WOMAN: I’m registered for the Honours Psychology program, and for the foreign language requirement, I’d like to take Latin, but it’s offered at the same time as the first year Honours Psychology course. MAN: You could take French instead.

WOMAN: But I took French in high school. Every single year.

MAN: Well, you could take the first year General Psychology course, and then just switch to the Honours courses in your second year. That way you could take Latin.

WOMAN: The first year Honours Psychology course isn’t a prerequisite? For me?

MAN: Not really. We have so many students wanting first year Psychology, we just created two sections. And it makes sense to put all the Honours students in the one section and the General students in the other. You’re already accepted into the Honours program, so there’s no problem just registering for the Honours courses in your second year. WOMAN: Okay, thank you.

WOMAN: I was talking to a friend about what you advised, and she actually did that. But she said that once she was in second year, she never got anything higher than an A minus. Her professors thought she was just a General student trying to step up to the Honours level. Even though, like me, she was an A plus student all through high school.

MAN: I’m sorry to hear that. Many students’ grades go down once they’re in university. Perhaps your friends’ high school teachers graded easy. I really don’t think our professors would be so prejudiced. I’m sure they grade assignments fairly.

WOMAN: I hope you’re right. Even so, I’d like to be considered an Honours student from the beginning. She also said that by second year, everyone’s formed their groups. So she felt like an outsider in the Honours program for the rest of her degree.

MAN: I see. Well, there might be another solution. If you took a language course at the other university, you might get credit for it here. I’d have to look into that. In the meantime, why don’t you see if they offer a Latin course, and bring back the course outline, in case the decision here is made on a case by case basis

WOMAN: Okay, I’ll do that.

MAN: Hello, I have good news—we give transfer credit for all language courses at the other university. Even English.

WOMAN: Oh, that is good news. They don’t have Latin, but they do offer Chinese, which I’d like to take. And it doesn’t conflict with any other of my first year courses.

MAN: Not even the Honours Psych?

WOMAN: No!

MAN: Then you’re all set!

WOMAN: Yes!

WOMAN: Hi! I’m waiting for the number #87 bus that goes by Main Street. Do you know if this is the right stop?

MAN: Yes, it is the right stop, but apparently we both just missed the bus! I’m just checking the transit schedule on my phone and it came by five minutes ago, even though it says it should be here right now. I guess it came early. The next one comes in half an hour.

WOMAN: Oh, darn. I’m going to be late to my business meeting. I would have driven to work today, but my car got a flat tire last night. I think I drove over a nail or something.

MAN: That’s too bad. Is your car the red Honda parked on the side of Wordsworth Avenue?

WOMAN: Yes, it is!

MAN: We’re neighbours then! I noticed a red Honda with a flat tire outside my house this morning.

WOMAN: I live up the street on the next block, but the tire rim was scraping on the ground and I didn’t want to damage it. Is it okay if I park it in front of your house until I get it fixed?

MAN: Leave it as long as you like! Did you move here recently? I don’t think I’ve seen you before

WOMAN: One month exactly today! I used to live downtown, but I prefer it out here, where there’s more nature

. MAN: I like living out here as well. The only real drawback is that commuting to the city takes a lot longer.

WOMAN: It would be okay, if only transit was reliable! I’m really late. Maybe I should just take a cab. Are you going to Main Street as well? Did you want to split a cab there?

MAN: That would be great, actually. I’m meeting a friend for lunch and I don’t want to keep him waiting.

WOMAN: That works out perfectly then. I’ll just call a cab now!

WOMAN: Hi there, I saw that the Green Butler company won the award for best catering on bestweddings.com, so I thought I’d drop by. My family and I are planning my sister’s wedding for July 9th.

MAN: We can certainly cater your event! We provide a comprehensive range of wedding services from location rentals to floral arrangements, and custom menu choices.

WOMAN: Well, I’m actually a florist myself, so we won’t need flowers, thanks! And my sister has already picked Clearwater Park as her location, so that’s covered too. But everything else we will need.

MAN: Excellent. How many people will be coming to your event?

