BUScapades

It is -35 C out there. That's mighty cold. For some reason it "enhances" the smell of cigarette smoke on clothes. As an ex-smoker the smell is infinitely more offensive. (sidebar: did I really smell that bad? Gross!)
So these two ladies get on the bus downtown. One sits in front of me on the side bench and the other next to me. The stench of stale smoke coming from my seat mate is inducing nausea. So I pulled my scarf over my nose. The lady in front of me is now giving me furtive looks. I try not to make eye contact with people on the bus as it generally leads to awkward unwanted conversations. Finally she says, "sorry about the smoke smell". I replied, with a wry smile that I now realize she can't see with my scarf over my face, "it's worse in winter.". She gives me a look, then fidgets for a few minutes. Then she gives me a dirty look and says, "well now you are making me feel embarrassed!". Since the beginning of this encounter I've been looking out the window not staring pointedly at her. In fact, I thought it was the lady next to me that stank. With another dirty look, she stands up huffily and goes to sit elsewhere.
Two things: a. Problem solved. b. I did not embarrass you ma'am. You embarrassed yourself. If you are self concious about the smell......quit smoking!

Well that's my rant for now.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Well my first bus (that is normally 5 min early) was 20 min late...so I missed my transfer bus and have to wait another 10 min in a bus stop that smells like urine.
Joy to the world - knew I shoulda stayed in bed today.
GennyK

BUScapades

This evening's bus has "new bus smell". It's the nicest smelling bus I have ever encountered in this city!

Woot!

Jenga
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BUScapades

I just missed my 0740 bus. Why couldn't this new covering of snow have made it just 2 minutes late!

Jenga
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BUScapades

Well there's a sight I never thought I'd see! Punk girl on bus. Complete with chains, leather, goth makeup, big black hair and.....wait for it........SPARKLY LEG WARMERS!

Jenga
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BUScapades

The geese are leaving for southern climes. The leaves are brightly coloured orange, red, and yellow. I have taken out my vast collection of scarves to ward off the cool Autumn morning bite. And yet.........

IT'S OCTOBER AND I'M STILL WEARING FLIP FLOPS! WAHOO!

...but I digress.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

YAY I’m not the only awkward person riding the bus !

 

This morning several people were getting off at a bus stop close to work.

The last person, a stylish young career type girl gets off but didn’t feel the need to press the strip to hold the door open.

The door closes on her shoulder, arm & leg…so she is on the curb with basically one arm & leg stuck in the bus!

So she awkwardly wrestles her limbs out of the door, giving a little grunt noise as she does it…

This totally destroys her ‘professional’ image and you realize she’s just a spaz like everyone else

 

GennyK

 

BUScapades

This afternoon's bus ride was fun. First this lady hit the book I was reading with the purse hanging over her shoulder every 30 seconds. Willing to let that go as it was a full bus. However, when some people got off, she took advantage of the added space and moved to face me. Now, I'm sitting facing the aisle and she's standing facing me.

I know I'm not petite but I'm probably too aware of my personal space. So now it's her large belly that is constantly hitting the spine of my book. How can this be comfortable for her? The worst part was that as I was contemplating a nice way to ask her to move.....a hair falls off her head and lands on my page. *shudder* Game Over.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

So many nervous mothers at bus stops today sending their children to school...partly nervous for their kids and partly trying to keep the grin from showing 'Yes! They are finally out of the house!'
GennyK

Sent from my iPhone

BUScapades

Well, this is a new one! Some dude at the back of the bus is playing a radio out loud - no headphones.

......and he just got off the bus! Thank goodness....he was playing some crap rap!

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Well, this morning I rode the ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver. Then took a bus from the ferry to downtown. Now on skytrain (which is currently underground and therefore a subway) from downtown to the airport where I'll board a plane. Any form of transport I've missed?

