Last Night I Drove A Bus
In my dreams. Last dream of the morning went on for a considerable length because I had overslept the alarm. But, I'm glad I did; it was very enjoyable; I dreamt I was a bus driver.
It was some sort of airport or Marine Terminal shuttle bus because their were lots of business type travelers on it; and the route was very strange; it went roughly the distance of Manhattan from about Chinatown (the famed Chinatown bus?) to the tip of Manhattan, where there was some sort of terminal.
There is absolutely no explanation how I got involved or how I was able to navigate the thing so expertly! I only made a couple of mistakes, like missing stops. The whole thing was operated my using my hands and staring at a something very like a giant computer screen that would tell me if I was nearing a stop -- and even whether there were people waiting. In fact, it was almost impossible to see outside a real window because the seat was perched so high, practically to the ceiling; all that was visible was the street a few feet in front of me and a little bit to the driver's side of the bus. There was not even a rear view mirror. And the braking and acceleration were all done by pressing with either my finger tips or the heel of my palm, a matrix of buttons located on the ceiling above my head. Even the steering was done this way. It was a little like driving with a joystick.
The scariest moments were when I came to some construction and didn't see the detour; I continued driving until I came to the edge of a long staircase that ended below street level (it looked very like the World Trade Center construction site.) But, no problem, I just backed the bus up and while narrowly missing some parked cars, was able to find the correct lane of traffic.
The other near mishap was that toward the end of the dream, I couldn't find the entrance to the terminal; there was so much construction and signs pointing in different directions. I remember driving until the very water's edge of Manhattan Island and then turning around in this fairly spacious vacant lot to find my way back to the correct entrance. The passengers were very patient throughout this; they seemed to know that this was my first time; also, that they couldn't have done much better themselves.
It was a very ego boosting dream. And possibly sexual. I know Allen and I spent some time the other night, talking about careers and career counseling while at school. I can remember as a very young tike having some ambivalence about bus driving and bus drivers; everything about them seemed ungainly and subject to the whims of annoying people. And yet, there they were, in charge of this tremendous instrument (see where I'm going with this?) The joystick was the giveaway. ;)
It was some sort of airport or Marine Terminal shuttle bus because their were lots of business type travelers on it; and the route was very strange; it went roughly the distance of Manhattan from about Chinatown (the famed Chinatown bus?) to the tip of Manhattan, where there was some sort of terminal.
There is absolutely no explanation how I got involved or how I was able to navigate the thing so expertly! I only made a couple of mistakes, like missing stops. The whole thing was operated my using my hands and staring at a something very like a giant computer screen that would tell me if I was nearing a stop -- and even whether there were people waiting. In fact, it was almost impossible to see outside a real window because the seat was perched so high, practically to the ceiling; all that was visible was the street a few feet in front of me and a little bit to the driver's side of the bus. There was not even a rear view mirror. And the braking and acceleration were all done by pressing with either my finger tips or the heel of my palm, a matrix of buttons located on the ceiling above my head. Even the steering was done this way. It was a little like driving with a joystick.
The scariest moments were when I came to some construction and didn't see the detour; I continued driving until I came to the edge of a long staircase that ended below street level (it looked very like the World Trade Center construction site.) But, no problem, I just backed the bus up and while narrowly missing some parked cars, was able to find the correct lane of traffic.
The other near mishap was that toward the end of the dream, I couldn't find the entrance to the terminal; there was so much construction and signs pointing in different directions. I remember driving until the very water's edge of Manhattan Island and then turning around in this fairly spacious vacant lot to find my way back to the correct entrance. The passengers were very patient throughout this; they seemed to know that this was my first time; also, that they couldn't have done much better themselves.
It was a very ego boosting dream. And possibly sexual. I know Allen and I spent some time the other night, talking about careers and career counseling while at school. I can remember as a very young tike having some ambivalence about bus driving and bus drivers; everything about them seemed ungainly and subject to the whims of annoying people. And yet, there they were, in charge of this tremendous instrument (see where I'm going with this?) The joystick was the giveaway. ;)