Back in early 2002, when the rain poured down heavily for two days non-stop, I spent four hours waiting for the evening bus home. I waited standing in the rain, under my umbrella, in the long line of people queuing. I couldn't leave my spot, not even to go to toilet. Nobody moved too. Then the bus came, I managed to get a seat. Many others couldn't. The driver encouraged all of us to just go in and stand in the aisle. It was a wet, cold and dark night. Electricity was down due to heavy flood. Traffic was horrible beyond measure. The trip home took another good four hours. We arrived at destination at midnight. And apparently, that bus was the last bus that could reach final station that night. Other buses couldn't make it, they had to spend overnight on the road .. together with the unlucky passengers.
Last Friday, it almost happened again. Only this time, it was a 15-minute rain and thunderstorm instead of 2-day rain. I was this close from running out of my office building to catch my bus home, but the storm was faster. Nothing would survive that thing. So I ended up going back to the office and waited there cautiously, I had planned to run as soon as the rain a bit lightened. When I finally could arrive at the bus stop, through showers, I realized that this was not eight years ago. A short pouring could cause traffic as heavy as it was in 2002. But I didn't want to wait in the rain. I went straight to the building lobby entrance, found an empty spot at the corner and sat on the floor. I waited, wearing my waterproof hooded-jacket, listening to my iPod and playing with my Blackberry. The bus was 2 hours late, I got a seat and it took 1 hour trip to home.
Last Friday, it almost happened again. Only this time, it was a 15-minute rain and thunderstorm instead of 2-day rain. I was this close from running out of my office building to catch my bus home, but the storm was faster. Nothing would survive that thing. So I ended up going back to the office and waited there cautiously, I had planned to run as soon as the rain a bit lightened. When I finally could arrive at the bus stop, through showers, I realized that this was not eight years ago. A short pouring could cause traffic as heavy as it was in 2002. But I didn't want to wait in the rain. I went straight to the building lobby entrance, found an empty spot at the corner and sat on the floor. I waited, wearing my waterproof hooded-jacket, listening to my iPod and playing with my Blackberry. The bus was 2 hours late, I got a seat and it took 1 hour trip to home.
Never would I think I'd be in this situation again two days after. This Monday evening, the next working day from the above mentioned, it was the worst jam of the year. The rainstorm started at 4 pm and lasted for about 3 hours afterwards. I got out of the building early to anticipate the rain, didn't do any good. Still lucky I could get this motorbike-cab rider who was patient enough riding through the rain and leg-deep flood. Though I was wearing my waterproof jacket, it was so cold I couldn't stop shivering. Again, after reaching the bus stop, I went straight to the building lobby entrance and looked for an empty spot to sit. I took my shoes off because it got water in it, and started waiting. Listening to my iPod, playing with my Blackberry, and I got a really good book to read. I also bought my dinner in a box, ate it right there while sitting on the floor. (One lady complimented me on my successful dinner hunting in that difficult situation). When the waiting reached its 3rd hour, I was not the only one sitting at the lobby entrance floor. The bus finally came at the 4th hour. And the trip home took another 2 hours. I reached my home nearly midnight.
So. Looked like I did learn some things to a better comfort from one situation to another. Made the unbearable waiting time bearable to some extend.
(The bus driver suffered worse. I couldn't complain).
Here were the things I did on the 2nd and 3rd waiting:
- Staying warm inside my jacket with hood on.
- Sitting on the floor. I had no shame.
- Listening to Wang Leehom's songs: "Fallen Leaves Return to Roots", "Everything", "Another Heaven", "I Can't Stop Loving You", "The First Morning" and "Forever Love" on repeats.
- Listening to Vic Zhou's songs: "Love is Loving You", "Shattered Tears", "Your Familiar Gentleness", "Suddenly", "A Gentle Goodnight" and "Just for You" on repeats.
- Singing along all songs. Nobody cared. Or if anyone cared, I wouldn't care.
- Reading I'm Stalking Jake! by Becky Heineke for the second time.
- Reading tweets on Twitter.
- Re-reading all posts from this blog. Just for killing time.
- Having fried rice I bought from a hawker stall for dinner.
- Drinking lots and lots of water.
- Going for some restroom breaks, of course!
- Googling some unimportant things.
- Enjoying the view of cars parking bumper to bumper on the road, with beautiful red and golden lights around.
- Snapping a self-pics, captioned it and posted it online for the first time on Facebook.
.. and ..
- Spamming Facebook:
I hereby thank:
Waterproof jacket, iPod, Blackberry, ISJ book, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Wang Leehom, Vic Zhou, Becky Heineke, Gyllenhaalics, the motorbike-cab rider, the food seller, the restroom, the lobby entrance, my friends who commented and liked my Facebook status, my family who kept monitoring my whereabout, the bus driver and Litterzone.
Add:
My iPod is designed to accompany me during traffic jam. This playlist is the most effective evening jam beater.
1 comments:
We should get as many Police officers as compared to Vancouver per population. Becky Zhou
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