Ps. The subway smells like pee. Ewwww.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Being North American, I have a certain expectation of personal space.  Sometimes, before I get annoyed when someone else invades my personal space, I have to remind myself that there are other cultures that have never been afforded as much space due to population overcrowding.

This morning on the bus, a little lady got on and sat beside me.  At one point, she took advantage of a turn to futher establish her hold on the seat, thereby tucking herself almost under my arm.  She then proceded to do that sleeping nod off repeatedly waking herself up when she hit my shoulder with her head. 

I found it amusing.

Jenga

BUScapades

Turns out you can still learn something new every day, even at my advanced age...LOL.

I was sitting on the bus and the lady reading in front of me had dog-eared her page to mark her spot.  Only then, after 30 something years of reading, did I understand why they call it dog-eared.  When you fold down the page.....it looks like a dog's ear!  Seriously, am I the only one who didn't know this?

Jenga

BUScapades

The driver of this 29 honks as he pulls up to each stop. Most unusual.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

The bus is actually somewhat boring in summer…

With everyone on summer holidays there isn’t the usual array of intriguing characters to keep me entertained.

GennyK

 

 

BUScapades

Borat was has been on my bus all week.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Jeggings:  not for everyone.

jenga

BUS*cough*capades

Guy sitting next to me just dropped the most toxic fart.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

3 things (3 stories if you will GennyK):
1.  Funny story - a girl was sitting on the side seats at the front of the bus.  She gets up and comes over to my seat and says, "Do you mind if I sit here?  I didn't realize I was sitting in the handicap seating and I feel like a jackass."  I told her not to worry, she could sit with me, and that she really only needs to move out of "priority seating" if someone handicapped gets on
2.  Who smells like booze on the bus at 0830 in the morning!?  Dear sir, you need help.
3.  I had to wash my hands the minute I got to the office this morning.  I touched the pole for support on the bus and there was something sticky on it.  Completely creeped me out.

BUScapades

Ahhhhh.....sweet air conditioned bus!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BIScapades

The hot and humid days of summer are here. It's not 8 am yet and the humidex is climbing. I got a window seat on the West side and the window is open to a heavenly breeze!
I dread the afternoon ride home if the bus won't have AC.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

I like sitting in the back of the bus…the seats are higher so my feet don’t reach the ground.

Makes me feel like a kid to swing my legs J

 

GennyK

 

BUScapades

Why do people reach across you to pull the ‘stop’ notification string when they are sitting right beside a pole that has a ‘stop’ button?

 

GennyK

BUS-cat-pades!

There was a cat on the bus today.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

It's raining and humid. Bus smells like wet dog.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Just sat though 30 min of a woman loudly complaining, on a crowded bus, about everything from banks to funerals.

Dear Loud Lady;
You know we can ALL hear you right? Please don't tell us your bank username and password.

Sigh....

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

This morning on the express, I sang Bohemian Rhapsody in my head all the way downtown.
" thunderbolts and lightening. Very very frightening"!

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Apparently taking the bus everyday has turned me into an idiot.

The other day I was just going to drive to my bus stop and park at the SuperStore so I could run errands after work.

Well, in my haze of being on auto-pilot I was half-way down Academy before I realized that I forgot to park at my bus stop!

UGH

 

GennyK

BUScapades

This morning has been "look-a-like" day on the bus. I've seen: Brent Spiner (Star Trek's Data), a poor man's Colin Farrell, Charlie Manson (minus the face tattoos), a chick that looked like Chris Farley, and my personal fave Colonel Sanders..

Hill air eee us.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Why do people get on the bus and then block the entrance aisle digging through their bag/pockets looking for their fare or bus pass?
Didn't they know they were going to take the bus? "well I was going to fly to work, but then this bus appears and I thought, why not?"

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Confession time. I'm fat (no, that's not the confession, that is stating the obvious) but not SO fat that I take up two bus seats. Sometimes on the ride home, I sit so that it looks like I take up a seat and a half to discourage seat partners. Sometimes I just like to sit uncrowded. But only if the bus is not full.

