Return of the Tassels

I've said it before, but there's definitley a variety of people riding the bus.

For example, on my way home the other day, this guy got on who looked like he was straight out of an 80s heavy metal video. Long shaggy hair, sunglasses, goatee, jeans tighter than any man should legally wear - but the kicker was the leather jacket. Not just your regular standard black leather jacket, but one that undeniably screams "I WANNA ROCK!" Here's the best pic I could find, although it doesn't do it justice.

I hadn't seen one of those for years! Is it possible they're coming back? I hope not. If that's the case I will definitely not be in style.

Don't Read and Drive

So today on the bus ride to work, I happened to sit near the front of the bus, since the other seats were mainly filled. I'm listening to my iPod, enjoying some good old school hip hop, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something about the bus driver, so I had to do a double take.

This was an older grey haired guy with glasses. He had a medium sized day planner/calendar spread out on the steering wheel, left hand flat on the calendar, and with his right index finger also running along on the calendar grid, I'm assuming looking for a certain date. This was on the highway, and I'm assuming he was driving with his knees for a bit or something. I'm not sure how long he was doing that for, but soon after I noticed he put it away. Really Mr. Bus driver?? Are you telling me you couldn't check that date while the bus was stopped? I know you hear a lot about not using cell phones while driving, but this guy has a bus full of people and he's looking over his calendar instead of watching the road. If bus drivers have bad habits like regular drivers, it makes me wonder what other kinds of things they do that we don't know about while they're sitting up there ...

Shout Outs

The crime news reporter from one of the local TV stations was on the bus recently. I was thinking that if he was a reporter on BET, I probably could have asked him to give me a "shout out" during the evening news broadcast, and he probably would have done it. The show after the news would be something like this:



One of my favorites. Almost true to life BET, no joke!

Almost back ...

Still going back in time with a couple of blog posts. I'll be posting the most recent bus stories very soon.

No Bus for You!

This past winter, when the olympic games were on, I took the bus to work one cold morning as part of my usual routine. I did the park and ride this time, so I was waiting for my express bus, when a non-express one stopped.

I figured that since I was waiting, let me just check with this driver to get an idea of the timeliness of the express this morning. After all, this is the city of Winnipeg in friendly Manitoba, so I knew I wouldn't have a problem getting this info. The bus came to a stop, and a few people got on before me. I stepped in the front door and gave the bus driver a nod. "Excuse me, but do you have an idea if the express is on schedule this morning?" I asked. The driver looked at me as if I had just said something offensive about his mother. He looked away, then back at me. "You know," he sighed, "you get on my bus, asking me these questions. I have a schedule to keep." He spoke with what sounded like a Russian accent. I was a bit taken aback, but awake enough at that time in the morning to reply. "Well, you're a bus driver. That's why I'm asking you. If you don't know, no problem."
Not even a minute later, a woman steps on behind me. "Do you know if the express is coming soon?", she asks.

"Yes, it's coming right away." He says this without hesitation. I stopped for a half second. Nah, it wasn't even worth my time to say anything about it. Just got off the bus and hopped on to the express. As I sat down, and we passed by his bus in a blur of speed, I couldn't help but think that maybe he was upset that the Russians lost to Canada the night before in Olympic hockey. I could just imagine the other bus drivers teasing him that morning when he arrived for work. "Hey Dimitri! Too bad your team couldn't cut it, eh?".
Poor guy.

Overheard Conversations ...

Picture the scenario. Early one morning I sat down on the bus and overheard a conversation these two guys were having. These guys looked like they were maybe university students, maybe in their mid twenties.

Friend #1 : "Hey, so I watched G.I. Joe last night".
Friend#2: "Yeah?"
Friend#1: "Yeah, and jeez, the whole episode they were just screaming at each other, man!."
Friend#2: "Ha ha h - wait - episode? You mean you watched the tv show?"
Friend#1: "Uh, yeah."

I don't know if it was just because it was first thing in the morning, but I couldn't help but laugh to myself as there was that awkward pause when Friend#2 realized that his friend didn't check out the movie, but instead kicked his feet up and checked out the kid's cartoon.