My Glamorous Life

Elizabeth May

I write this from seat 55 on the Greyhound bus headed to Guelph from Toronto. If you travel a lot on Greyhound, you may know that seat 55 is the last and least desirable seat on the bus It is in the back row (the one that does not recline), right up against the wall. Unlike seats 53 and 54, which are in normal alignment with the rest of the rows, seat 55 is the middle seat and immediately next to the bathroom door. I am not really sure there is room for the bathroom door to open without seriously squashing me and my laptop.

I got home last night around 8:30 after seven days on the road, helped my daughter study for her science exam, watched an episode of Veronica Mars on DVD with her and housemate Jaymini (the whole house is addicted), repacked my suitcase, slept and left the house at 6:30 this morning for the train to Toronto. Stockwell Day was on the train this AM. He is the first Harper cabinet minister I’ve seen on a train. He got off in Belleville. (Watch for news of new counter-terrorism initiatives based in Bellville….)

The VIA train was delayed by freight problems and arrived more than an hour late. So instead of having an hour and fifteen minutes to connect with the Guelph-bound Greyhound bus, a good five minute drive away, I had ten minutes. Miraculously, I made it. Predictably, I am squashed up against the bathroom door.

Generally I travel low carbon, mass transit, but occasionally I get volunteers in different cities driving me around. Lots of Smart cars and hybrids among our members. I loved my “limo” in Vancouver last week. Christopher Ian Bennett, on federal Green Party Council and a very smart communications/marketing whiz, drove me in his wife’s company car. The company collects pet waste, so the little Smart car was adorned with a comic looking pooch and emblazoned with the company name: “Doody Duty.”

I always travel in style.