While the industrious senior ladies are cleaning the house, I fire up a machine to tell you about the following items:
Charcoal, Poetry & Postal + topics of varied interest
Tag Archives: transit
“Vanessa of the B Line” (lyrics, alt 2)
V.1
I’ve heard that pretty girls
don’t rides buses
but here you are
in Fluevogs and glasses
V.2
You seem to notice that
i’m already schemeing
about English Bay fireworks
and Kitsilano dreaming
Note, I carry a monthly pass (well at the time of this writing) so I didn’t really need a token but you know, doesn’t really matter after all does it?C.1
Already i call you
sweet Vanessa of B-line
Before my stop on Cambie
I’m gonna ring the bell
and ask your real name
B.1
You and me it’s agreed
already have a history
set in fast-forward speed
i’m already collecting
our future unspoken
just give in quickly
before i need a new token
V.3
I’ll write my Twitter
on the back of the Buzzer
cause i wanna follow you
in all sorts of ways
V.4
You’re looking so smart
but I’m too shy to stare
tugging your ponytail
and reading Baudelaire
V.5
On the back of my ticket
I’ll pass you a note
get off at the Seabus
run away to Deep cove
Refrain
Vanessa act quick now
we’re almost passed the street
i’ll too nervous to tell you
that i think you are
sweet Vanessa of the the b-line …
This is also not the B-Line bus but still beside the point
Suez Canal Transit Panorama Views
+ Back to Sea with Suez Canal Panorama views +
I enjoy building panorama views especially when space and time is compressed, warped and otherwise manipulated and bent – whether by scissors and glue, my olden panorama film camera(s) – both 35mm and APS, or the fancy feature on the common pocket robot cameras (as in the case of this series).
Anyhow, as such, i made some panoramas views in the Suez Canal – to go along with Suez Canal Dossier and Musings – which make for pleasing immersive views. Click to embiggen.
Consider this bundle for your amusement and/or remixing – some showing magnificent desolation of desert, others town on the banks, and other catching ships and the accruements on the vessel on which i transited.
PS One or two of these may be cropped rather than panorama as i used a load for header images on this web archive and can’t quite remember what and which so carry on accordingly.
PS my classic Fuji Panorama 35mm camera, bought from close-out bin at TOPOS dept store in Tottori Japan, 1993 for ¥3000 (still have receipt) Alas the winder broke (salt-water damage in Guam) but still have the artifact.
Suez Canal Transit Dossier and Musings
+ Suez Transit Dossier and Musings +
If i was crafty and timely, woulda shared these snaps a few weeks when Ever Given was blocking up the flow of the Suez Canal (yeah you saw this…) i had/have a lot to say about it all and well, lot of more important things to do (nursery school!) so just didn’t get to it, but today is now, so:
Quick annotations:
- Suez isn’t “squared off” with tidy concrete walls and locks
- Was dug mostly by hand/buckets
- Ships assemble caravans at either end and go very slow
- Winds are weird (really) which makes mishaps not shocking and coordination important.
- Don’t start with the Egyptian pilots!
Let’s begin our transit in the “staging area”… (note captions and annotations)
Local Traffic amongst the behemoths
Importantly, the canal is active with local ferries darting back and forth between lumbering giants. The sides are so close you can wave to folks (of course i did) and the ships in-front/behind are also so close and don’t have brakes.
Memento: Dad’s #Expo86 passport
After my dad Lorne H Olson passed and we sorted through his papers, I took custody of a few various pieces of paper ephemera to document and curate as is my custom.
I’ve share a few bits and pieces from his life and next up (since today in anniversary of opening) is his passport for Expo 86, the worlds fair that was a *big deal* in Vancouver.
As it goes, I have kind of mixed feelings and memories about this as my parents had recently separated, I ended up in Utah with Mom but got a Volkswagen bus and returned for a summer of hijinks with my pals.
I recall two of my younger brothers had season passes and more visits for sure (perhaps they’ll chime in), and also recall that with my older brother, we had been at inaugural concerts the fancy new domed BC Place (Bowie, Gabriel, Tubes + Guess Who at a BC Lions game) – I had adventures skateboarding around the new stadium, rode the Skytrain (ALRT) from New West (before Surrey extension, rambled around geodesic dome Science world… {From when I was about 12-3 in Whalley, I started skipping school and heading downtown to spend my paper route money on records at Odyssey Imports, Collector’s RPM and other record shops on Seymour and Granvilles St. what not… But I digress…}
Media: Slow Train Coming (Cascadia Trains) / Vancouver Courier, Oct. 22, 2008
I was interviewed (and used loquacious quotes like “super lame”) for an article about train travel in the Vancouver Courier.
