Secret subway station

Last week when I took my dad for his driver's licence test, I saw something unusual at Bay subway station. We had just gotten off the subway and were walking along the platform to reach the bus area. I noticed two workers coming out through a door on the platform, out through one of those mysterious grey doors. Being that I am curious about these kinds of things, I turned to look, before the door closed, at what was in the room they had just come out of. I expected to see a small storage room, or janitorial closet. What I actually saw was a long staircase leading down. I'm not talking about 3 or 4 steps, I'm talking about a big, long, full size staircase. It was leading down, underneath the subway platform. Something mysterious was down there.

Since boyhood I've been fascinated by the subway tunnels, curious about what secrets and mysteries they might hold. I'm no longer a boy; I'm now an adult, one who lives in the Internet age. So I did some googling, using a couple of permutations of the words "secret", "subway", "tunnel", and "ttc". My research quickly paid off and I discovered that there is in fact an abandoned station known as "Lower Bay"; it's underneath the Bay platform much like St. George station on the Bloor-Danforth line is underneath St. George on the Yonge-University-Spadina line. Now I knew where that staircase I saw last week led to!

I learned that the Lower Bay station had been used for six months in 1966 (I was only two then; my sister wasn't even born yet). The tracks that run through Lower Bay station connect the Bloor-Danforth line to the Yonge-University-Spadina line. During those six months in 1966, the TTC operated the trains in a mode known as interlining - a route that connects the two lines. This route caused confusion to riders, plus a single disabled train would block the entire system. The TTC abandoned Lower Bay and segregated the two lines.

Lower Bay station is briefly visible to riders travelling westbound from Yonge Station. Stand in the front car and watch the tracks carefully. Shortly after pulling out of the station you will see a track branch off to the left. Follow it closely with your eye. Just before your line of sight disappears you will see the Lower Bay platform - the TTC keeps the platform lit up. I'm sure I've seen that platform before and assumed that I was seeing Bay station - but something about the angle just didn't make sense to me. Now I know why.

Despite all my fascination and curiosity with the subway tunnels I've never had the desire to actually cross through the Do Not Enter gate to explore them for myself. However, I managed to enjoy the experience vicariously by reading the article Exploring the Toronto Subway Stations and Tunnels by Ninjalicious. This author has also written a book titled Access All Areas: A User's Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration. I haven't checked it out yet but I feel my curiosity further stimulated.

Full circle

I'm taking my dad to get his driver's licence test. He's turning 82 next month; as a senior citizen he has to take his driver's licence test every two years. I remember when my dad taught me to drive and helped me get my driver's licence when I was 16. Now I am helping him renew his driver's licence - life is coming to a full circle.

He looks spiffy - he dressed up for the occasion. Nice jacket, slacks, shoes - he looks better dressed than when he goes to church. He even looks like he's had a haircut.

I know that he's worried that if he doesn't pass this test today, they will take away his driver's licence. That would be a major lifestyle change for him and my mom.

There is no line up when we arrive and he does his vision test right away. He appears to be a little nervous but he's handling it well. Soon he completes his vision test and goes into a room for his written test. I'm not allowed to wait in the test room, understandably. I wait in another area for him. I read a John Grisham book for a while, snooze a little, call J from my cell phone and talk a little.

Eventually he comes out. He doesn't say anything, and holds his papers in his hands. I see the word Pass written on the bottom. So - he made it.

When we get home my mom is there. She asks how it went. My dad doesn't say much and I tell her the story. "So he passed?" she concludes.

"He didn't say anything but I saw the word Pass on his form. He has to go back in December to attend a class."

"He must have passed," she says with a grin as he returns to the kitchen, "because he got out the shot glasses."

He pours shots and lifts his glass. "What are we toasting?" asks my mom, with a little tongue in cheek. She knows he won't say anything directly but this is her way of playing with him.

He toasts to our health and thanks me for taking him downtown to write his test.

That means he passed.

A Thanksgiving Weekend - Epilogue

6:44am Did my Mile this morning. I lost track of my laps so I'm not sure if I jogged three laps or four. I remember thinking about whether I was going to do four laps today and thinking that I'll give it my best shot. As I was finishing what I thought of as my fourth lap, I remembered that on my previous lap was when I had passed a couple and said good morning to them. And that lap was my second, because I had run through the leadership tenets twice on my first lap. Or was that... nevermind. I'll drive myself crazy trying to figure it out.

I did have one day last week where I jogged four laps. So four is the new three.

A Thanksgiving Weekend - Part III, Monday

So it's Thanksgiving Day today and it's my birthday.

I was thinking that I would go today to one of my rental properties that needs some attention. But J says going to a movie. I dismiss the idea at first - I have some business to take care of at the property that I've put off too long already and if I don't take care of it today then when will I? But I am swayed. It's not all the time that the kids are here. And it's my birthday - do I want to spend my birthday doing work at the property or spend it with family watching a movie? The property will wait, yet again.

J books the theatre room for three o'clock to six. I drop by at my parent's house for a while - my sister is there and I promised I would bring over some money I owe her. I visit with my parents for a while then come home. I call Jan to invite her and Fede to join us for the movie.

