Lovin' my new wheels

I've got a new bus and I'm in love.  After months of neglect, I finally decided to break up with single-decker 80Fs from Fourways in the afternoon.  Why Metrobus selects single decker buses for this busy route, I'll never understand.  I get on at the first stop, so I always get a seat, but then I have to fight with sharp elbows to push past the crowds as I disembark at Zoo Lake.  Metrobus riders seem fundamentally unable to step all the way into the bus and not crowd the entrance.  The drivers do nothing to dissuade riders from doing this, and often let passengers sit on the boarding steps or against the windscreen -- dangerous spots, for sure.  But, eh, let them stay crowded.  I've moved on.

Life is sweet on the (empty) top deck.

I'm now riding in style on the 16h30 route 421, Fourways to Bellevue, wherever that is.  Doesn't matter.  I board a completely empty double-decker that stays remarkably comfortable and hop off at Zoo Lake.  Plus, it's extra fast since apparently few people care to board it.  It's the best bus in town, but shhh, let's keep it our secret.

The storm's aftermath

Today as I headed home on this very bus, it was curious to see the streets of Rosebank flooded.  I'd thought the summer storms were past us, but apparently one last major one was in store, and timed exactly with my exiting the bus.  I didn't want to carry on to Bellevue -- don't even know where it is! -- so I just opened my tiny, inadequate umbrella and stepped out into the deluge.  I ran to join a lady under the semi-useful shelter of a tree while pebble-size hail fell all around us.  After fewer than 10 minutes, the storm moved on to surprise other neighborhoods, while leaving a bizarrely serene sunset in its wake.

Happiness is a shared walk

The other day as I was walking home from the bus stop on my way home from work, I passed a young woman and said a cursory hello.  To my surprise, she sped up her pace a bit and started walking with me.  The sun was setting -- it does that earlier these days and I'd worked late -- and she seemed relieved have another woman to walk with.  I realized that this wasn't just from a safety issue -- Saxonwold is usually pretty tame -- but more for the company.  She told me that her name was Happiness and that she walks from her home in Norwood to her job as a domestic in Parkview every day, twice a day.  Now I'm a hell of a walker, but she's completely got me beat.  I thought about all the people that think my walking as exceptional, but people like Happiness walk farther every day with much less fanfare.  Buses don't serve that route and to take taxis would require two taxis in each direction, which would eat into her day's profit.  So, like me, Happiness hits the pavement.  We spent the time chit-chatting about our lives here, where we come from (Zim for her, America for me), our families, our love lives, religion; covering quite a few topics for a 15 minute walk, really.  As I turned to head up my street, I wished her the best in beating the rapidly setting sun.  She still had a 30 minute walk ahead of her with about 10 minutes of sunlight left.