Now you TTC it, now you don't

Today was my first real experience commuting on the TTC, to a job interview up at Leslie and Sheppard. My roommates had never been that far, but guessed it would take about 45 minutes for me to get there. So, at 8 AM I merrily strolled out of my apartment to meet the streetcar on King, near Jameson, thinking I would be 15 minutes early for my interview. Right? Wrong.

The streetcar (when one finally stopped that wasn't full) took quite some time to get to St. Andrew station (little more than a half-hour). I hopped out there, figuring the subway would be faster. I was set on my way, zipping up the main streets in the south of Toronto, but right around the Bloor-Yonge station, the trains started taking longer between stops and the doors stayed open longer. Yes, I realize now the TTC maps aren't to any relative scale, so pooch. I had to transfer to the Sheppard line, and that train took an eternity to arrive. Luckily, my interview was right around the Leslie station, so I arrived - a half-hour late. My not-so-potential future employers couldn't figure how I could have taken an hour and a half to arrive, but somehow, that's what happened. On the way back, I was to meet someone at King and Yonge, and that took 45 minutes from Leslie to the King station, and I managed to catch a train right as I stepped into Leslie station. I'm not complaining about how long the TTC takes (I'm sure it goes as fast as possible), but I learned my lesson for the day: Sheppard and Leslie is far, far away.

And that's my story.