Overheard on the Number 12

Young man: That cop had it in for me, man.  But I told him I would kick his *** if he ever turned his back on me, so he better watch himself.

Friend: What’d he do then?

Young man: He arrested me!  Dang!  I sure never saw that coming!

__________

Older Lady: Driver, does this bus go by the technical college?

Driver: Yes ma’am, it does.

Older Lady: Oh, never mind then.  I want the other bus.

__________

Teenage boy: It really sucks when you have to depend on the bus to take you everywhere.  Last week there was this concert that I would have gone to, but it got out after the bus stopped running, so I couldn’t go.

Teenage girl: That’s too bad.  I would have liked to go with you.

Teenage boy: Yeah, I would’ve taken you, too, if the bus ran late.  Also, if I’d had money for a ticket.

__________

 

Bad Blogger!

The good news is that I have cut my driving down to just one or two trips per week.  The bad news is that waiting for the bus really eats into time I hoped to spend blogging.   Guess I should have foreseen that as a consequence!

I bought my first tank of gas this month.  Price was $3.83/gallon for regular unleaded.  It cost me just under $40 to fill the tank.  Last time I bought gas (at the end of April) I paid $3.61/gallon.  The news pundits predict that demand will remain strong this summer and that prices will peak in July.

What I want to know is, who can afford to travel these days?  My vacation plans extend as far as my balcony!

 

Going Nowhere Fast

Wondering if there’s any way to escape the daily traffic grind?  Here’s some food for thought on traffic congestion, pedestrians, and why it may be easier to make three right hand turns instead of one left.

 

Brother, can you spare a Maserati?

Overheard outside the Galleria Mall. The customers in question were waiting for the valet to retrieve their rides. I was at the bus stop at the end of the driveway.

She: I mean, I can’t believe it.

He: It’s crazy, all right.

She: Just in the time I’ve been driving, gas has gone up like $50.

He: $50?

She: You know, like, it used to be a dollar a gallon, and now it’s like fifty. It’s all on the news.

He: How long have you been driving?

She: It’s been like, what, a year and a half now.

He: Yep, it’s crazy. But are we supposed to do? Take the bus?

She: There’s a bus?

Valet: Miss! Oh Miss! Your car!

She: (Searching through her bag) Do you have, like, another dollar I can give the valet? I’ll tell him it’s from both of us.

He: (Looking in his wallet) All I’ve got left is a hundred. But I need that for gas.

 

Ralph Kramden, where are you?

Who would have ever thought that we’d miss the good old days when oil was only $100 a barrel?  When the price at the pump went from ridiculous to stupid, I had to take action.  I’ve put my car on NOA status (or, No Other Alternative) and am now relying on my own two feet, and the public transportation system to get me around.  My goal is to purchase one or two tanks of gas, maximum, each month.

This should be an interesting summer…..

Riding the bus helps me channel my inner Forrest Gump.  I haven’t yet started philosophizing about life and bowls of fruit, but those insights are sure to come.  I have time for such musings because I spend about 10 times as much time waiting for the bus, as I do riding on the bus.  As a new grad student/part time employee/occasional contract worker, I’m at a point in my life where I have more time than money, so thus far, it’s all working out.

I have to wonder why there are no sitcoms set on buses or commuter trains.  Last week, the riders on Route 12 got to hear the details – and I mean all the details – of a young woman’s first date with Brian or Bernie or Beano, courtesy of an extremely loud one-sided cell phone conversation.   Believe me, none of us were trying to snoop.  It’s just that in order to use a cell phone on a bus one must SPEAK LOUDLY to be heard over the roar of the diesel engine.  Anyway, Brian or Bernie or Beano was a real hottie.  But the date ended badly, because, our girl reported to her friend, “I was just too much for him.”

Riding home, I listened to two fast-food employees talk about how their manager rigs the Employee of the Week contest.  This is a big deal, because the winner gets $20 and an extra free meal.  I left the bus before I heard the end of that story, but I’m sure there’ll be future installments.  And lucky me, I’ll be along for the ride, waiting to hear the rest.