Becky Says...

July 2007

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Detour - July 8

I sort of meant to go shopping earlier than Friday this past week. So much for that! So, around lunchtime I headed out, to let me get back home before the afternoon sun (has to do with placement of buildings and trees along my walk) got too bad. I had my list, my wallet, and my ice water. I was prepared!

I got downtown to the transfer area and sat down to wait for the bus. I got involved in what I was reading in the newspaper. The bus I needed was running a little late, according to the newish GPS device at the bus stop. And I forgot there was a bus scheduled to come in just ahead of it. I looked up, saw a bus that I thought was correct, and got on it.

And about a block away from the bus stop, I realized I was on the wrong bus. The way bus stops and times work out, I would not have been able to get back to the prior stop (on foot) before the bus I wanted would have left, and being off the bus in the middle of sort of nowhere didn't particularly appeal. Knowing the bus would eventually come back downtown, I just rode on. When we got to the turn-around point, I told the driver that I had gotten on the wrong bus, so he wouldn't think I was trying to cheat the system.

That was fine with him. He parked the bus (it's fairly normal to have a break at a turn-around point) and stepped out to take his break time. I settled in to read more of the newspaper. A few minutes later, while the driver was still off the bus, another bus came into the lot and pulled up behind ours. The driver from ours got back on the bus and said we'd need to move over to the other bus so the current one could be taken into the shop.

Changing meant I got a chance to ride on one of the system's brand new buses. So new there were still hangtags on the driver's seat (no joke), and so new it still had the new-car smell. I like the new buses, because they don't have as many steps up from the pavement to the bus floor. It was a good ride, too.

I got back downtown, and after checking the schedule for the next bus on the route I meant to take, realized I had just enough time to go get a candy bar. I knew that would make me happy and keep me from buying everything in sight at the grocery store, so I headed into the candy store, decided on just the right flavor (a Zero bar, for the curious), and went back outside into the beautiful day to get on the right bus.

Which I did. At that point, the shopping trip returned to normal. I got to the stores and found what I wanted in fairly quick order. And luckily, the afternoon sun hadn't gotten too bad by the time I was ready to leave. So I got home in good order, and the whole detour only made me about an hour later than I would have been.

Still, next time I'm waiting for a bus, I think I'll skip reading the paper!

Text © copyright 2000-2007 Becky