I usually enjoy taking the bus to and from work everyday. For one, I get to sit and just chill and let a city employee do the driving for me. I read, listen to the fine musics of fine artistes on my iPod, But today was one of those days when all that is unfortunate about public transpo reared its nasty head.
#5 BUS, APPROX 8:40AM: Every morning on my way to work there is this guy who is always sitting in the same seat. Although he is seated, he clings to the metal rails with both hands. He must be homeless or have a mental illness that results in not bathing, because he always has that rank urine-and-BO smell about him. It burns the eyes first thing in the morning. He has a beard and a distended belly and tends to cough a lot.
Mostly, this dude is harmless, other than the stank, because he doesn't talk to himself or others. But today, he violated the public trust. He was let off at the corner of Speedway and 35th St, where a lot of students get on the bus. As the bus was parked loading up with fresh-faced Longhorns making their way to school, this gentleman wandered around for a few seconds looking confused, and then released his weasel and pissed all over a car parked in an apartment building lot! I mean, come on dude, wait until the bus pulls away!
I imagine he does this several times a day, takes a public wiz and then uses both hands to cling to the railing on the bus, so remember to WASH HANDS THOROUGHLY, WITH SOAP after riding CapMetro.
Indeed, I noticed a lot of indigent folks who use the bus as a means to look busy and occupy their time. They get on, they get off, wander around a bit, and the get back on to wander around the next neighborhood. I got sent home from work early (not enough to do now that the Behemoth is dead, I guess) so I saw some of the same morning characters getting on and off the bus in different spots around 2pm today.
Some poor girl got on the #5 thinking it was the Airport Flyer and boy did she feel silly when she figured out she was headed the wrong way with a big suitcase in tow!
On the bus home, it was pretty much a partay-bus in the back, with crudely dressed Soldiers of the Street stinking up the bus with a decidedly different odor, more the smell of a rock-solid turd forced from the bowels after days of not going. They were laughing and screaming and taking secret sips of canned drinks cloaked in worn paper bags. Oh, what fun it is not to work! I manage to do it without tweaking in the park and begging for food "for my dog." The poor, beleaguered driver (I salute drivers, by the way) overshot these dude's stop and one of the most scruffy Soldiers of the Street raised his voice at him in an uncool fashion, but it fell short of a threat.
Did you know that assaulting a bus driver is a federal offense? Probably hugging one while the bus is moving is a federal offense too, so show your love in a non-touchy way.
Posted by Zerd at November 20, 2007 03:44 PM