#4142

Ahhhhh, back on the bus. Thanks to all who offered kind words during my recent flu siege. Hope that doesn't happen again for a long, long while.

An interesting morning on the 6am66. It was late today - not horribly late - maybe 8 minutes - but we're at the beginning of the route and with only a couple of stops in front of us, little opportunity for things to happen and build up bus delay. When it finally appeared on the horizon, Dave and I got our packs on, good passengers that we are, and moved forward, ready to board. The next thing we know, the bus shot past us, just barely stopping. He overshot the concrete pad and we trekked over the tree lawn to get down to the bus door. Now, I must preface that the sun no longer shines at 6am - dark of day prevails and no street light illuminates the stop. When we got on, it was a new driver who announced that he didn't see us, using a tone that implied it was our obligation to be visible. He carried on about waiting behind bushes and trees ... huh? There are no trees or bushes at our stop ... what the hell? Made me almost want to cough on him. Looks like I'll have to find my trusty flashing reflector and start putting it on my pack. At the very next stop, he repeated the same action and, again, blamed the rider for waiting behind the shrubs. While there are shrubs at that stop, I've never seen that guy lurking in them. He usually sits on the bench, in front, at the stop. Unless that guy had a serious need to bush-lurk today, I think the driver was too busy talking to a passenger and not paying attention. Today's image shows the 6am66 flashing past.

On top of the crazy pickups, the dilemma of the family occupying the BTA repeated itself. We were forced to false sit when we got on and then move to our favored locations after they left. Dave hopped first to his regular spot and it did my heart good to see he is as Monk-like about his seating as me. Comfort zones, it's all about comfort zones. Later, I was especially glad I moved up to the BTA since a series of people got on who reeked of cigarette smoke. Smelling strongly in the BTA, I imagine it was suffocating in the main riding area. Is the aroma that comes off people who just smoked a cigarette considered second hand smoke? It smells bad, but it also makes me want to cough. Of course, my lungs are currently in a weakened condition, so it's difficult to judge. Oh well, c'est la vie.