It is no secret what respect I have for the TTC – the Toronto Transit Commission. As blogged earlier, the TTC just keeps providing reason after reason for one to admire how persistent, illogical and cruel human obstinacy can really be.

In these tough economic times, the last thing one should have to worry about is getting to work – never mind not having any. Yet, the TTC honchos think the only way they continue their work is by passing the fare buck.

It’s swift, merciless, and packs pure brute force. You gotta respect that.

And all this as if the TTC isn’t already one of the most expensive transit services of its size and kind in North America.

Much is being made of the cold weather “alerts”, as they’re called here. These remind me of those almost-Orwellian efficiency ‘campaigns’ at government departments when suddenly saving a bunch of paper-clips becomes top priority just because a ‘green week’ is being celebrated — when it really should be standard practice.

But if braving Canadian winters (as blogged earlier) in a previous suburban neighbourhood seemed a little getting used to — as I was new to all this — surviving a recurring winter gives one plenty of fodder to ruminate over, if you’d excuse the terrible pun.

The operators are downright rude, the collectors outright insulting, the communication overtly condescending, the unions with absolute impunity, the bigwigs holding politicians and judges in their back pocket, and the behaviour plain and simple: We don’t need you, you need us for protection. Period. So move along.