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At the theatre room, we watched one of the two DVDs that J gave me for my birthday. Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers. The other DVD she gave me was Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. What a surprise! How could she possible have known I would like a Babylon 5 DVD as a present? I'm being sarcastic, of course. I dropped her some pretty obvious hints last year that I would have liked one for Christmas, though I didn't get one. A few weeks ago she started asking me questions about the Babylon 5 series, and I figured she was planning to get me one for my birthday.

We watched Legend of the Rangers at the theatre room then another movie called Apocalypse. Then had pizza at home with Jan and Fede. J's sister and brother-in-law came to pick up their children; they joined us for pizza.

After everyone finally left, we realized we had a full house all weekend. J's brother had been here with his family; her sister with her family. My sister, my friends Jan and Fede. I joked about having a revolving door weekend - when someone left, some one else arrived.

I didn't get all the business done that I still need to get done, but I have no complaints about that. All in all it was a wonderful way to spend a Thanksgiving weekend and a wonderful way to spend my birthday. Goodbye forty two, hello forty three. I am looking forward to the next forty three years of my life.

A Thanksgiving Weekend - Part II, Sunday

A thought to start the day - how does a two year old make a difference in the world? She discovers that when she pushes a button then her world becomes brighter, and when she pushes it again her world becomes darker. And so she learns that everytime she pushes that button she changes the world around her, and so she does so repeatedly. Eventually an adult will tell her to stop playing with the light switch.

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Lunch at my parent's house. I learned something I never knew when my sister asked my mom how they chose my name. My mom wanted to name me Myron, after her brother. I met my uncle Myron once, when I travelled to Poland. He's very creative - he was building a model of the Mayflower when I visited him.

My dad wanted the name Orest because he saw the name Oris on a wristwatch that he gave my mom, and he liked the name. My mom still has that wristwatch. She showed it to me and sure enough, there in tiny letters I saw the name Oris. So I was named after a wristwatch! J says that it's no wonder that I am so structured with my schedules.

Wait a minute, I do the math here and realize - that wristwatch that my dad gave my mom would be over fourty years old!

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J reminds me that we had promised the kids to take them swimming. She says she doesn't like to promise them we'll do something and then not do it. I agree. We're on a tight schedule but take them to the pool anyways. I say that I won't go into the pool today, but J says that an adult should be in the pool to watch over the kids. Okay, I go into the pool. The kids splash around and have fun, and I splash around and have fun with them.

A Thanksgiving Weekend - Part I, Saturday

8:06am It's a day to sleep in today, for which I am grateful, as these days are rare. My throat feels a little sore and I wonder if I'm coming down with something.

9:10am Back from my Mile. Did a lasagna Mile today - one lap jog, one lap walk, one lap jog, one lap walk. Could tell on my first lap I wasn't in good form today. I got a late start. At eight, it was already full bright and muggy and people were up and about. Now when did I become the kind of person who thinks that dong my Mile at eight on a Saturday was a late start?

6:44pm J and I had some errands to run at Best Buy so we brought our baby niece with us. J had her things to get and I had mine so she went off to look for her stuff and I brought my niece with me to look for my stuff. So I'm walking along one of the aisles with her and there's a couple with a young boy walking towards us. The boy looked about the same age as my niece and was about the same size. As they walked past us, I watched to see how the two kids would react to each other. I saw the boy stop when he walked past my niece, he turned and looked at her. He was checking her out! I looked at his parents and they laughed and I laughed. "He must like her dress," I said. She did look pretty in her red dress (it's the one J and I gave her last Christmas). Only two and she's already turning heads. That's my niece.

A Thanksgiving Weekend - Prologue

This is the beginning of the Thanksgiving Weekend. J's brother has arrived, dropped off the kids and gone out with friends who are taking him to celebrate his birthday. I was being a bit antisocial, hiding out in the basement, feeding a mild computer addiction (damn it, why won't Cinelera import my video properly ?!?), but I finally shook that off and came upstairs. My baby niece speaks - she can say "Uncle!". That is sweet.

Later I hear her say "Daddy" and "Chandler". Well, I'm glad that "Uncle" is part of her vocabulary now.

J entertains the children with her new laptop.

I doze off in the armnchair, to wake up when I hear my baby niece calling, "Uncle, wake up!" This is my niece - I held her when she was five days old. I held her when she was a few months old and was crying, I held her and sang to her until she stopped crying. Now she's two and she recognizes me as her uncle, and she can tell when someone is sleeping and she knows how to say "Uncle, wake up!". The marvels of life.

LifeDrive kaput

Got a message from the Best Buy service centre where I sent in my LifeDrive about three weeks ago. It won't turn on (like, duh, that's why I sent it in). They want to replace the mainboard. The cost will be $470 and it's not covered under warranty. Sheesh - is it worth it? Well, that depends. I had some documents on its microdrive that I hadn't synced with my desktop computer, so if fixing it means I'll be able to access those documents then maybe I can justify the cost. Instead of looking at it as the cost of repairs, I could look at it as the value I place on the intellectual property I have on that device.

If they replace the mainboard, will the files on the microdrive remain intact? I asked.

No. When they replace the board they need to perform a factory reset which will reformat the drive.

In that case I might as well spend my money on a new PDA. Too bad. I had the thing for less than two years (see My palm pilot died).