I am including my quotes and a few other snippets about my pet-rant, ergo: inadequate train travel between here and points south – as well as the photo by Dan Toulguet so it doesn’t disappear…
##
Slow train coming
Robert Alstead takes a journey north by rail from California and wonders if Canada’s vanished passenger trains will once again carry us from coast to coast – Robert Alstead, Vancouver Courier Published: Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Dave Olson, who works in marketing for Gastown web design company Raincity Studios, travels six or seven times a year by train, on business and pleasure. “I don’t care for jet travel because of the incredible hassle and huge eco-footprint,” says Olson. Like many, he would take the train more if he could. “I like the pace and not having to drive, I like the rhythm and the scenery you normally don’t see, the rail yards and seashores and forgotten neighbourhoods. I find the train-riding experience somehow charming, even poetic and certainly creativity stimulating,” he says.
However, he complains Amtrak’s evening train south is hardly convenient for trips to Olympia or Portland, seeing as travellers must make an overnight stopover in Seattle. The Amtrak Cascades is also infrequent and often booked up. Amtrak does offer several “train buses” which Olson has found “super lame” with long border waits. He’d rather take the car if there are no seats on the train, although it did mean a $124 parking bill and a chipped windshield on a recent three-day trip to Seattle. “I know we would’ve enjoyed some work or playing cards or meditating on the train,” he rues.
##
However, the Amtrak Cascades offers a good example of the difficulties faced in enhancing rail services.
For years, Amtrak has wanted to add a second roundtrip train between Eugene and Vancouver. However, congestion due to heavy freight movement on track this side of the border meant that a new siding needed to be added to allow trains to pass. For six years, Canadian and U.S. officials and railroad owners Burlington Northern Santa Fe had been unable to hammer out a deal over who should pay for the upgrade.
That means that a second Amtrak Cascades has been running only as far as Bellingham. Then in March of last year, spurred on by the onset of the 2010 Olympics, B.C. transportation minister Kevin Falcon announced that he was committing “up to $4.5 million” (reportedly 57 per cent of the upgrade cost) to build the siding.
In June last year, Premier Gordon Campbell marked the new service on the platform at King Street Station in Seattle by exchanging a large symbolic train ticket with Washington Governor Chris Gregoire in a photo op.
The siding was completed months ago. Amtrak is ready to go. But the service hit the buffers due to complications with the Canadian Border Services Agency, which reportedly wants $15,000 per day to clear the train.
Graham says the matter is in the hands of the B.C. government. A spokesperson for the province says it’s a federal government issue. Faith St. John, spokesperson for the CBSA, said she could not comment on the matter “because we are in discussions.” But she did say that “decisions to provide CBSA services at a new location or to expand current services take into account human resource requirements and the ability to provide security and service to the public.”
She could not say when the matter would be resolved.
##
Update, the article “disappeared” from the internets (mostly),
Print version of Slow Train Coming
Web version of Slow Train Coming [archived link via WayBack]
Certificates: Transit / Skytrain “First Rider’s Club” x 2 (1994)
Note: also have Seabus 1st day certificate, will update this archive upon finding
Note: there is a chance i wasn’t actually on these rides…
Japan: Transport Logistics to Locations in Okayama
Going Places in Okayama: Shrine + Resto + Farm
This dispatch shares the logistics of getting to and fro various important locations for the wedding festivities, specifically: Munetade Shrine, Fuyahei resto and Rural Caprine Farm goat farm by party via train and taxi.
Also, the general plan about what to expect, when to show up and how to dress. Plus an overview of activities to do with free time like museums (lots), hot springs, picnics, and day trips to Kurashiki (art and canals, Bizen (pottery and swords), Hiroshima (bombs), and Kyoto (everything).
Plus tips on staying in communication with all your new friends – both Japanese folks and the other international renegades.
Note: made for guests coming to DRO420 wedding festivities, so kinda specific to that, but perhaps useful otherwise… carry on
Japan: Okayama Local Transportation Options
Getting Around Okayama by Streetcar, Bus, Taxi and Bicycle
In prep for a barrage of international renegade diplomats descending upon Okayama comes a few ways of getting around the city, as well as a finding other information about information, ya know for tourists.
Note: This was originally created for guests coming to #DRO420 wedding festivities, another dispatch shares specifics about getting to shrine (ceremony), resto (fancy lunch) and goat farm (party). In the meantime, please accept my humble offering. Ergo:
Japan: Okayama Station to Hotels, Wayfinding
Wayfinding from Okayama Station to Hotels
This dispatch shares wayfinding tips to get from the main train station, down a covered shopping arcade, over a canal, a stop for coffee at Stand (optional) and then to Koraku hotel (conveniently embedded with a post office and convenience store). Then passing statues and bars, to the Okayama View Hotel – located across from the Birkenstock store and ¥100 shop – and over to the Tenmaya shopping area and transit hub as needed.
Note: originally created for guests coming to #DRO420 wedding festivities. Carry on.
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