What traffic?
Early this morning the weather blessed us with some snow, a bit of sleet, and after that it hovered around freezing and couldn't make up its mind if it was raining or snowing. I slept in a bit, confident that I could catch my bus around 9 and still be in the office by 10 (after transferring to a different bus downtown). The radio traffic report said that there had been a minor accident with two trolley buses northbound into downtown (the opposite direction I would be going), and that there was a 31-block traffic jam behind it. Well, no big deal. The buses that I take south out of downtown run every 15 minutes - even if they have trouble getting into downtown, they still shouldn't be that far apart, right?
I was running a bit later than planned, making it out of the house around 9:30 instead of 9 - but luckily I picked up a bus to downtown after waiting only about two minutes. Reached downtown, walked the two blocks to the express bus station, and looked at the electronic signage. "First 98 B-Line - 32 minutes". It quickly counted down to 31, then 30, and then back up to 36. But Lo! I see an express bus coming around the corner! Other people also waiting were quite excited, as it was rather icy/wet and windy, not the best conditions to be waiting at the bus stop. And Lo! the bus was running really late, the driver was [apparently] going off-duty, and his bus destination read "NOT IN SERVICE". As he dropped off his passengers and drove off, spirits were low. And now the first bus was going to arrive in 42 minutes!
Okay, that was enough. I walked the two blocks back to where I had gotten off the bus, caught another bus heading back to my house, and went home. I let my wife know that the buses were screwed and in fact I needed the car today after all, and then drove to work - making it there before that 42-minute-late bus even would have picked me up at the station downtown. And on my drive to work, I saw three semis, stuck by the tiny bit of snow and ice that was on the road.
Whee!
I was running a bit later than planned, making it out of the house around 9:30 instead of 9 - but luckily I picked up a bus to downtown after waiting only about two minutes. Reached downtown, walked the two blocks to the express bus station, and looked at the electronic signage. "First 98 B-Line - 32 minutes". It quickly counted down to 31, then 30, and then back up to 36. But Lo! I see an express bus coming around the corner! Other people also waiting were quite excited, as it was rather icy/wet and windy, not the best conditions to be waiting at the bus stop. And Lo! the bus was running really late, the driver was [apparently] going off-duty, and his bus destination read "NOT IN SERVICE". As he dropped off his passengers and drove off, spirits were low. And now the first bus was going to arrive in 42 minutes!
Okay, that was enough. I walked the two blocks back to where I had gotten off the bus, caught another bus heading back to my house, and went home. I let my wife know that the buses were screwed and in fact I needed the car today after all, and then drove to work - making it there before that 42-minute-late bus even would have picked me up at the station downtown. And on my drive to work, I saw three semis, stuck by the tiny bit of snow and ice that was on the road.
Whee!