Day 59 - 28 February 2012 - a bit of social commentary

Hello!

Day 59 dawned with the announcement that the trains were not running due to an electrical fault in the City. Because I usually take the train to work, this affected me. After dropping my daughter at daycare, instead of driving to the train station, I drove home and walked to the bus stop.  So far, so good. The problem was that, because no trains were running, half the city had decided to DRIVE to work instead of taking alternate public transport. The usual 50 minute bus trip turned into a 1 hour 40 minute trip, sitting stuck in heavy traffic all the way to the City. Compared to my usual 10 - 15 minute train journey, this was a nightmare. I can't read on the bus, I get motion sickness when I try that. So instead, I entertained myself making social commentary on Facebook. I have some of it to share with you. Lucky you!

The first thing I noticed was this sign at the front of the bus:

My reaction? You have GOT to be kidding!! Who in their right mind would SPIT at a bus driver? Or at anyone for that matter. What is this world coming to?? Seriously! The fact that they made a sign means that this problem is way more prevalent than I would ever have imagined. Disgusting.

The second thing I noticed was that I had a very good view of the traffic around me from my vantage point up in the bus. One example of what I saw is this:

Yes, this moron is driving (the car was moving) AND working on his laptop at the same time. I'm not sure he could reach the steering wheel behind his monitor there. I'm not sure if he is using the street directory to keep the laptop heat off his lap, or if he was lost... probably lost, since he's obviously missing some essential brain cells. That is a pen in his right hand, just to make sure he really couldn't react in an emergency, like if he needed to actually DRIVE the car he was sitting in as it moved him along.

I saw many more examples of stupidity - the usual texting/talking on the phone (not hands free), doing the makeup in the rear vision mirror while driving along, one guy was talking on the phone and taking notes in his  A4 sized notebook that he had propped up on the steering wheel. I'm not sure what they thought they might do if a person (or child) walked out unexpectedly onto the road, or if the traffic didn't do exactly what they anticipated. When driving a car, and the car is moving, the sensible and safe option is to drive the car and refrain from any other activities. There is nothing so urgent that needs to be done while driving that you would risk your own or others' lives to do it. If it is that urgent, it is possible to pull over and do it while the car is stationary. And now I'll jump down off my soapbox.

Suffice to say, I am back on the train for my trip to and from work.

:-)
Michelle