Bus Trip
Rob was working late today so I planned on taking the bus home. My shift ends at 3:30 PM, but I'm usually not out of there until 4:00 or so because a call will inevitably come in at 3:29 and even if it's a short one then I'll still have slew of trouble reports in my box that I need to finish off before I leave. Today we were really slammed with calls and I agreed to work a bit later to help out. I was more than ready to high-tail it out of there after what was most definitely a day from hell, but I stuck it out as long as I could stand it, until about 4:45. I caught the 5:00 bus by literally running to the bus stop.

It's a very rare occasion to see me running, but I knew I had an hour long trip ahead of me and I didn't want to delay it by waiting another 30 minutes for the next bus. I made it, but soon realized catching the 5 o'clock bus was a mistake. This bus is frequently standing room only for a stretch of the way at any time of the day, but I've never seen it quite so packed like sardines as it was this time. I hate crowds and it was a miracle I didn't hyperventilate. I would have been better chilling out on the bus stop for 30 minutes after the day I had just experienced at work. At some point on the trip I decided a cold beer or two was in order once I got home and since there wasn't any in the 'fridge, I figured I'd stop on the way and grab a six-pack.

I decided against HEB because I'd have to catch the same bus again and then transfer down the way meaning two more waits for a bus, but the Akbar & Jeff's mini-mart is right next my usual transfer point. Except that transfer point is usually populated by crack-heads and gangsters and it was getting dark so I opted instead to stay on the bus to another transfer point at the end of the line which was located in a more hospitable area, directly behind Central Market.

Unfortunately Central Market doesn't have a back entrance and while it's not that far to walk all the way around the sprawling strip mall complex, my ankles were definitely letting me know that I should not have run to catch the bus earlier. And then there's the whole Central Market experience which I thought would be much less stressful than the HEB. Well, there weren't any unsupervised children running wild, but there were a whole lot of pushy people in a hurry and I was literally whisked through the store by the momentum. It was an odd contrast to HEB where large groups of people blocking the aisles is the norm. And the check out lines were short, very short! Too bad I can't afford to shop here on a regular basis.

Another treck around the strip mall and after a short wait for the bus that goes by my house I was home by 6:30. Not too bad. Plus, the trip seemed to have cleared out some of those brain cobwebs that I usually have after a day on the phones. I wonder if it was the walking or the reflective time spent sitting on the bus staring into space? Either way, it's something I'd like to duplicate on a regular basis. The cobweb clearing that is, definitely not the bus ride.