Buses

Bus, a shortened version of omnibus, is a form of public transport relatively common in most developed countries. I ride the bus almost every day. Any time I want to get in to town, I just jump on the 54 or 54A. I generally sit on the second level, and if there isn't someone there already, I sit in the very first row, right smack in front of the window. I love sitting there, you can see everything. I'm usually joined eventually by children, sometimes pretending to drive the bus themselves. One sees some rather interesting characters when riding the bus, particularly after the sun sets.... There was the crazy old man who just wanted to know the time (I got off at the wrong stop because he stressed me out so much) and the girl who just whipped out a bottle of nail polish and painted her nails on the bus, the large group of girls all dressed in short skirts, white blouses buttoned to there (or unbuttoned to there I should say) knee high socks and entirely too much make-up to be tasteful, but I don't suppose that was ever their intent. I've already seen 3 people I know from the bus, and I'm always tempted to knock on the window or wave my arms about, I usually don't though, I have some restraint! At first it's slightly stressful how slow it goes, as traffic is atrocious, but you get used to it after a while, and I usually just sit and enjoy doing nothing for a half an hour, or however long it takes to get where I'm going. The buses are generally fairly clean in the morning, but at the end of the day, there is usually a fair amount of trash rolling around your feet. My favorite was the old guy sitting in the very front who downed a large can of beer, belched, and then just dropped the can so it rolled noisily around everyone's feet, very charming. I actually had to sit next to someone the other day. I don't usually, but it was morning and everyone was on their way to work or school. I avoided it as long as I could, but I eventually just put my purse in my lap and scooted to the window seat. I have this weird thing about being in too close of a proximity to people I don't know... but he was quiet, and smelled nice, the only words he said were "Do you need to get off here?" at the stop where half the bus got off, but as it was about 8 in the morning, my vocal chords weren't quite working yet so I just shook my head and continued to stare out the window. I like being able to just observe, and not have to stress about driving in the traffic. Whenever I would drive, especially the route from Reno to Rocklin, I always wanted to just look out the window because it was quite pretty, but then I'd be likely to drive off the side of the mountain, so I just stared at the road. My favorite part of the bus ride into to town, is when we reach the top of Whiteladies, there's a goreous view of Bristol and some of the surrounding hills. Dusted with snow it was quite picturesque. Getting off the bus is sometimes a bit distressing, especially getting off in front of Border's, at the top of Park, because it's always sooo busy, there's the scaffolding and weird divider things to navigate, and as soon as the doors open, there's a rush of cold air, and noise, and a feeling of stepping back into reality, where I have to participate. It's neither good nor bad, it's just an odd feeling sometimes.