Last night my bus driver abdicated his throne. I was on the bus home after Italian and we made what should have been a run of the mill stop. Except the driver shut the bus down, gathered his stuff and go off the bus. Since no one looked disturbed but me, I asked the guy next to me if that meant I got to drive the bus. He laughed and said it was the end of the drivers shift and the bus coming behind us had our new driver; when it arrived, we'd continue on. Does that strike anyone else as a tad bit unusual? Perhaps a bit unorthodox or inefficient? A freakin' waste of my time?!
We sat for about 2 pages of my new book (thanks Julia!) when the new driver showed up and it got me wondering: what happens to the new bus? Does it wait for the next bus and change drivers as well? Seems an odd way to do a shift change. Perhaps he rode out as a normal passenger, was dropped off and now we have 2 buses driving the exact same route, one behind the other. That seems a waste of resources to me, but what do I know? I'm an American; we don't use buses. And how does the original bus driver get home? Was a car waiting at the bus stop for him?
So then I wondered, is this going to happen every week? Is it just that particular driver? Should I find another bus home? Because he turned off the heat and left the door open. It's winter, people! Granted it's getting progressively warmer but one good Russian cold snap and it's Hello Frostbite! I'm rather fond of my fingers and toes. Yes, I favor a few of them over the others but I'd really hate to see any of them go, especially for a shift change. That would be a waste of my resources. And really? I've got small feet for my height. Ann always wondered how I managed to stand upright and not fall over. How much of my evidently precarious balance would I lose if some of my toes were gone? Perhaps I should write the Dublin Bus System and explain that I'm concerned about frequenting the 46A because I have small feet. What do you think they'd say to that?
4 comments:
They'd say.."buy thicker socks"
I'm just guessing
I had something similar to this happen to me and Robin in New Orleans. The trolley drove to the end of the line, and we literally watched the other trolley pull away as we pulled up. The engineer got out and said sorry, my shifts over. We sat there for almost 30 minutes. We weren't worried about freezing, just getting mugged, raped, shot, or killed in some way...
Bus drvier saying, "But it is like chicken pox, once you get your toes frozen off once, it will never happen again."
Wow, now that's service! Well, that's what you get for using mass transport in the US John. Luckily you had Robin to protect you.
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