We woke to a world covered in ice. There would be no gallivanting around all bicycle commuter for me, jacket or no.
Today was my fourth bus day for the semester. My bus stop is about a mile from the house. Usually a pleasant walk of about the right distance. It's downhill all the way, so this morning, I slipped, slid, and fell all the way there.
I arrived to join three others of nondescript gender. Really, with everyone bundled up, I didn't know the boys from the girls. It doesn't matter, and actually, it gave me something to decipher rather than think about my frozen body parts. I'm thankful for my years as a crossing guard, which prepared me to stand around in awful weather and just deal.
No buses came by, but we were prepared for delays as the traffic crawled passed. At one point, one of my genderless companions left the little shelter and started heading up the sidewalk. Another commented to me, "She thinks the buses aren't running today", which confirmed that both the deserter and the one speaking were female.
The other of us stood just outside the shelter smoking a cigarette. I'm pretty sure she is a girl I've waited with on one of my other bus days. She works at a restaurant and is usually pretty quiet - likes to be alone with her thoughts and her future pulmonary disease. Having spent time as a service worker, I fully understand.
Soon enough, the deserter returned. She wasn't deserting after all, she'd just gone up the way to get something from McD's. She returned with a bag and a cold beverage. I wondered about the contents of the bag. An Egg McMuffin perhaps? I wasn't hungry, but I would've loved to have wrapped my frozen hands around a warm Egg McMuffin.
In a couple of minutes, the bus that isn't mine arrived and all three of my companions got on it, leaving me alone with my thoughts and hopefully no future pulmonary disease. I waited and continued to freeze and waited a little more.
At long last, my bus arrived. Just twenty bone chilling minutes behind schedule. For most of the ride, the roads looked like parking lots, and there were accidents ga-LORE. But those bus drivers get 'er done, and soon I was deposited onto the university campus, having thawed somewhat during the ride.
I went to my class after a little more thaw time in the library. My teaching partner arrived about 15 minutes late to class, having spent two hours driving there through a maze of traffic snarls and crashes and ice fields.
And this was my google screen today. So happens, today's my birthday. Mother Nature tried to give the gift of hypothermia, but failed. But google knows everything...
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10 comments:
Happy Birthday! A frosty way to celebrate one more lap around the sun. We are still warm down here but the cold front is headed this way today.
You can meet/see some interesting characters waiting for the bus. I hope the ice thaws enough to avoid the bus commute.
Heckuva way to spend The Big _____ (fill in the age blank)!
Wait 'til ya get to be my age......ya might not be so rugged. :-)
Happy Birthday Abby! {{ virtual *warm* birthday hug! }} So sorry Mother Nature wasn't as kind. But Google.... now that's a good friend. :)
You guys are troopers out there in them hills. 'Round here, an ice storm like that would have shut us all down.
HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY! Mother Nature sure made sure you'd have a memorable day.
I'm always impressed with those bus drivers. They talk about the mailman getting the job done no matter the weather, but the bus drivers don't seem to be intimidated by any of the elements. Glad you arrived safely and not entirely frozen.
Yep, my birthday was a blast! (The arctic kind)
The Big not-yet-that-old. As to your age, I'll just burn that bridge when I get there.
Aw thanks! And I think the ice sort of took everyone by surprise so early in the season. In hindsight, most were saying that we should've just shut down.
I read in today's paper that my birthday was the coldest day of the year. I thought that impressive since this year included January and February! Or maybe I was just happy to confirm that age hadn't turned me into a total cold weather wimp.
And you're so right about those bus drivers!
A belated Happy Birthday!!
Why is it that we try to work out a persons gender? Hopefully we'll get to the stage where it doesn't matter. Of course it will cause loads of sexuality issues, but still it could be fun. :D
I've backtracked to your birthday post. Not what I expected. :) But...I guess the world doesn't stop and throw confetti because it's the date we were born.
Sooo...may you endure the cold at bus stops and survive pulmonary yuck and anything else that crosses your path during your happy year of being (fill in the age blank)!
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