u/ChuckDalrymple

Not much of an angry rant here. I just gotta say that what's happening with the bike lane removals is just sad... Honestly sad. It genuinely puts me in a bad mood thinking about it. I don't even live in Toronto, but I avidly bike in the city when visiting my partner and friends. I remember back when I started biking in the high school in the late 2000s, bike lanes like this were a pipe dream. To see them being taken away genuinely stings.

Every other major city in the world is moving away from cars and towards public transit cycling and modern urban planning. Even some of the most Red, Republican cities in the US. Yet Toronto, which is so progressive in so many ways, refuses to budge when it comes to giving up their cars and moving forward as a city. Some may say that the alternatives such as public transit is shit... Well we need to start somewhere. The solutions are so fucking obvious, yet the city and GTA as a whole has continually elected and supported politicians and parties with backwards, outdated ideas and beliefs (Mike Harris, the Ford's, Tory, likely Brad Bradford).

The NIMBYism, outdated thinking, car culture and absolute resistance to ANY sort of tax increase to pay for services amongst the people in this city is utterly baffling and will be the death of the city and the wider GTA. Traffic gets exponentially worse year after year and there are little to no alternatives or solutions in sight.

I am genuinely terrified to see the state of this city and the wider GTA as a whole in the years to come.

I have lived in in the 905 for the vast majority of my life and thus have not really seen much visible homelessness in my life. I have of course been to Toronto many times over the years and have seen homeless people but never really experienced the odor until recently. What I experienced last night was truly shocking. Whilst on a streetcar omw downtown, a homeless person entered and sat down near the back. The whole streetcar began to STINK. The smell was so overwhelming that all the passengers moved up to the front, leaving the back empty. A few held there nose and one lady covered her face with a shopping bag. It was so powerful that it was actually burning my eyes. There was another instance where I was walking through the PATH and a homeless lady caused similar distress. As I walked by, the smell lingered for a good 500 meters. There were also several flies literally following her. I was shocked.

I am not somebody who looks down on homeless people and I genuinely want to see the issue eradicated or reduced as much as possible, but these two experiences really opened my eyes to how bad the issue can be. I can totally understand why some people become bitter to or resent some homeless people. My girlfriend commutes daily on the TTC and says that this is a regular occurrence. If I had to deal with that on a daily basis, I'd go insane.

So sick of people complaining about how bad the quality is at Timmies. So often I hear about how bad the coffee is, how it's not like it used to be, how the orders get fucked up etc etc

It's very simple. If you don't like the quality, stop fucking going.

I swear people expect gourmet meals and first class coffee when they go here. It's cheap fast food. No its not going to be "freshly baked/cooked". Yes, sometimes your order will be fucked up (like most fast food places). Not a big deal.

Yet everyday, I see tim Hortons restaurants, especially drive thrus, full to the brim with customers.

I've had Tim Hortons before and most things taste like dog shit except for their apple fritters IMO. Do you know what I've done over the past several years? I just buy the Apple fritter or don't buy at all and go elsewhere for food at restaurants that meet my standard of quality. For some people though, this is too much.

There's literally dozens of other coffee shops and chains all around the city open at various hours during the day. Don't like it, take your business elsewhere.

Why the fuck are so many portions of this trail closed? Genuinely so fucking frustrating. It's been the same bullshit since 2024. I go on a bike ride only to find out that a new portion is closed every other fucking week it feels like. Not only that, but the condition of the concrete is fucking terrible. Just today I discovered that they closed off the portion at Wentworth street. How the fuck does this garbage city expect people to enjoy the outdoors when so much of it is closed off?

This is a bit of a rant, but It amazes me how common this mindset is.

To give a bit of context, I'm someone who lives in the suburbs and drives a lot (I have an 80 kilometers one way commute). While I love driving, I also love cycling as well. I try to bike as much as I can and fully support cycling infrastructure, public transit, walkable streets etc. I think North American streets generally speaking, are horribly designed. I drive, bike, take transit and walk so I can give different perspectives.

It is honestly so laughable to me when people talk shit about cyclists. cars are by far the most dangerous mode of transportation out there. Every single day they kill, maim and destroy human lives and infrastructure due to the careless and selfish actions of those behind the wheel. For some reason, this gets glossed over by many. So many people are quick to shit on all cyclists when one runs a red light or rides on the sidewalk. Here's some examples I see literally on a daily basis of drivers breaking the rules

-Texting and driving -Speeding -Disobey no right turn on red -Disobey stop signs -Driving the wrong way down one way street -Parking illegally -Parking on the sidewalk -Loud mufflers -Driving in bus lanes -Not stopping before turning right on red -not yielding to pedestrian -blocking the intersection

Let's not forget about the absolute havoc and carnage that careless drivers cause in terms of property and physical damage. I work in insurance claims and I literally see this stuff Every. Single. Day. Careless drivers who destroy lives, destroy property and cause unbelievable amounts of stress to innocent drivers and pedestrians.

