#4108

Aaaaah, Friday - best day of the week, no doubt. Once again, Dave missed the 6am66. Bill, Mark and I filled the BTA with food talk. Bill said Uno's has great French onion soup and Mark advised he makes the best FOS. The conversation stirred my taste buds and I now embark on a quest to consume some FOS today. One never knows where bus talk will lead.

I must take time to ponder last night's ride home on the 81 southbound. A woman flew onto the bus, breathless and carrying on about missing the #?? and so she was just going to take the 81S, blah, blah, blah. She sat down and continued to talk loudly to the driver. She kept it up as we pulled away and got louder, as though to drown out the noise of the moving bus. We kept going and she kept talking. Shortly, a man sitting across the aisle from her got up and moved to the back of the bus. I understood his move but felt the gesture was lost on this woman who embodied "oblivious".

Eventually, she got up and stood in the aisle near the front door. She talked and talked and talked. She didn't appear angry, just a talker and a loud talker, at that. She made it difficult for people getting on to pass by and yet the driver never said anything to her. He would make an occasional comment and that just kept her going. With passenger pick-up and drop-off, route timing and the usual driving challenges in Tempe traffic, I don't know how the driver stayed on top of his duties while this woman yammered away.

Finally she got off, introducing herself and shaking the driver's hand as she departed. I don't know whether we were in potential peril from the distraction she posed or if this driver proved that we humans absolutely can multi-task, contrary to all the research that says we can't. I just don't know . . .