There we were, sitting on the bus. I had just boarded a few minutes earlier, about 5 stops back. Now we were at the last stop before heading down the hill toward the West Seattle bridge. But not yet, not until we started moving away from the bus stop. Then, we felt a bump. Hmmm... not a pothole. Because we weren't moving! Then, we realized - someone had rear-ended the bus. For us, it hardly felt like anything.
The driver walked around back to take a look. When she returned she said she'd have to fill out paperwork and we were welcome to wait or to get off and find alternatives. So, I figured I'd walk back to the previous stop and wait about 15-20 minutes for the next bus.
WOW! It had been a small car, a Toyota Corolla. They must have been going at or above the speed limit (30) and hitting the bus was like hitting a brick wall. Or, maybe like hitting a bus. The front section of the car had crumpled in, just like it's supposed to. WAY IN! But I guess it did the job. The driver and passenger both looked like they were okay and were actually apologizing to us as we walked by. For disrupting our commute. I felt so sorry for them. What a way to start THEIR commute. Their day. Their Thursday.
You know, some will say there's no excuse. That's probably true. But the sun was shining brightly that morning. I know I've come awfully close to running into things before. It just takes a couple seconds worth of distraction. Or being blinded by sun while looking for your shades. Or any number of things.
But I was relieved that they were seemingly physically okay, walking around and talking, etc. They were younger (20's?) so hopefully will recover from any physical or mental trauma that may arise from such an experience. I've been in a fender bender before but nothing like that. For me, even a little accident / incident can mess me up for awhile.
Ultimately, the next bus came as expected and I was a little late for work. No big deal. But what a morning.
Showing posts with label commute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commute. Show all posts
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Fox Paw
1) Riding the bus this week, I was reading a book, only half aware of the world around me. So, it took a moment for this to register. What finally brought me out of the book and into the bus was a lady exclaiming, "Oh!"
Then it all came together. The bus was at a stop waiting for people to exit and enter. After passengers had exited the bus, a young lady stepped up and in. She saw a little white thing laying on the ground. It must have looked like a bus pass. As she explained to her friends a few seconds later, she thought somebody had lost it. Her reaction to seeing what she thought was a lost bus pass was to say, "Somebody must be blind."
Naturally, on this particular bus, on this particular day, there was a blind lady sitting at the front of the bus. That's who had the "Oh!" exclamation.
You know, it was an honest mistake. I believe the blind lady heard the young lady explaining what happened, though it was directed to her friends and not where it should have been. Of course, then I had thoughts of dad, wondering if he had similar things happen to him. Then I realized that, yes, of course... he did. We used to talk and joke about such situations. Some really had happened, some we imagined. Simply because it was funny.
Then, I started thinking about how dad would have reacted to this occasion, particularly later when we would have talked about it... I had to fight the giggles. I mean, how absurd. Maybe dad and I can laugh about it together one day.
2) Late in the evening I was walking up the sidewalk with a couple friends, all of us having just left a drinking establishment. One friend and I had been people-watching and as we walked outside she said something about catching up the the guy with the dreads. Meaning he had his hair in dreadlocks, of course, Rastafarian style.
But we'd had a couple of beverages and she was talking with her outside voice. Appropriate, no? The guy she was referring to was probably at least a block away. Except... we all suddenly realized that she was following ANOTHER guy with dreads. While using her outside voice. Hence, her voice dropped fully from outside voice to whisper as the whole thing sunk in. There was no trailing off. Her voice just suddenly was whispering. I'm chuckling just thinking about it!
It was kind of dark outside, see, and this guy had dark hair and, well, later it was super hilarious. Luckily he didn't seem bothered by us, even if he did think we were talking about him. But I'm sure he figured out we were harmless.
3) There was a 3rd event that I can't remember. If it comes to mind I'll add number 3, officially. Things sometimes happen in 3's anyway, right?
Then it all came together. The bus was at a stop waiting for people to exit and enter. After passengers had exited the bus, a young lady stepped up and in. She saw a little white thing laying on the ground. It must have looked like a bus pass. As she explained to her friends a few seconds later, she thought somebody had lost it. Her reaction to seeing what she thought was a lost bus pass was to say, "Somebody must be blind."
Naturally, on this particular bus, on this particular day, there was a blind lady sitting at the front of the bus. That's who had the "Oh!" exclamation.
