On days like these, alcohol is the best solution

After yesterday’s U14 implosion, today it was the turn of the U13s, at the abysmal time of 7am. The faced West Ottawa SC Red, coached by an odious individual, who spent the whole match screaming at his kids. He had a rasping screech, which went through the brain like nails on a chalkboard. The U13s weren’t at the races at all, and lost 7-3. Ottawacker Jr. played well, very well in fact, but his team was short-handed, missing its best player, and never really got going. But the only thing I can recall from this match is the opposition’s coach. It really was weird. His team was actually quite good – well, they had two outstanding strikers, who were streets ahead of anyone else I have seen in that league and age group – and he might well be a reasonable coach. But never, ever would I let Ottawacker Jr. go and play for his team. Even when they were losing, OISC were focused and not “down”. The West Ottawa team were miserable. Every mistake the defence made was a catastrophe. “Don’t let the ball bounce,” he’d scream in his irritating squeal. “Fo-cus, FO-CUS.” My God, I bet half of that team leave. It’s at times like this that you need to remember they are just kids… and you are nothing more than an U13 coach for a small club. Ottawacker Jr. is very lucky to be in the programme he is in.
 
After that, it was back home for breakfast. Ottawacker Jr.’s miserable day continued. He has been going out on bus rides, learning the city, and it is one of his great pleasures in life. Well, that came to a screeching stop today. OC Transpo has cancelled free rides for the U12s. Not just that, it has also increased fares to $4.05. Thankfully the drivers of the buses remain human beings – because they are not allowed to give change out. If you pay with a $5 bill – you get no change and your ticket costs $5 (not $4.05). He called me from the bus he was on and sounded almost close to tears (he never is actually close to tears, it is an exceptionally good ploy to elicit sympathy). He told me what had happened and said the driver had given him a day-pass for his $5, so he could carry on riding the buses until he had to come back for his goalie practice.
 
I don’t know if it was the early start I had had, or having been subjected to the West Ottawa coach’s rasping screams for an hour, but I was really pissed off by this. I mean, not enough to do anything about it, obviously – unless I work myself into a frenzy again writing about it. Seriously though, what sort of savings does OC Transpo think it will make by charging kids under 12 on its buses? (I have subsequently looed into it and found they reduced the free rides to the under 10s, so it is not as bad as I thought.) And, on whose backs are they trying to make these savings? There really are very few kids like Ottawacker Jr. who ride the buses for fun – so the only people this will affect is those who need to take the bus, i.e., the poorer segments of society. It is an absolutely insane policy. I already refused to pay $3.80 for a bus: there is no way on God’s earth I am going to pay $4.05. And what the frig is with the .05? Are they nuts? What sort of knobjockey thinks that adding $5 cents to a ticket is a good idea? I’ll tell you what sort of knobjockey. The sort of knobjockey that thinks people don’t carry around nickels and will only have a couple of “toonies” in their pockets… so they will pay with a $5 bill and not get any change, that’s the sort of OC Transpo knobjockey that does that. What a bunch of wankers. And what do you get in return for your $4.05/$5.00 ticket? A light rail service that finally reaches the airport from downtown… provided, of course, you don’t mind changing twice. Twice – you have to change twice and wait twice to get a train from downtown Ottawa to Ottawa airport. Frig them and the horses they rode in on. It’s at moments like this that I am tempted to run as a city councillor.
 
Anyway, there is always Liverpool to cheer me up. And today’s game was against perennial basement dwellers Manchester United (PBDMU) – so what could go wrong? Exactly. The day that keeps on giving. In fairness, it was a decent game and the PBDMU played very well, while we didn’t. I won’t say we were lucky to get away with a draw, but had the last-second opportunity fallen to a footballer and not Harry Maguire… Having said that, Virgil van Dijk also managed to head a ball that was three metres out straight at the goalkeeper, so we could have won. On reflection, a draw was probably a fair result. But don’t these tossers know I am on blood pressure medication? Seriously. What a day.