Standing Where You're Not Allowed
Last night I waited, with a few friends, about half an hour for the 14 Mission bus, around 2 am. It was taking an excessively-long time to show up. But, as they almost always do, it eventually came. We cheered tiredly at the pending arrival, only to gasp moments later when the bus was close enough that we could see the 500 people in it, give or take. The driver pulled up, opened the doors and told us "come on in, we'll make room!" Apparently the bus before him had crapped out before our stop.
The five of us stepped in, with only enough room inside for us to stand in the stairwell of the bus. The driver closed the doors and called out to me to not let the door close on my ass (I was the last to get on). I told him it just had, but that I was ok.
Quite a ride. It kept occurring to me that I was riding in the most taboo spot on a bus. Not only was I past the yellow line that you don't pass, but I was standing on the stairs! And not just on the stairs, but the bottom stair to boot, holding on to the diagonal rail along the door for stability. My feet were mere inches above street level. It was exhilarating.
Our ride was only about 12 blocks (we should have walked), but those 12 blocks included about 10 stops. At each stop, the driver would call out... "Doors opening for Mission and 16th"... "Doors opening for Mission and 18th"... and every time, I either had to get off the bus to let someone out, or I would just stand there, watch the doors open, look out at the storefronts, watch the doors close, grab the rail, and ride. Ride, ride, ride.
At one point the driver called for people to make room: "Ok, now, everybody fill up the spaces, fill up any of the spaces," to which some guy added, "uh, that would be your ears, your armpits, and uh, your buttholes." Just about the whole bus laughed at that one. Then there was this not-so-funny guy standing next to me who kept saying things like "this isn't exactly a clown car" and "where's the keg when you need it" and something to the effect of "try going in the back door (huh huh... huh huh huh)."
The five of us stepped in, with only enough room inside for us to stand in the stairwell of the bus. The driver closed the doors and called out to me to not let the door close on my ass (I was the last to get on). I told him it just had, but that I was ok.
Quite a ride. It kept occurring to me that I was riding in the most taboo spot on a bus. Not only was I past the yellow line that you don't pass, but I was standing on the stairs! And not just on the stairs, but the bottom stair to boot, holding on to the diagonal rail along the door for stability. My feet were mere inches above street level. It was exhilarating.
Our ride was only about 12 blocks (we should have walked), but those 12 blocks included about 10 stops. At each stop, the driver would call out... "Doors opening for Mission and 16th"... "Doors opening for Mission and 18th"... and every time, I either had to get off the bus to let someone out, or I would just stand there, watch the doors open, look out at the storefronts, watch the doors close, grab the rail, and ride. Ride, ride, ride.
At one point the driver called for people to make room: "Ok, now, everybody fill up the spaces, fill up any of the spaces," to which some guy added, "uh, that would be your ears, your armpits, and uh, your buttholes." Just about the whole bus laughed at that one. Then there was this not-so-funny guy standing next to me who kept saying things like "this isn't exactly a clown car" and "where's the keg when you need it" and something to the effect of "try going in the back door (huh huh... huh huh huh)."
posted at 8:35 PM
2 Comments:
good to see you back on here!
chad needs to update his blog
Post a Comment
<< Home