an adrenaline rush, for sure; one which many people crave every year. But it really is pandemonium, and causes all manner of pile-ups and dramadies in public. So it occurs to me that it isn't the weather that keeps Toronto from functioning in the winter... it's the people.

So frazzled are we to get our Christmas shopping done, and still be able to commute on public transit, that we cause delays, accidents, mishaps, and even injuries. The sheer volume of rude or oblivious passengers and shoppers is more dangerous than the snow and ice itself! Have you ever seen a bus delayed by snow? No, they have a very good snow removal fleet in Toronto, and the amount of snow we get is barely enough to cause a real stir. The real problem is that the streets are packed with people who don't know how to drive, walk, or commute.

And that's why the problems are almost invariably resolved by February. People are weird.