WOMAN: We’ve invited seventy, and so far fifty have confirmed. Could I let you know the exact number by the end of next week?

MAN: Oh, no rush! As long as we know a week in advance to the actual day of the event, that’ll be fine . . . Now, what sort of meal service would you prefer? We offer full multi-course dinners, buffet-style food, or appetizers on platters

. WOMAN: I think buffet-style would be best. It will be outdoors in the park, and we don’t want to have to set up too many tables or chairs

. MAN: Great! We have four basic options for buffet menus. One is vegetarian, one is seafood, one is meat, and one is continental, which is basically a mix of the other three. Of course, we can modify them if needed

. WOMAN: Sophia and her fiancé are both vegetarian, but the rest of our families are not, so I think the continental menu would work best.

MAN: Sounds good! Would you like to book this today? We take a 25% deposit at the time of booking, and the rest of the payment no less than ten days before the event. If you should need to cancel, the pre-payments and deposits are forfeited.

WOMAN: That all sounds great. Send us a quote with full pricing details laid out, and we’ll get back to you in a few days.

Two hikers lost on Mount Gibson for the past three days were finally found and rescued today. Ron and Sally Jackson left their home in Calgary, Alberta last Saturday and drove north to Mount Gibson. The couple had planned to spend the afternoon hiking the mountain trails and carried a small backpack containing only sandwiches and water. An hour into their hike, they decided to leave the designated trail and soon became lost in the dense forest. Fortunately, a local resident noticed that their car had been parked at the base of the mountain for a few days. He notified the police, and a Search and Rescue helicopter was sent to look for the pair.

When asked how they had managed to survive, Sally Jackson, who was uninjured but very dehydrated, answered, “We ate berries and drank water from the creek.” Search and Rescue official Frank Smith said, “People should always carry extra food, water, and clothing when hiking, and they should also inform someone as to where they plan to hike and approximately when they expect to return.”

Grateful for his rescue, Ron Jackson said, “We wouldn’t be alive today without the help of the man who reported our car to the police and the experienced Rescue Crew that found us. And next time, we’ll stick to the marked trails!”

Back in the 1980’s, Roger Wang lived in Surrey, British Columbia and commuted to work in Vancouver. The journey took him forty minutes. Over the last thirty years, city planners have been designing and investing in road improvements and transit systems. Now, thirty years later, Roger’s son lives in Surrey and commutes to Vancouver just as his father did. The journey by car takes close to an hour. Despite the changes, traffic congestion has not improved.

City planners across Canada have been unsuccessfully fighting commuter congestion for decades. Despite wider freeways, computerized management systems and more transportation corridors, most cities are worse off than they were three decades ago. Experience has shown that building more roads simply leads to more traffic. Moreover, most Canadian cities cover a huge area and demand a lot of roads. The cost of developing such an infrastructure in the low density suburbs of our cities is immense. What can we do to defeat traffic congestion once and for all? The short answer is that we need to get people out of their cars. City planning policies need to consider alternatives to roads. As long as most commuters travel alone in a car, traffic congestion will remain a problem

. Change will not be easy. Opposition to changes in city planning policies are overwhelming. In Vancouver, closing down a single lane of a bridge for a bicycle lane met with furious opposition from motorists. Proposals for a gasoline tax to raise funds for public transportation also met with protest from motorists. Curiously, the one form of commuter infrastructure investment that meets with general approval is more road bridges and wider roads—precisely the policies that have consistently failed over the last few decades

. In short, we have a society that seems determined to persist with failed policies. There are four reasons why this might be the case. First, for most commuters, private vehicles are usually faster than public transportation. Second, there is the problem of getting to the workplace from the train station which may involve an additional ten-minute walk. Third, fatigue also discourages utilization of our public networks. Few people wish to start and end their day with an hour of standing in cramped conditions. Fourth, grocery shopping or other errands after work might be difficult

. It seems that people will continue to rely on private vehicles until this mode of transportation proves less pleasant than the alternatives. City planners, however, continue to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a road infrastructure that makes the motorists’ method of commuting marginally more tolerable than the alternatives.