Holiday Blues?

Back from hiatus, bussted is here again for 2011. I plan on playing with the layout a bit, so I hope you don't mind.

One thing I really noticed recently is that people really don't like going to work after holidays. No newsflash, I know, but it is so obvious on that first bus ride after the holiday.

When I get on in the morning, there are just a few people, but it fills up pretty quick. On a normal day, there are conversations, music, etc... After a holiday, it would be hard to tell the difference between a bus full of death row inmates and a transit bus full of people on their way to work a 9 to 5. I mean it's silent. Eerily silent, such that the only sounds you hear are the humming of the bus engine, a few sniffles, and of course the occasional sigh. I've witnessed this a few times now; it takes about a day for things to get back to normal. It makes me wonder what's on people's minds. Were the holidays fun? Did things go horribly wrong? Did someone's aunt have a bit too much and go on a rant that was beyond embarrasing? My guess is the answer is yes for all of them. The bus ride will return to normal, with interesting sights and conversations. Until the next long weekend ...

Look Both Ways ...

Today, I noticed the bus slowing down to almost a stop, but we were nowhere near a bus stop. People started pointing, and I looked over to my left, where I saw a man lying on the street at the crosswalk, on his back in front of a GMC Acadia , and a woman with a cellphone standing over him. His hat was about 20 feet away. He slowly moved to a sitting position and started yelling at the woman and pointing up at the crosswalk lights. By this time, other drivers were getting out of their vehicles to help.

Now, I just missed the hit by a few minutes, so I can't say what really happened or whose fault it was. One piece of advice I can give to pedestrians is the same as what your Mom told you growing up. Look both ways before you cross the street. You need to be a smart pedestrian. Too many people think the crosswalk button activates the brakes on all vehicles in a 20 foot radius, so they hit the button and don't even break their stride or look before they step off the sidewalk. I've seen a lot of pedestrians almost get hit this way, and a lot give drivers the evil eye after they've slammed the brakes to avoid hitting them. I almost hit a guy on a bike the other day because he flew across the intersection - and he was riding on the wrong side of the street. I know you have the right of way as pedestrians, just keep this in mind - a car is usually a thousand pounds plus of steel and glass going faster than you can run, and they're driven by regular people like you and me who sometimes make mistakes or who are distracted. There's a good chance that you could be hit anytime that you're crossing any street, so you have to be smart about it and follow Mom's advice.

Here's a related clip for a good laugh. If you've seen the original, I think this one is even better with this music ...

Inception Ice Cream Truck Out of Nowhere - watch more funny videos

!!! WARNING !!!

I'm behind on the blog again, and this one comes with a warning. Not for those with a weak stomach. If you're looking forward to lunch in a few minutes, don't read this now. If you just had breakfast, don't - well you get the idea. My friend in Dubai heard a story relayed by a Winnipeg Transit driver. People reveal waaaay to much to drivers sometimes. Here it is: 

"Was stuck in traffic with some dirty pig telling me about how he got fecal matter in a cut on his testicles and needs surgery because of the infection.. Which is why he has a hard time climbing the stairs on the bus!! What do you even say to that?"

Ugghh. Told you.

Aging Gracefully

Old people have a choice. They can either accept their age or be crabby about it. I hope when I get there I'm not a crabby one. A group of seniors was on the bus one morning and they were all smiles. One of them stood up to get up, and one of her girlfriends didn't even hesitate for a minute as she said, "Stay out of trouble Gladys!". then reached over and smacked Gladys' bum before she got off the bus. The other ladies were having a good laugh at that.

At the next stop, an old man with a cane got on. He walked to the middle of the bus and put one leg across the 3 seat bench, and the other on the floor as he held his cane. Didn't care who was watching, he was taking ALL 3 seats, because that's just what he felt like. Now that's what I call aging gracefully.

Thinking Outside the Box

Rode the bus a while back and there was a group of daycare kids, must have been at least 10 of them on the bus with 2 daycare workers. As we passed over the bridge crossing the Red River on the way downtown, one of the workers said to the kids jokingly, "Who wants to go swimming in there instead of the pool?".

If you live in Winnipeg, you know that the Red River is not exactly the cleanest river around. It could actually be called the Brown River if it the name was based on what it looks like. There was of course a lot of noise and a chorus of "Eeew"s and "No way!", and "Yuck!" when the question was asked. Of course there had to be one kid who shouted over everyone, "I do! I do!"

Now that is one kid who really loves swimming. Maybe the next Michael Phelps.

Creepy Old Drunk Guy

Yup. Not much of a clever title for this one, that pretty much says it. And no, it wasn't Nick Nolte as he looks in the pic above, but close. But why was this guy creepy? Read on.

I took the bus after working late one day last week, and I have a pretty strong theory about transit bus passengers. The later it gets, the more strange people get on the bus. Kind of like that funky old hip hop classic goes, "The freaks come out at night". Whodini was right on with that one. The freaks will be out even as early as 6 p.m..

I'm sitting near the front of the bus, and a stop or two later, this guy gets on and sits in front of me. This guy reeks of alcohol and you can tell that he's out of it. He happens to sit down beside a blonde girl, probably in her mid 20's, and this is where the creepiness starts.

The guy looks at her. Then he looks her up and down. Then looks forward again. Then looks at her. Then looks her up and down. Then looks forward for a bit. Repeat. I mean it was very obvious, and I'm sure she was uncomfortable. At the next stop, the seat in front of him opens up, so he gets up and moves there. I swear I could hear a sigh of relief from the girl.

So now, the guy is sitting in the seats that face each other at the front of the bus, usually reserved for elderly and women with young children. And just when I thought he wouldn't be making anyone uncomfortable anymore, a mother and her friend get on with a baby in a stroller and sit directly across from drunkie. The guy is kind of wobbly in his seat, and soon he focuses on the baby. The mother is talking to her friend, and he leans forward, gets up and touches the baby's hand and smiles. I'm sure the mom must smell the beer on him if I can, but she gives the man a weak smile.

A moment later, he touches the kid's hand again, then he touches the kid's face, then pokes the kid's belly, and is chuckling to himself. I'm thinking, at what point do you tell a stranger - a drunk old creepy stranger - something like, "Hey - stop touching my kid" ? But the mother doesn't said a word. If that was my kid, I'd stop him right away. It seemed that it was inevitable that there would be a scene where the mom yells at him to stop, the driver pulls over, and the cops are called, but the mom never said a word. Maybe she had a high tolerance for that kind of thing, or maybe the guy got off the bus just before she would have blown up. Drunkie and myself both got off at the same stop, and I walked to where I had parked my car that day. I'm not sure where he went, but at least he wasn't driving.

Banged Up

Last week I saw a high speed car crash just outside my window. First time I've ever seen something like that up close, and its like they say, it seemed to happen in slow motion. Two cars trying to get into the same lane, and when they collided, it sounded like empty Coke cans being crushed.
Hubcaps went flying and both cars flew up onto the boulevard before coming to a complete stop.
Airbags went off in both cars, a guy stumbled out of the Toyota Echo and fell to the ground in pain beside his car. Construction workers closeby rushed the scene, and the other driver in the Prius was in obvious pain, but didn't seem like he could move from his car. The bus was stopped for a while as our driver got out, and we were there for what seemed like half an hour waiting for EMR unit to get there. After looking at my watch I realized we were there less than 15 minutes total.

Of course I got to work later than expected, but thought about the accident, and that was one thing I didn't have to worry about in the morning. The bus is pretty safe, no worries about road rage drivers, until I hop in my car on the weekend ...