Survived the bus commute today in honor of Earth Day. The daily ride pass costs $2.50, not $1.25 as I thought. This left me scrambling at the front of the bus for change for a $10 after I had already put in all the quarters in my wallet (5, as planned). It was like being at Rhodes Junior High School for the first day of 7th grade all over again. There I am fiddling with my bottom row locker when all the freshman are spinning through their combos with ease, hovering above and snickering at the green new kids. Thanks to the kind wave of the bus driver, I took my seat without ever finding the right change.
It was the right change to my routine. The brief experience threw me into a new mix of folk who I otherwise wouldn’t spend an hour with socially. I like these sorts of social situations where you feel completely uncomfortable because the universe is shaking you down and trying to teach you something about yourself. There were high school students from the technical school speaking Spanish and playing with their long, shiny brown hair. There was an African immigrant in a pressed white shirt that was so thin I could see his bus card clearly through his front pocket. A man with a hearing aid slowly rocked back and forth, flicking his long fingernails and never looking up from the black plastic flooring. I smiled, thumbed through my book mindlessly and people-watched with hunger. Bus riding is good for a writer’s soul.
The commute was easy. It took an hour, including about a mile walk — which I thoroughly enjoyed knowing we are full well climbing back in the oven known as the Phoenix summer soon enough. The bus was comfortable, the company eclectic and I didn’t have any road rage while reading and day dreaming. Imagine that.
I may have to give this public transport thing a fair shake, although it means I’d miss my morning coffee stops on the way into work. You know your life problems are insignificant when it all comes down to caffeine.
~K