Last Bus Home (for Jonny Bones) - plus Hollywood Horrorshow does Carrie, and a Major Bus Improvement to Maple Ridge

There's a new kid in town: the R3 Lougheed Hwy to Haney Place. 

Understand: during the period where I was living in Vancouver and/ or Burnaby, very single time I went out to look after my Mom (or visit both my parents, before cancer took my Dad in 2009), out in Maple Ridge, I would take the 701 bus, which is already a pretty long transit ride. And every time, I had an extra half-hour detour added that dragged me through fucking Hammond, whose Mayor or whatever, I heard once, insisted that no routes run from Maple Ridge to Coquitlam without passing through their community, because, I guess, "fuck you." Took me an hour and a half to get there, one way -- some of this taking place before there was even a Skytrain line to Coquitlam, which meant it took even longer. 

I came to resent that detour very very very fucking much. 

The addition of a direct route that avoids the Hammond digression is very, very welcome. It beelines from Coquitlam (with a couple stops) straight through to Harris road, without weaving a perilous path through the backass of milltown, and spits you out right at Harris Road. I only discovered that the line existed heading out to see The Fog at the Hollywood Horrorshow last night. And not only did I get to the movie promptly, I was able to catch the same bus home, after the movie, because it actually runs at night. You have to be out on Lougheed Highway, opposite the Hollywood 3 Mall, by 11:50 to get that bus, if you want to be able to get a Skytrain ride back. Not sure who in the community managed to get the route installed but by DAMN it is a fine idea, especially now that I have cause to be going back there again.

The next Hollywood Horrorshow is DePalma's Carrie, June 27th. Jonny reported last night that he's going to keep doing Horrorshows until he can't anymore. If you haven't been to one, I wouldn't wait to July. 

Some notes:

1. Food options are dire if you are running late, so eat before you get to Harris Road, because otherwise, there is a Pizza Pizza or a McDonalds or some other pizza joint I dunno. EVERYTHING ELSE WILL BE CLOSED. The McDonald's served me an edible but still supremely disappointing Quarter Pounder:

Next month's poster:

The short subject for the evening was a Scooby Doo cartoon, but I was out in the lobby. When we got in, the blu-ray that we were watching defaulted to having the subtitles ON, and we all whooped and cheered to watch the film being restarted without them.

The image was, admittedly, a bit on the grainy side, but when this is a film you've seen 20 or more times on VHS, that is, truly, value-added.

Jonny gave a short welcome, got huge loving cheers from the (relatively full?) house, and hung out in the lobby afterwards. He says he'll do this for as long as he can...

I am out of practice catching the last bus at night. Brings me back to the bad old days, when I actually lived in Maple Ridge. I don't go back there much these days, but for Jonny I'll make an exception. I puttered with song ideas about catching the "Last Bus Home (for Jonny Bones)," but I dunno if I'll make it happen. 

Kinda reminds me of a Bone Daddies cover:

So anyhow, there I am on the side of the road. Will the 11:55 R3 come on schedule or will I be racing to try to get a 701? The 701 leaves a bit later but you don't get into the city until after the last Skytrain is run, if you catch that. I confess to having felt a little anxious!

Shot some video of the busride. The shadows were quite compelling.

I ended up spending most of the commute talking to a girl who'd gotten kicked out of her rehab program and had her meds taken away from her, who was trying desperately to make it back to Alberta, trying to make it to the Greyhound, which they said had a bus they could catch, which was leaving in the morning. I hope they got on it! Her boyfriend, I guess, had an enormous cart of their belongings. I didn't take photos but we talked. They were having a pretty rough go of things. I also told them a bit about Jonny. "It's an intense night all-round." 

Anyhow, I made it back.  

And the kitten was very glad to see me (wife is away): 

I haven't seen Carrie in awhile. Guess I'll go. Oh, and June 20th, there's a benefit for Jonny at the Rickshaw. He won't be  singing, but he'll be playing.  

Gofundme here.