So Many Things: Wednesday

There are so many things from this morning I’m putting them down now.

1. I pushed the envelope of home departure. I had resigned myself to missing the early bus, but left home anyway to maybe try to meet it at the later more downstream stop. Instead happily I caught it at my usual stop.

2. I struggled to pull the bike rack down so I had break routine and lean the bike against the bus. As I was doing that the driver lowered the hydraulics nearly squishing the bike as it leaned. I rescued it in time.

3. As I boarded the lowered bus I knocked my head on the side mirror. It was ok though because I was wearing the helmet that I didn’t have time to take off because I had arrived at the stop to late.

4. The head knocking was similar in effect to putting a quarter in the now very chatty driver. Stories he told me: he once knocked a passenger off a snowbank with his mirror, his non-swearing dad once knocked his head and responded, “gracious that’s hard”, he talked about miles per gallon and two car families and why don’t people ride the bus more (I appreciated this topic the most, of course). Then another passenger boarded and they enjoyed some rather paranoid discussion about mystery illnesses and African immigrants. I’ll let the reader draw the lines between those things. I chose not to draw the line between lack of bus ridership and their discussion.

5. At the downtown transfer 15 people boarded. By the time I got off there were close to 20 people on the bus. I’ve never been on a bus that full. People were talking; there was a very nice energy there.

6. The dread locked, bike riding bus passenger from June 9 rode today. I confirmed with the driver that this was the first time she’d had a bus with two bikes on it. I mentioned that it was going to be the first time I’d have to remove a bike with another aboard. The actual unloading was uneventful.