Unfortunately, driving is so normalized that these incidents of rule breaking or careless driving get brushed under the rug. If you dare point out the many instances of drivers breaking the rules, it's all sorts of excuses. My favorite one is "They did hit anybody so its fine". When a collision happens, it's seen as a normal inevitable part of driving instead of an incident caused by carelessness. I now refuse to use the term "accident" in most cases.

I've never disliked a municipal politician as much as I do this guy. Even if you don't know much about the guy and his history/voting record, just looking at him gives you the creeps. Just looks like the epitome of a slimy, lying politician. Everytime I see one of his posts on Facebook I physically cringe.

-Panhandlers outside of grocery stores and restaurants who almost trap you into asking for money

-panhandlers off highway off ramps and intersections

-Random beggars choosing to come up to me out of all people to ask for money

-People using bullshit made up stories about their kids, getting back home, debit card not working etc to ask for money

-Charity muggers (chuggers) who approach you by starting a friendly conversation then quickly pivot to aggressively asking for donations

-People on the subway asking if I want to buy cookies (yes, this happened to me a few times lol)

I can go on and on. It seems like everytime I visit the city especially downtown, I'm being asked for money or to sign up for something.

These days, anytime somebody approaches me in public my guard goes up quickly. I don't money to anybody.

Is it the best pizza? No. But Is it total dog shit like you see so many people claim online? Also no.

Pizza Pizza is fast, convenient and reliable. I can order a pizza at almost all times of the day and night and they have a convenient app to use. The pizza isn't the best after its been sitting for a while, but it's absolutely delicious while fresh.

Not to mention that they often have different promos and sales year-round, especially those associated with the Toronto sports teams.

Also, their creamy garlic dipping sauce. Nuff said.

I'm sick of it! Stop shitting on Pizza Pizza!

Like most of y'all, I'm frugal af. However, I'm all for enjoying your life as well. Life isn't just about investing and saving money.

I eat out with my girlfriend and get takeout quite a bit. I don't really spend much on other material things and my hobbies don't cost me money. I also live at home so I choose to indulge in food every so often. I love trying new restaurants around the GTA and buying premium cuts of meat to BBQ.

Last year, I randomly dumped roughly 15% of my portfolio into Micron. As a result, it helped push my portfolio to well above $300,000 (along with Google).

This is life changing money for me and I'm forever grateful.

Not all, but most.

I don't want to hear excuses of how I they're just trying to do a job. Imo, it doesn't excuse their piss poor behaviour and entitlement. Every single day, I encounter a delivery jackass doing some sort of fuckery.

-They park wherever they feel like. Handicap spot, bike lane, middle of the road, sidewalk etc instead of parking properly and fucking walking 1-2 minutes to their destination. I assure you that 2 minutes of walking isn't going to ruin their day.

-The atrocious driving. These drivers are utterly clueless half of the time. Either they don't know where they're going, constantly braking, driving way over the speed limit, stopping in the middle of the street instead of pulling over to a side street and countless other illegal maneuvers. Oh, and don't forget the fucking U TURNS. It's ALWAYS a u turn with one of these people. They literally drive like they're the only ones on the road.

-The fucking E scooters. These things are always clogging up sidewalks. There's many places downtown where you can't even walk properly because they're taking up the whole sidewalk. Not only that, but they ride them on the sidewalks constantly. They also DO NOT BELONG in bike lanes. Period. It is so fucking annoying riding a bike near these people as they constantly slow down, speed up, take sudden maneuvers without looking and endangering everybody.

-The rudeness. I hate to say it, but it's honestly no wonder why a lot these drivers cannot get actual jobs. They have no class, etiquette or common sense. They're rude to store employees, cut in line, have no patience, no decorum, no common sense. If they behaved this way to their coworkers or customers in an actual workplace, they'd be fired instantly.

-Multi apping. The amount of times that I've received cold food or had to wait hours for a delivery because drivers are delivering with other apps... Nothing like seeing your driver go in a completely different direction from your address then end up delivering your food cold 2 hours later.

I bought my Ultra in March of 2023. I intend to keep it until at least 2028.