Bluebirds and public transportation...
Apr. 27th, 2006 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishI stayed home Monday as my tummy was bugging me, and slept most of the day. When I came in on Tuesday, I found little origami cranes perched on all the intersections of cubicle walls and one in front of my computer. Apparently, KP had brought in some origami paper she said she was never going to use, and Angela took it home, made cranes out of all of it, and brought it back. KP had previously brought in some beautiful computer paper decorated with whales and dolphins and had all of us take some home. I'm not sure what I'll use mine for - maybe I should start writing letters again. ;)
When I got off the bus in front of my office this morning, the male bluebird I mentioned in a previous post flew up and perched on a sign - for a moment I thought he was a black phoebe until I noticed his reddish chest and lack of a topknot. I noticed another bird sitting at the top of a short tree a few yards away - it also had a rusty breast although paler, and its back was gray - a female? That would be cool if they were nesting around here.
I am so glad I'm taking the bus now. The oil companies seem to always give some excuse for jacking up the prices - there's something haywire at one of the refineries that needs to be fixed, California gas needs special processing so it's more expensive, blah, blah, blah. Come on, they think we don't notice it happens the same time every year?
Most of the bus drivers are nice; although the morning driver of the 25 up Goldenwest/Knott is curt and never smiles. He always seems to be driving faster than the other drivers, and he's the only who has to actually stop and wait at the designated time check stops. For some reason, he seems to get cut off a lot, too; he's also the only driver I've heard honk the horn. The bus I transfer to in the morning is driven by a very nice blonde lady; she doesn't talk much (neither do I), but several times she stopped for me when I hadn't quite made it to the stop (once nearly a block away from it), and she always pulls over in front of my building without my having to ding the bell. I say thank you and we both wish each other a nice day (sometimes at the same time), and I get off. Granted, it's not a busy route - there's only one bus making the round between the Seal Beach Leisure World and Westminster Mall, and there are seldom more than three or four people. Sometimes, I'm completely by myself.
The guy in the afternoon, however, is a talker, and so are many of his passenger. It's from them that I know his name is Frank and he plays tennis, although he told me himself he's going to visit his daughter in Colorado next week - so much cheaper to buy a house there than here! He's gotten a summary of what I do at work, but grimaces at the thought that anybody would eat squid! Sometimes he's already engaged with another passenger in Spanish before I get on. And again, he knows where I get off and stops without my having the pull the rope. And all in the space of two miles.
The bus home is sometimes crowded and I often sit near the back because for a long distance I prefer facing forward to sitting sideways. This is the bus that seems to have the most characters get on. A young man in a Quizno's uniform was questioning all the passengers around him whether they were Saved or not the other day - I tried to appear small and hide behind my paperback, but luckily he got off at the next stop. When I started riding, there was a fairly good-looking guy who would get on carrying a surfboard case, and as the bus took off again, would pretend to be searching his pockets for a fare. When he didn't come up with one, the driver would make him get off at the next stop, or he deliberately target the old ladies riding and ask if he could use their day pass, if they were done with it. I saw several of them smile and give it to him. I think most of the drivers have caught on to him, though; I haven't seen him in a while.
And I've read more books since I started than I did most of last year!
When I got off the bus in front of my office this morning, the male bluebird I mentioned in a previous post flew up and perched on a sign - for a moment I thought he was a black phoebe until I noticed his reddish chest and lack of a topknot. I noticed another bird sitting at the top of a short tree a few yards away - it also had a rusty breast although paler, and its back was gray - a female? That would be cool if they were nesting around here.
I am so glad I'm taking the bus now. The oil companies seem to always give some excuse for jacking up the prices - there's something haywire at one of the refineries that needs to be fixed, California gas needs special processing so it's more expensive, blah, blah, blah. Come on, they think we don't notice it happens the same time every year?
Most of the bus drivers are nice; although the morning driver of the 25 up Goldenwest/Knott is curt and never smiles. He always seems to be driving faster than the other drivers, and he's the only who has to actually stop and wait at the designated time check stops. For some reason, he seems to get cut off a lot, too; he's also the only driver I've heard honk the horn. The bus I transfer to in the morning is driven by a very nice blonde lady; she doesn't talk much (neither do I), but several times she stopped for me when I hadn't quite made it to the stop (once nearly a block away from it), and she always pulls over in front of my building without my having to ding the bell. I say thank you and we both wish each other a nice day (sometimes at the same time), and I get off. Granted, it's not a busy route - there's only one bus making the round between the Seal Beach Leisure World and Westminster Mall, and there are seldom more than three or four people. Sometimes, I'm completely by myself.
The guy in the afternoon, however, is a talker, and so are many of his passenger. It's from them that I know his name is Frank and he plays tennis, although he told me himself he's going to visit his daughter in Colorado next week - so much cheaper to buy a house there than here! He's gotten a summary of what I do at work, but grimaces at the thought that anybody would eat squid! Sometimes he's already engaged with another passenger in Spanish before I get on. And again, he knows where I get off and stops without my having the pull the rope. And all in the space of two miles.
The bus home is sometimes crowded and I often sit near the back because for a long distance I prefer facing forward to sitting sideways. This is the bus that seems to have the most characters get on. A young man in a Quizno's uniform was questioning all the passengers around him whether they were Saved or not the other day - I tried to appear small and hide behind my paperback, but luckily he got off at the next stop. When I started riding, there was a fairly good-looking guy who would get on carrying a surfboard case, and as the bus took off again, would pretend to be searching his pockets for a fare. When he didn't come up with one, the driver would make him get off at the next stop, or he deliberately target the old ladies riding and ask if he could use their day pass, if they were done with it. I saw several of them smile and give it to him. I think most of the drivers have caught on to him, though; I haven't seen him in a while.
And I've read more books since I started than I did most of last year!
