Bus Stories

Sometimes I really enjoy riding the bus, just to watch human dynamics. Sometimes it's really quite amazing.

Yesterday on my way home, I was sitting near a young lady with a baby and another small child. The baby was in her lap and the little girl was in the seat next to her, screaming away. Obviously the lady had no real way to hold both of them at the same time. First an older lady in the seat behind started talking to the little girl and pointing things out to her, calming her down for the most part, but not for long. Later, another lady got on the bus and sat right in front of the lady with the kids. They started talking and before long, she had offered to hold the baby so the mother could comfort the little girl. She eventually even got off the bus with the mother so that she could help her with the baby and the stroller. Now all this was going on in Spanish, but I am absolutely sure that none of these women knew each other before the bus ride. At one point, one of the ladies actually called the baby a boy instead of a girl, but she apologized and was obviously forgiven.

When I had first gotten on the bus, I felt as if I should offer to help the mother, but as in aforementioned blogs, I am not so good with the babies and I am still shocked that mothers let strangers hold their babies. Folks, it is a completely different culture out here in L.A., but it really impresses me. Where would you see this kind of thing except on a bus?

Today's bus ride home was a completely different story. The bus driver spent the whole time talking to a young woman near the front. There was also a pretty old woman at the very front who kept trying to talk to them in Spanish, which obviously neither of them spoke very well. I ascertained that somehow this lady had gotten lost on the wrong bus and that this bus driver was delivering her to the correct stop after a long day. I'm not sure who the young woman was - apparently a friend. At any rate, at one point she claimed to be barely over 21, but she also has a 9 year-old son. I'll let you do the math on that one. Well through the whole thing I couldn't quite decide if they were being nice or mean to the old lady, but I guess she got where she needed to go. For a large portion of the ride until both the women got off the bus, I am fairly sure the driver never got out of 1st gear. It was the longest ride ever and by the time I got off there was only one other person on the bus. My suspicion is that those people with passes might have gotten off and waited for another. I sure would have. There is only so much you can take of a young mother flirting with a married bus driver, when it is actually illegal to talk unnecessarily with one.

Just some more afternoon entertainment. Speaking of which, there was actually a line at the Highland Theater when we passed it today - presumably to see Harry Potter. That's right, world. Here in L.A. we get the movies early. Take that.