You know, it was an honest mistake. I believe the blind lady heard the young lady explaining what happened, though it was directed to her friends and not where it should have been. Of course, then I had thoughts of dad, wondering if he had similar things happen to him. Then I realized that, yes, of course... he did. We used to talk and joke about such situations. Some really had happened, some we imagined. Simply because it was funny.
Then, I started thinking about how dad would have reacted to this occasion, particularly later when we would have talked about it... I had to fight the giggles. I mean, how absurd. Maybe dad and I can laugh about it together one day.
2) Late in the evening I was walking up the sidewalk with a couple friends, all of us having just left a drinking establishment. One friend and I had been people-watching and as we walked outside she said something about catching up the the guy with the dreads. Meaning he had his hair in dreadlocks, of course, Rastafarian style.
But we'd had a couple of beverages and she was talking with her outside voice. Appropriate, no? The guy she was referring to was probably at least a block away. Except... we all suddenly realized that she was following ANOTHER guy with dreads. While using her outside voice. Hence, her voice dropped fully from outside voice to whisper as the whole thing sunk in. There was no trailing off. Her voice just suddenly was whispering. I'm chuckling just thinking about it!
It was kind of dark outside, see, and this guy had dark hair and, well, later it was super hilarious. Luckily he didn't seem bothered by us, even if he did think we were talking about him. But I'm sure he figured out we were harmless.
3) There was a 3rd event that I can't remember. If it comes to mind I'll add number 3, officially. Things sometimes happen in 3's anyway, right?
Monday, January 28, 2008
Snow delay
Well, we had a couple inches of snow this morning. Actually, I guess outlying areas got up to 5 - 6". But, I'm house-sitting in town. So I assumed there would be no problem catching a bus to work. My bad. Metro, thanks for nothing. I waited at the stop for about a half hour. Since that particular route runs about every 15 minutes I should have seen 2 or 3 buses come by. Nope. Nada.
I was already in a stellar mood since the cat had peed on my freshly washed towel during the night. That's my fault, of course, for leaving a stack of towels sitting out, nicely folded and very tempting to the feline species. When I wash them again tonight I'll pack them away in my suitcase for the next time I swing by the homestead.
So, anyway, at 9:30 when I was supposed to be starting my shift at work, I gave up on the bus and started walking. I figured it was less boring than standing there, to say nothing of keeping me warm. I was getting cold standing around. I'd planned to catch a bus at the next stop, or the next one, whenever it came along. As it turned out, I walked the 25 blocks to work because I never, ever did see a bus heading TOWARD downtown. I saw several heading out in the wrong direction. In fact, a couple of them were just a block apart. Obviously there was some trouble getting out of the bus barn this morning.
I'm out of shape.
I was already in a stellar mood since the cat had peed on my freshly washed towel during the night. That's my fault, of course, for leaving a stack of towels sitting out, nicely folded and very tempting to the feline species. When I wash them again tonight I'll pack them away in my suitcase for the next time I swing by the homestead.
So, anyway, at 9:30 when I was supposed to be starting my shift at work, I gave up on the bus and started walking. I figured it was less boring than standing there, to say nothing of keeping me warm. I was getting cold standing around. I'd planned to catch a bus at the next stop, or the next one, whenever it came along. As it turned out, I walked the 25 blocks to work because I never, ever did see a bus heading TOWARD downtown. I saw several heading out in the wrong direction. In fact, a couple of them were just a block apart. Obviously there was some trouble getting out of the bus barn this morning.
I'm out of shape.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
You know how you're at the bus stop for awhile and finally the bus comes and you politely wait for the girl in front of you to step onto the bus and then you get on and, in this case, get your usual seat. (3rd forward-facing seat from the back on the left) Then you set your bag down on the seat next to you and take a deep breath and relax a little. Then you remember how your nose has been itching and you reach up to scratch it a little and rub and then you find that thing. You know, the thing that's probably been hangin there awhile cause it practically fell onto your finger and you don't have a tissue so you flick it under the seat in front of you. Discreetly. Maybe. And then your mind starts racing and you get paranoid and think, hmmm... that guy on the street back there was looking at me kinda funny. Wasn't he? I'm sure he was. I'm sure it's cause my nose had a, well, you know. And what about that one girl on the corner? I think she was lookin at me too. And it becomes such a thing and you think you'll never get over it. 6 minutes later you've completely forgotten about it. Or HAVE you?
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