Is that so wrong?

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Today a large woman sat next to me in a space too small for her butt. Then she got the hiccups!
So, now I'm crammed in and can't move and she's elbowing me every 20 seconds.

TGIF

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Ah, the spring/summer bus season is upon us and seat selection becomes crucial.

If you CAN get a seat, that is, positioning yourself to adjust for the hot afternoon sun is key!  Sitting with the sun beating down on one side of your face the whole way is very unpleasant.  Make sure you get a seat on the "west side" on the way to work and a seat on the "east side" on the way home. 

To add to the conumdrum, half of the buses are not equipped with AC.  So, either you will be boiling hot and packed in with other commuters smelling a little too "gamey" or shivering because the driver has the AC cranked high enough to keep frozen foods in your grocery bags from melting!  The seat selection dilemma applies to either situation. 

Happy riding!

Jenga

BUScapades

It's April already! This morning I got up on time and enjoyed a nice long shower. I was excited to wear a spring coat and backless shoes. I took care to do both hair and makeup. It was very relaxing. I arrived at my bus stop with time to spare. Just then, a wave of panic hit me! It's April already! I was going to use my March pass to board the bus! I rarely carry cash much less jingly change.
So I'm dumping the contents of my tote on the bus stop bench to dig for change 2 minutes before the bus arrives.

Aren't I the biggest belated April fool this morning?!

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Spring has sprung......
a leak!

I love the lighter coats, the loss of mittens, wooly hats and scarves covering our faces. I love the colourful patterned rubber rain boots! I love going to work in daylight and returning while there is still daylight! The green new grass is peeking through the old brown grass.
Soon, the buses will be empty with the lack of students!

And most of all.........IT'S ALMOST FLIP FLOP WEATHER!

Have a great weekend!

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Bus is so packed this morning that we've stopped picking up passengers!
Morning smile: playing peekaboo with a very giggly little girl across the aisle.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

LOTS of people didn't change their clocks over the weekend....

My normally 'standing room only' #29 had only 10 people on it by the time we arrived at work.

Almost made me feel like I had changed my clocks TOO far forward !

GennyK

BUScapades

Well, somebody (the bus driver) didn't change his clock. He.was late picking me up today.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

I don't understand the cattle-herd mentality of people feeling the need to log-jam the entrance of the bus a full stop ahead of their destination.

 

Today on my regular 29 there were 7 people already standing 'prepping' for the Bannatyne stop while we were still at Cumberland. Then when we got to Notre Dame and 4 people on the street actually wanted to board the bus, these 7 people basically refused to get out of the way, the new people had to SHOVE their way through them.

Seriously - the bus will stop long enough for EVERYONE to get off, let's be a little bit more courteous to our fellow transit riders, okay?

 

GennyK

BUScapades

The nice thing about a regular bus driver is when he sees you on the meridian and you can't cross against the light and traffic and he stops and waits for you!
Thanks driver, route 62 downtown, who looks like Ron Jeremy!

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

(null)

GennyK and I, the fearless "buspoolers" have deemed ourselves idiots this morning.

BUScapades

There is a woman sitting next to me reading her book to herself aloud in a whisper.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Smokers are hilarious. As an ex-smoker myself......I understand the addiction. This lady is 5 stops from home and already has a smoke out of the pack and ready to go.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

 

So sweet - yesterday on the way home I sat beside this man in his late 40's. He had 4 bundles of flowers, one large assortment for his wife and 3 smaller ones where they were individual roses for his daughters...and then a neatly tied parcel gift for his mother. He was so sweet - he was visiting with me and as he got up to get off wished me a happy valentines day, maybe I would get a floral delivery as well....

 

This morning there were several commuters (all male) who had obvious flower wrappings sticking out of their backpacks - everyone was very smiley & chatty. It was nice to see people so happy on the bus.

