$54 a month, unlimited entertainment
"What is it??" you ask excitedly. "Satellite? Movies? Tap dancing??" My friends, it is none of these.
No, it is the Edmonton Transit Service. Seriously! You wouldn't believe the excitement of riding the bus. Why just last Friday... *cue flashback music*
I rode the bus to Compru at around lunchtime. It was packed; standing room only! And indeed, standing in the aisle were three teenaged boys. Not standing together, mind you - rather, they were dispersed down the aisle, each separated by 2 or 3 other passengers. But never mind the other passengers! These 3 didn't! They had a WHOLE conversation just by yelling over everyone else! And how exciting it was! I never KNEW that there were so many different ways to lie to one's parents about one's drug use! Wow!
Riding the bus home from Compru, I sat in front of two teenaged girls. These girls had like, been at a slumber party the night before! OMG!! And like, they like, hate sleeping at this one girl's house, because she's like, really nice to your face, but like, totally bitchy behind your back. I mean, yeah, they were like, talking about this girl behind her back, but this is TOTALLY different. Really!
Then on Sunday, as I rode the bus home from church, I became aware that we'd been stopped at one stop for a rather long time. Tuning back in to what was going on, I heard the bus driver say, very firmly, and borderline rudely:
"SIT DOWN. I'm not starting the bus until you SIT DOWN."
Looking forward, I saw an elderly woman in a fur coat, attempting to stand at the front of the bus. "I don't want to sit down!"
"Lady, I'm NOT starting the bus til you SIT DOWN. Last time you almost fell." Getting out of his seat, the driver came up to the woman, put one arm around her shoulders and the other under her elbow and steered her to one of the six free seats surrounding her. Helping her down into the seat he said "And STAY there until the bus comes to a COMPLETE stop!"
As he climbed back into his seat, I heard a girl behind me comment to her companion that "last time that lady was on the bus, she was back here. She got up before the bus stopped, and tried to get to the doors, but fell down the stairs when the bus lurched. It was pretty freaky."
A few stops later, the old woman in the furs (after waiting for the bus to make a full and complete stop) climbed out of the bus, calling back over her shoulder "now you don't have to worry about an old woman like me!" in what I swear was a roguish tone. Roguish! In fact... I think I even saw her toss a wink at the driver!
$54/month - unlimited entertainment. Complete with strange smells, and people who are so drunk you could get a buzz inhaling the fumes. More fun than a barrel of monkeys! All reasons to ride the bus.
No, it is the Edmonton Transit Service. Seriously! You wouldn't believe the excitement of riding the bus. Why just last Friday... *cue flashback music*
I rode the bus to Compru at around lunchtime. It was packed; standing room only! And indeed, standing in the aisle were three teenaged boys. Not standing together, mind you - rather, they were dispersed down the aisle, each separated by 2 or 3 other passengers. But never mind the other passengers! These 3 didn't! They had a WHOLE conversation just by yelling over everyone else! And how exciting it was! I never KNEW that there were so many different ways to lie to one's parents about one's drug use! Wow!
Riding the bus home from Compru, I sat in front of two teenaged girls. These girls had like, been at a slumber party the night before! OMG!! And like, they like, hate sleeping at this one girl's house, because she's like, really nice to your face, but like, totally bitchy behind your back. I mean, yeah, they were like, talking about this girl behind her back, but this is TOTALLY different. Really!
Then on Sunday, as I rode the bus home from church, I became aware that we'd been stopped at one stop for a rather long time. Tuning back in to what was going on, I heard the bus driver say, very firmly, and borderline rudely:
"SIT DOWN. I'm not starting the bus until you SIT DOWN."
Looking forward, I saw an elderly woman in a fur coat, attempting to stand at the front of the bus. "I don't want to sit down!"
"Lady, I'm NOT starting the bus til you SIT DOWN. Last time you almost fell." Getting out of his seat, the driver came up to the woman, put one arm around her shoulders and the other under her elbow and steered her to one of the six free seats surrounding her. Helping her down into the seat he said "And STAY there until the bus comes to a COMPLETE stop!"
As he climbed back into his seat, I heard a girl behind me comment to her companion that "last time that lady was on the bus, she was back here. She got up before the bus stopped, and tried to get to the doors, but fell down the stairs when the bus lurched. It was pretty freaky."
A few stops later, the old woman in the furs (after waiting for the bus to make a full and complete stop) climbed out of the bus, calling back over her shoulder "now you don't have to worry about an old woman like me!" in what I swear was a roguish tone. Roguish! In fact... I think I even saw her toss a wink at the driver!
$54/month - unlimited entertainment. Complete with strange smells, and people who are so drunk you could get a buzz inhaling the fumes. More fun than a barrel of monkeys! All reasons to ride the bus.
Labels: Bus
posted by Elizabeth @ 19:52
1 Comments:
At 10:58 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
Ela, 'tis Julie.
I love this post 'cause I love riding the bus for the same reason. (There are days that I specifically don't love riding the bus, but that's a different story... I realize that this post is nearly a year old, and so there's a chance that you'll never see this, but I linked on to it from the post about hearing protection presentations for school kids. (Did bus eavesdropping and WOW prove to be good examples?)
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