Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Bus Report #231

For the third time in a week I had to hoof it instead of riding in style.

I don't mind, but there are a couple of downsides:
Lack of proper hydration- If I had known I was going to be walking from Divisadero and Geary to Castro and 14th, California and Baker to Clement and my street and 16th and Church to 16th and Rhode Island, I would have had more water beforehand.

Lack of proper footwear- Doc Marten's are comfy, but sneakers would be even better.

Lack of time to actually enjoy the walk- Well, that only applies to this morning's walk. The other two were lovely.

So back to this morning's commute-mare (that's commute and nightmare put together, aren't I clever?). I got on my usual 38 Geary, no problem. I arrived at the 22 stop with plenty of time to stand and soak in the sun and listen to some tunes. The bus came and I got a seat near the front. All was going well, until we hit Church and 16th Street. I've written before about the tricky turn the 22 has to do here. It's weird that they can't figure out how to keep the buses from coming off the wires at this turn, because it happens so often. Like this morning, for example. Only our wires didn't just come down: they fell down, hard, and then must have bounced back up or something. Our driver took his sweet time going to fix it, while our bus was diagonally blocking the intersection. I always feel like a sitting duck when that happens. I always think: this is the day that someone speeds through the light and slams in to us.
Our driver came back a minute later and gave us a thumbs' up. I thought, okay, I won't be too late now.
But he didn't move. He didn't do anything.
Finally, the man sitting behind me asked him when we would be going.
"They have to come untangle me," the driver said.
Thanks for telling us, man. Really.
We all got out.
I could tell that the wires/cables/arms whatever they are were hopelessly tangled. Even if another bus came, it wouldn't be able to get in front of our bus. Cars would be stuck, too, and the J Church.
So I started walking.
There was a pack of us walking down 16th. The further I walked, the more the pack thinned out.
I passed the Victoria Theater, where people were still tucked into sleeping bags beside the front doors.
I trudged up the small hill across from The SPCA.
There was construction at the Potrero Center. It drowned out my headphones.
I kept checking my watch. I ended up making good time, all things considered. When I finally got to work my co-workers told me I should call them next time it happens.
I don't know, though. Even though it was annoying, it was a nice walk.

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