Wednesday, August 03, 2005

General Knowledge - Or Lack There Of


In January, I was taking the skytrain home and started chatting with some arb girl. After a few minutes she asks me "where is your accent from? Is it Australia or New Zealand".

For those of you that don't know South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are serious sports rivals and I believe that most of us would take it as an personal insult if we were referred to as any of the other nations.

So I set her straight and told her that I was from South Africa. Her reply was "really! I have a friend from South Africa". So I replied "that's great, from which city?” To which she replied "Kenya". At this point I just walked up and went and found another seat, I could not stand that level of stupidity. Now just in case there is anyone that does not understand why I reacted like this then have a look at the map. This is a map of the African continent; it clearly shows that Kenya and South Africa are separate countries.

I stopped taking geography at the end of Grade 9. So my main source of geographical knowledge comes from TV news, documentaries and books. What amazes me is that I have a so called 3rd world education and I know these little things. Yet some one with an education from a so called 1st world country has no clue that Kenya is a country? Please Explain!

I am out

NQC

The Transit System

Why the hell do you complain about the public transit that you have? There are only 3 valid reasons to complain about, which I will cover later.

You have a reliable, relatively clean and comparatively safe transit system. You have the busses, SkyTrain, West Coast Express and the Sea Bus. You can get almost anywhere you want for a maximum of $ 150.00 per month! Come on. Ok, sometimes you need to spend a bit extra on a cab.

In South Africa the main public transit is by 16 seater "mini-busses". The majority of which are not roadworthy. One guy was caught with card board keeping his break pads in place. Most drivers do not have licenses and break the traffic laws hourly. The mini-busses are run by a number of associations. These associations have what the media has termed "Taxi Wars" where drivers and owners are assassinated. This fighting is mainly over bus routes. Obviously the innocent public also become victims. When is the last time you got shot at on the 99 B-line? Think McFly, Think! Yes I know you get the odd spot of trouble in New West and Surrey, mainly.

The bus stops and sky trains stations are clean as far as I am concerned. In SA they are pilled with rubbish, broken booze bottles and stink of human urine. Not from lack of facilities but just lack of interest from the public. Some of the garbage gets cleaned up but in winter only. But this is for the sole purpose of being stuffed in a big steel drum and burned to provide heat! I think Translink should consider putting in heaters at some of the bigger stations.

The 3 things you can complain about:

1) The Rent-a-Cops. Oh my god what a sad bunch of wankers. I think Translink gets all the VPD and RCMP rejects. But one thing they do have is the “I am a mean-bad-ass cop attitude". All they know how to say is "fare check please" and "you will have to step out at the next stop". I always pay my fare so I do not know if there are any more words in their vocabulary.

After the London bombings they were supposed to be on a higher level of alert but all these wankers were doing was checking fares and standing around talking crap to each other.

2) Smelly people. For gods sake wash! If you are in construction please do not where the same clothes every damn day. Because by end of work on Tuesdays you smell as if you bathed in perspiration, no way in hell are you gonna pick up anyone like that. Also there are so many of you that smell like wet dogs. When you get home and out of the rain, hang up your jacket so it can dry or just chuck it in the dryer for a bit. And wash every day, please god, it's more hygienic that way. And please do not give me the "but I don’t sweat" routine, it does not work!

3) The rude mofo's on the bus. It’s amazing how many people get on a bus with not even the slightest hint of a smile on their faces? These same people hit you in the head with their bags or stand on your feet without bothering to say sorry, squeeze by you with out saying excuse me, then when they get off the bus the muster the inner strength to say a meaningless "thank you" to the buss driver.

I am out

NQC