On the buses

Way back here I mentioned how I was a big brave boy and went on a long train ride and how it was out of character because daahling, I don't do public transport!  Well these days I semi-regularly catch the train to work and love the fact that on those days I'm not fighting with peak hour traffic and then hunting for, or paying ridiculous amounts for parking.  But I digress.

 

Being the adventurous soul that I am, yesterday I availed myself to another new transport experience.  I caught a bus to work!  There is a bus stop two minutes walk from home and I've never used it so I thought why not (oh ok, so I was running late and wasn't going to make it to the train station on time).  All I can say is WOW.

 

The first thing I noticed was that the bus was less than half full and at least half of the passengers were elderly.  Perfect, I thought, no problems there.  So then the bus set off.  Well, Mr Bus-driver must have thought he was Sandra Bullock from the movie Speed.  He had the bus lurching full blast from stop to stop and flying around corners like it would explode if he slowed down.

 

At this point I should point out that I had positioned myself in the second last seat at the back of the bus.  This raised seat provided a clear view of the entire bus so I could be the weirdo bus monitor people watch.  That brings me to the people.  Along the way all manner of people boarded and alighted the bus but four parties made an impression shall we say.  First up was a lovely elderly couple.  The man wandered up the aisle of the bus while his wife paid the driver but he stood in the aisle until she joined him and waited until she was seated before sitting next to her and then minding her bag for her - it was lovely.

 

Next up were two young mums (seriously, they were kids themselves) each with a young child.  One child was well behaved and sat with her mum, whereas the other one was, in a word, feral.  This child's mother alternated between a loud phone conversation about her drinking plans for the weekend and screaming at the top of her lungs "Jayden get back 'ere 'n' siddown or I'm gunna belt ya".

 

Next to board were two of the most gorgeous people I've seen in a while.  A young stylish 20-something couple who were clearly besotted with each other.  They sat on the back seat of the bus on the opposite side of the bus to me.  And then they spoke.  In fluent French.  I lurve all things French and although I had no idea what they were saying it was delightful just hearing their chatter.  The bus suddenly seemed to go up-market.

 

Lastly, a couple boarded who appeared to be in their thirties.  They slowly wandered to the back of the bus and sat right behind me.  They both needed a good bath and she was clearly off her chops on something and was basically zombie.  Whatever he had taken had him buzzing at 200 miles an hour.  Then he started to talk to her.  The (one sided) conversation went something like this. "Babe, babe, I'm gonna go and be like all over him.  He shouldn't do that to ya.  I'm gonna beat the fuck out of him.  I'm gonna fuck him up and I don't care if I go back to prison for it."  Again my eyes were like dinner plates as I nervously listened.  I got off the bus a stop earlier than my stop just to get away from them!  After regaling this story at work, colleagues informed me that right near the bus stop where this couple boarded is a methadone clinic.  Explained a lot really.

 

All in all it was an enlightening bus adventure, and I'm not sure when (if) I will do it again.

 

A couple of things I'm greatful for:

• Sunglasses - at least the crazies passengers couldn't see that my eyes were like dinner plates as I stared on.  My open mouth probably gave it away though (maybe not, maybe they just thought I "fitted in").
• Ipod and earbuds - you can pretend to listen to music while eavesdropping on all kinds of crazy.  It also means they won't try to talk to you.

 

Do you have any public transport tales you'd like to share?  Please do, I'd love to hear about them.

 

G. xx

A Rudeness Rant

Apologies up front if this post offends as I don't wish to come across as rude when I'm about to do the whole finger waving and hands on hips thing about rudeness.

 

Okay some background.  The lovely Wayne and I have been on holidays this week.  We tend to have holidays that DON'T coincide with school holidays so that we avoid the crowds and all that that brings.  This week was no different as the school holidays had just ended.  We spent a lovely few days away at Nelson Bay in Port Stephens where we did all kinds of holiday stuff like eating and drinking.  Oh yes, we also went for walks and did some touristy sight-seeing stuff.  One of the touristy things we did was a boat trip from Nelson Bay to Tea Gardens with lunch at the Tea Gardens pub (opposite the Myall River), then the return boat trip back to Nelson Bay.  All in all it was a lovely day and we spoke to some lovely and friendly people.  We even saw dolphins swimming close to the boat.  But I digress.

 

For a change, the lovely Wayne and I were two of the younger passengers on the boat (there was a family of 7 that were younger than us!).  Now I am not ageist, truly.  That being said, the remaining 60 passengers on the boat were elderly people mature Australians.  Now I have always had the utmost respect for elderly people mature Australians and would be mortified if anyone treated my parents other than with great respect, BUT, a couple of the elderly people mature Australians on the boat were incredibly rude.  Now I'm no manners nazi, but it really irked me that these people could be so rude.  For example, when lining up to board the boat at Nelson Bay everyone was in an orderly queue on the jetty when this rude elderly couple mature Australian couple just pushed in front of the lovely Wayne and I.  If that wasn't enough, they did the same thing at the pub to order lunch and again to board the boat for the return trip.  And these were just the examples that we saw.

 

Image source

 

Now my mum instilled in me from a very young age to respect your elders and always offer them your seat etc, and I indeed do.  But seriously, this elderly couple mature Australian couple were just plain rude.  Everyone else was chatty and friendly on the boat and they just ignored everyone.  I guess it just pissed me off as I know that my late grandparents would have sooner walked to the moon than be like that.  I think the thing that 'did it' for me was that here was this pair being total a-holes when there was a young family (mum, dad, and 5 kids under 12) in which the 5 children were amongst the loveliest, most courteous, well behaved children you could meet.

 

Am I being too harsh?  Were they just having a bad day?  Who knows.  We didn't let them spoil our day, and in hindsight I guess I feel sad for them.

 

What are your thoughts on rude elderly people mature Australians?  Or even rude people in general.

 

G. xx

 

PS - no elderly people mature Australians were harmed in the writing of this post.

 

PPS - most elderly people mature Australians are awesome!