Missed the Bus

Yeehaw, I missed the bus. I was at the bus stop at 6:45, when I realized I forgot a book in the student lounge. I thought this bus was supposed to leave the transit terminal at 6:45, which would put it here rought at around 6:55, so I would have time to go back and get it. I got it, and was back by 6:53. (Yes, I checked.) Then I sat. And I waited.

And I grew suspicious.

And I realized, no, it's the one that comes in the 7:00 hour that leaves at :45. The one in the 6:00 hour leaves the transit station at :35. Which meant it came by the bus stop during the eight minutes I was running back in to get my book. And in case you didn't piece together the time math up above, the next one won't be by until 7:55 or so.

So in the meantime, the UCLA wireless network extends across the street to the bus stop I'm sitting at, so I decided to write you guys a post about missing the bus. My next step might just be to get on whatever bus comes by next, whichever one it may be. (There really aren't too many that stop here, so that's not as adventurous as it sounds.)

Oh! But I can also share with you some fun bus stories I've accumulated in the couple months I've been here so far.

- There is TV on the bus here. I'm not kidding. It doesn't play shows, it's just all tiny tiny news blurbs, and ads for Spanish-language serials.

- The "Alpha and Omega" guy. He's gotten on a few times that I've been on. His deal is to get on, then stop in the aisle and loudly pronounce that we all ought to be praising God, the creator, the kind, the supreme lord of us all. Then randomly during his ride he'll make more such pronouncements. I was OK with him until he started talking about alpha and omega...few good things happen after someone starts talking about alpha and omega, I think.

- Listening to the bus driver and a passenger debate the athletic merits of USC vs. UCLA. They started off normally, football, basketball, then jumped right to the water polo teams. WTF?

- Two guys from Florence who were a bit confused about where they should get off, and I was able to help them with the fading remnants of my rudimentary Italian.

- The new bus driver who missed a turn, so to get back on the route we ended taking the giant behemoth bus down these tiny, steep side streets in Hollywood. I was very grateful for air brakes. The looks on the faces of passersby were fantastic.

- We passed a long flexi-bus that got stuck. In another missed-turn case, the driver was attempting to make a u-turn in an intersection. After shouting to the other driver to see if she was OK, other driver explained that the middle flexi part has a sensor in it, where if it becomes bent at too sharp of an angle, it cuts off the engine. There's a button that the driver can push to override it and re-start the bus. "But apparently she doesn't know about that." You will notice, however, that he didn't offer this helpful tidbit of info to the other driver.

Public Transit Is Fun For Everyone!