This afternoon/evening I was waiting for a bus. I got to the stop about five minutes early, by my own estimate. Buses aren't supposed to go by the stops early, but sometimes they do, so it's best to be prepared if you can.
As it happens, this one didn't run fast. I waited five minutes. Then ten. To cut to the chase, the bus I was waiting for was about twenty minutes later than I expected. So late, in fact, that another one on the same route was the next vehicle behind it. One of them was only a few minutes behind, the other much more.
I actually am not sure which is which. The one I climbed aboard was crowded, although I've seen worse. The one that had been behind but leapfrogged ahead was about empty. One of them was supposed to be there just a little before four. I don't know which was which, but one picked up almost all the passengers, myself included.
And continued to do so. The other driver could have picked up the girl at the next stop, unless - possible but unlikely - she arrived between that bus and ours. I kind of felt bad for the driver whose vehicle I was on. He's one of the genuine nice ones.
2 comments:
I hope you didn't get too cold during that long wait. I don't know if you remember the bus mall in Portland but I recall times standing at one stop or another watching for a particular bus and seeing every other numbered one pull up to pick up and drop off passengers while I continued to wait. And then, just like what happened to you, two would show up at once. I never did hear an explanation for that kind of minor annoyance. The worst time ever was the rainy evening when I didn't have my glasses and could only read the signs on the front when the bus was too close for comfort.
IIRC it wasn't so horribly cold that you'd feel really uncomfortable, although we didn't have the kind of disturbing and unnatural warmth that we got this week either. Mainly waiting at the stop was just boring.
It's got to be frustrating to be stuck there without your glasses. Actually I can relate, since up until a few months ago I didn't have glasses even though I needed them. I could read the signs on buses, but as you said, they had to be close. There's a phenomenon I call "about that time-ism" when you know your bus is supposed to come at that time so you jump on the first one you see, even when it's wrong.
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