4136

Today's bus was #4136 - much quieter and smoother than yesterday - didn't look any newer, just seemed more mechanically sound. When I got on, the driver commented that I was wearing a little jacket today. Very observant fellow. He's the one who saw my screen frames and said, "I see someone's doing silk screening." The frames were just the plain wood, no mesh, no tape, and yet as I got on the bus he observed just enough to recognize what they were. He used to do it when he lived in LA - a screen printing pirate of sorts. Said they would set up and print concert t-shirts and make a bundle. It was knock-off stuff and not exactly legitimate - well not legitimate at all, really. He said how creative they had to be to get it to work in a house or motel room. Said they could take it down quick - almost sounded like a meth lab, but without the horrific consequences. Would be interesting to trace his route from pirate printer in LA to bus driver in Phoenix - bet there are some interesting details in that map.

A guy got on who has been an off-and-on rider - heard him tell the driver he'd been fighting the flu bug for a couple of weeks and just couldn't shake it. Made me think about all the illness potential that a bus could harbor. Everyone grabs the silver poles to steady themselves as the bus rocks and rolls during starts and stops. Potential there for a virtual bacterial playground. Just another good reason to wash the hands before eating. Sneezing and coughing stuff is inevitable in a crowd - just hope people have the good sense to cover up those occasional body explosions.

The flu guy was saying his father goes to Mexico and buys him bottles of penicillin. Said when he feels bad, he pops a few penicillin and makes it through the day. Not knowing the fellow, hard to say if this is fact or fiction. If fact, wonder if he realizes the potential harm by indulging in whimsical use of antibiotics? He is well-spoken and appears bright and intelligent - of course, this country is full of those kind of people and look who got elected president - enough, I swore I would not get political in this blog. Anyway, if he's really telling the truth, he could be in a serious sweat if a time comes that he really needs antibiotic therapy. Oh well, keeping my opinions to myself.

That's the nice thing about a blog. You can just opine for pages - not really keeping thoughts close, but not indulging in those unpleasant in-your-face confrontations, either. All the world can be an editorial writer.