My Daughter’s Busses…

Malia probably uses the bus more than we do.  She works.  Or worked, to be more accurate.  And she has friends.  Who like to go out for a burger after work.  Not always after her work but she meets them after their work.

In the mornings she catches the first bus, a 227, at 556am.  It stops for her and then has no more requests for stops until she rings the bell at her destination.  There is no-one else up and about at that time of morning wanting to ride a bus.

Although the bus is reliable it doesn’t always stick to its 556am time.  Well, with no other stops or traffic at that hour of the morning how can a schedule be adhered to with any kind  of accuracy? Malia says sometimes it comes at 552am or 554am.  She’s always there because she doesn’t want to miss the first bus since she is responsible and is supposed to be at work at 6am.  The driver doesn’t wait when early, just like the driver won’t open the doors if they are already closed in preparation for pulling away from the stop.  Sometimes if the driver sees you running for the bus he or she may decide to close the doors, just because!  A controlling breed the bus driver.  My daughter and husband and I make a point of saying,

“Thank you!”

whenever we get off, alight, even though the door isn’t always at the driver’s end, we shout it out…just in case we may be running to catch the bus one day when he or she is at the wheel.

Malia will text me when she’s not on the dawn bus.   There’s always something going on.  Her favourite  text is about smells but they can be about a myriad of things that happen on her bus.  For starters, she generally seems to sit beside, behind or in front of someone with BO or worse, and then she’ll notice,

A man who sings all the way home

A creeper woman taking photos with her iPhone of another woman whom she isn’t with

A disgruntled person when the bus sallies forth past a stop that had been requested by a bell

Several people with the exact same shoes on

A girl taking off her jacket while talking on her phone to reveal multiple tattoos and outrageously hairy armpits

A toddler in his stroller methodically tipping his milk all over the bus floor and people’s shoes while his mother texts

A man with an oversized and heavy package trying to squeeze on the bus at rush hour

Someone eating chips (salted and vinegared French fries!)

Someone else eating crisps (very crunchy chips)

The list could go on!!

She is getting herself immersed into the English public transport culture.

She tells me she misses the familiarity and predictability of her own car!

Her powers of observation are increasing.

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