Like the Blind Leading the Blind

So yesterday was Fun With Metro ! Day. I had a really shit sleep (I'm talking 2 hours) on Sunday, so when I hit the Metro staion at 7:45 Monday morning I failed to pay attention to the destination signs and blindly stumbled to the nearest platform. There seemed to be a much bigger crowd than there had been on Friday morning, which I chalked up to the Quebecois beind more liberal with starting the weekend early. I waited 10 minutes for a train and was about to get on when I clued in that the destination sign read Cote -Vertu. Which goes through downtown. Which would explain the crowds. I do not work downtown. I work in the fashion district, near HWY 40 (or so I've been told), the Metro stop for which is Crémazie, 2 stops from the end of the line in the other direction, destination Henri-Bourassa. Monday morning disaster averted, I was only sort-of-late for work instead of the the narrowly avoided super-f'n-late for work.

8.5ish hours later I reboarded the Metro to come home. Rather uuneventful ride. Disembarked at Station Laurier . As I was exiting the train a blind woman with a white cane was boarding, assisted by a friend, who irritated me by not allowing the exiting riders off first. The I noticed the friend was also carrying a white cane and I felt like an asshole. Mostly because mt first thought was', " oh look, the blind leading the blind. How often do you actually see that?" Yes, I literally laughed out loud. Yes, my seat in Hell has a RESERVED sign on it.

There are 2 exits at from the platform at Station Laurier. 1 says Laurier, the street I am staying on. The other says something else I haven't really paid attention to, because, doy, it is the wrong one. The last 2 times I came home I exited off of the train to the right, walked the length of the platform and realized I was not at the Laurier side. So being all smarty pants I turned left. And went out a very unfamiliar set of stairs (where there should have been an escalator) , and a turnstyle (where there should have been a set of sliding doors). By the time I hit the very unfamiliar street I realized that - duh - the last 2 trips I had taken had been downtown, so I had exited in the opposite direction. I should have stuck with left. Anywhoooo....I figured I'd just walk around the building until I hit the correct exit, re-orient myself, and head home. Which would have worked, if the friggin' Metro stop were on one block with exits for the east and west cross-streets. But noooooooo.....Montreal is all CRAZEEEE!!!!! The exits are actually like 2 blocks apart. I had to re-enter the Metro system, go back down to the train platfrom, walk the length of it, and exit the Laurier side. If I had not had a Metro pass this little menoveur would have cost $2.50. It's a racket, I tell you. (For perspective: that would be like the Granville Skytrain Station having an exit on Granville and on Richards, instead of the one on Seymour, or the Burrard Station having the exit on Melville, but not Burrard, and being on the other side of the Hotel Vancouver instead. Redonkulous! ) It's a damn good thing the other Metro - the grocery store - sells wine, 'cause Mamma needed it by the time she got home, let me tell you!

I had this whole other thing about Gmail and how annoyed I was that melg, melissag, melissalee, missg****c, melicious, and melissag****c were all taken already. For chrissakes! As if there are sooooo many of us out there. If you know my hotmail, you'll know my gmail. SHOUT OUT to AG for the gmail invite. And duh, I the *** are a privacy thing. I did actually try for my name. Recounting the Metro ordeal has worn me out again. Gmail is not getting its full due. I have grocery store wine too finish. Pay attention to your sortie signs. Take it from one who learns the hard way.