Bus Report #761

A most pleasant ride on the 19 Polk Tuesday night, though I thought it would be bad, since the buses were running (it seemed) very sporadically. In fact, when I left the office, NextBus said 7 minutes and 47 minutes. I was not looking forward to riding an overcrowded 19 Polk. It is, not to be overly dramatic (but being that way anyway!), a kind of hell.

I got on by the brewery and started walking to the back of the bus, when I saw a familiar, smiling face sitting a few steps away from me. It was A., who I haven’t seen in a while but who I have been trying to catch up with lately. Excellent.

I slid in to the seat beside her and we spent the duration of her ride chatting and joking around. I always like running in to people on Muni and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else on the 19 Polk who I’ve been glad to see.

We discussed summer plans (not many), news (not much), and joked about a recent shark week movie, which led us to coming up with a new shark disaster movie idea that we think would look great as a Claymation.

A. disembarked at Market and I moved over to a window seat. The ride was surprisingly quick, devoid of the usual drama. I saw a couple regulars: the elderly woman who always slumps in her seat, napping, until we get to California Street. The heavyset, greasy man with the overstuffed backpack. 

A group of tourist kids consulted a map by the library.

A woman wore an outfit that made her look exactly like Waldo of Where’s Waldo? fame. Her glasses looked fake but the rest of the outfit was believable.

A few blocks away, a man standing on the sidewalk chatting with his buddy wore a T-shirt that said, “I [Heart] Hot Moms.”

At Polk and Sutter, a petite girl squatted in the doorway of a shoe store and play-wrestled with a beige French Bulldog.

The bus fast approached my stop and I reluctantly paused the Offramp podcast I was listening to. I’d get back to it a few hours later, on the ride home from It’s A Grind.