I don’t use this site anymore, might as well turn it into a transit bitch line. Bus just blew past my stop with a dozen people waiting. It was pretty full, but 20 people routinely get off two stops down the street. Next bus in 20 mins. It’s like they WANT us to abandon transit.

Just FYI: the LRT still is not functioning properly, even if the mayor is much, much more concerned with a tiny strip of road/culture war and hoping everyone else will follow suit. Here’s Tunneys this morning - people jammed on a stubby half-train, at least 60 left behind.

When you are desperate for some adult culture without sparking an international art damaging incident.

Child aboard TGV: “I think I like these trains better than the Ottawa train because they work a lot better.” They sure do, pal.

Hey, cool: my favourite politics podcast, where they are both very smart and foul of mouth, unpacked my profile from last weekend.

ICYMI this weekend, Shannon Proudfoot's profile: Katie Telford, long-serving chief of staff, is the last woman standing in Justin Trudeau’s inner circle #cdnpoli tgam.ca/3LnC736

In a rare in-depth interview, the (at the time) Conservative leadership frontrunner talked to Shannon Proudfoot. 'The Ringleader' was published in Maclean’s Magazine and is the #NMA23 Gold-winning Profile! Read it here: buff.ly/3X1hxdn

#NMAReadingList

“A government accumulating scar tissue as it ages is inevitable. What’s confounding about this crew is how many of their wounds are self-inflicted and caused by the same basic problem: They can only see themselves in a mirror, never through a window.” theglobeandmail.com/politics/artic…

I’ve been working on this story for much of the summer, trying to figure out Katie Telford and her dynamic with Justin Trudeau. As their party staggers, the very comfort and constancy they value in each other might not be serving them anymore. theglobeandmail.com/politics/artic…

A beautiful story about late-summer sauceapoolaza from Shannon Proudfoot theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-…

Transit gaslighting. The second half of this cancels out the first. 'Director of Transit Operations Troy Charter told the Transit Commission that the current service levels are meeting ridership demands, but there are times when passengers are being left at the stations.'

The detail here is making my feature-writer heart sing. This whole excerpt is a fascinating first taste of this book.

Does he have any thoughts about the trains.

Everything’s going great here in our G7 capital!

Ottawa has captured some of that exciting big-city Tokyo energy! The half-length trains are now so crowded that people have to physically shove to get on and off. Maybe someone could do a podcast about cracking skulls until that gets fixed?

I grew up in the Sault, envying the Italian food culture around me. A few weeks ago, I finally got to learn some of it thanks to my friend Maria's garage tomato factory. Here's a love letter to my hometown and an amazing teacher turned friend. theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-…