Today was the day for Oliver and I to take our public transit adventures to the next level: we were going to transfer.

According to the official map and to my derivative of it, at 9:55 a.m. the East Royalty — Kensington Rd. bus should have ambled by the corner of Prince and Richmond (map) before turning right onto Sydney to loop back to the Confederation Centre of the Arts where we could catch the 10:00 a.m. Winsloe — University Avenue bus out to the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market. We were out on the corner at 9:40 a.m. just to be sure. The bus never came.

Whether this was because the bus drove by early, because the schedule or route has changed, or because I misunderstood the route map (although it’s hard to interpret it any other way), I’m not sure. But we had to react quickly, running over to the Atlantic Technology Centre to catch the Winsloe bus on its way out of town.

We only made it as far as the corner of Kent and University (map) before the bus came along. Fortunately the kindly bus driver stopped for us (although we did get a kindly “you know this isn’t an official stop” dressing down).

We got to the Atlantic Superstore at about 10:15 a.m. and walked over to the market. As with our first trip by bus to the market, we were the only ones making the trip, which makes me think that either all the pro-transit hippies live out in Breadalbane and have to drive, or that their commitment to transit extends only providing it for others. In any case, the parking lot was as chock full o’cars as it usually is. Score one for Big Oil.

The market was unusually pleasant today perhaps because I consumed both the berry-mint iced tea blend on offer from Karin LaRonde and an freak moccacinno from Caledonia House (freak only because coffee buzzes me all the way to next week).

When time came to leave I realized that there was still an hour to go before the next bus south, so Oliver and I consulted and decided to walk home along the Confederation Trail instead of taking the bus.

This proved to be a very pleasant walk, taking us through the Experimental Farm, past the 1911 Jail, through Joe Ghiz Park and out to Grafton Street near Holland College.

Passing along the trail between Longworth Ave. and Euston Street, we overheard two neighbours talking to each other about the weather and other neighbourly things. Just as they were about to go their separate ways, one neighbour told the other to hang on a second, and he ducked up to the porch and pulled out a giant — giant! — beet.

“That’s some big beet,” said the beet-less neighbour in awe, “where’d you get it.”

“From a guy at work,” replied the beet-holding neighbour.

“Gonna be some tough,” came the response.

“Yah, some tough.”

The weather was fantastic — sunny and just a hint short of brisk — and we made good time: we were back home before 12 noon. Next week we’ll try the transfer again.