I was wished for a moment that I had someone to bring me flowers....and then when I got to work, one of the nursing clerks DID bring me some.

 

Love comes from where you need it, not where you want it.

BUScapades

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

This morning's commute is on a bus so old. How old is it?
It has more shakes and rattles than Tina Turner's ass.
There's an advert for a new innovation called "beltless feminine protection"
The grafitti reads Moses wuz here

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

Well, aside from GennyK's nail clipper incident, the ride of late has been
mundane. I suspect the cold is keeping the crazies at bay.

It bears mention that with all the parkas and bags and boots...the bus is
squishier for seating/standing room. I am not a fan of the invasion of my
personal space. In fact, last week I fell victim to the
"backpackussmackus". This always reminds me of my sister at Expo86 in
Vancouver.

My baby sister was ADD back in the day when it was called hyperactive. We
were waiting in line to take the sky rail train and with her backpack she
whipped around to point out some exciting sight, in the process smacking two
Japanese tourists right in the face. She apologized, of course, and they
smiled and nodded nervously and hastily moved into another line to get away
from her. 15 minutes later, we gleefully moved from tram to tram trying to
find seats. Imagine, if you will, the look of terror on the faces of the
very same Japanese couple as we burst into their tram. They couldn't
understand why we were laughing hysterically. What can I say...we were
kids.

Jenga

BUScapades

This bus smells like mothballs. Mothballs remind me of Tante Katie.

*smiles*

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

This morning McDonald's dude and I had an actual conversation!
He's very soft spoken, 54 yrs old, and he works the night shift at the McDonald's across the street from my place.
His 20-something manager told him last night that he's too old to work there. So we commiserated about the injustice of agism.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

My bus-pool buddy is a good listener...

Just saying ;)

 

GennyK

BUScapades

Well, I've been a "busser" for a while now. After awhile you feel a sense of community with the other riders. People you commute with everyday but rarely, if ever, speak to.

There's McDonald's dude, we exchange "good mornings" at the bus stop and the occasional "cold enough for ya?". Kobo reader dog lady, who lives and walks her large dog on my mother's street. Bus driving Ron Jeremy. What is that stitch on her great knit hats in 4 different colours lady. "The stroller people"......don't get me started! The foreign university student crowd who seems to move as one onto the bus and shuffle, again as one, off the bus...they are loud. Then at the stop in Wolseley, there's "I smoke pot for breakfast" dude.....we all get a contact high from his smell.

My little eclectic bus family.....I wonder what they call me?

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BUScapades

I enjoy my morning walk to the bus.

It gets the blood flowing first thing, gives me time to reflect on the day.

Sometimes if the sky is super clear I can still see the moon & stars shimmering nicely. I notice all the new trails in the snow that the bush bunnies have created overnight.

- It makes me happy -

 

About half-way to the bus stop I always walk in front of this silver car merging north onto Kenaston. And then I see it again....AT MY BUS STOP.

Its a wonderful parent driving his 2 able-bodied teenaged daughters to the heated bus shelter.

They get out and scamper inside wearing thin trendy coats and then proceed to spend the next 3 minutes checking their hair/make-up using the mirror app on their iPhones.

 

Is it bad that this annoys me?

I fully understand that I'm a country bumpkin and we had to walk to the bus every morning (where there was no heated shelter)...but these 2 girls can't even walk ½ a block every day? And their father watches everyone else (average age late 30's) walk to this bus stop while he's in the car with his daughters?

 

How can our youth find the wonder in our great earth if they are so busy primping & preening?

 

GennyK

BUScapades

Riding the late bus is a lot like riding the short bus. The IQ of the passengers drops exponentially after 8 AM. I feel so SMRT right now.

Jenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

BBBBUScapades

I know I said I wouldn't Blog about weather but it's -40 outside today. INCONCEIVABLE! (I do not think you know what that word means)

JJJJJenga
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network