Running late

This morning I was going to take out the trash when I looked at my watch and realized I was running late for my bus, so I left the trash outside the front door (hope it was ok, there) and ran for the bus stop.

At the intersection across the road from the bus stop, while pressing the button for the little green man, I looked down the road and saw the bus coming. I'd just missed the lights so I had to wait for them to cycle, but the bus was approaching, and I would have run across the road like I do sometimes but I never got a large enough break in the traffic.

An elderly Chinese gentleman and his wife normally wait at the stop in mornings with me, and I saw him talking to the bus driver and pointing across the road at me. We have a couple of regular bus drivers, and if you ride the bus often enough you get to know people, not by name, but enough to wish them a good morning.

So I waved at the bus driver, and pressed the button, and prayed for the light to change so I could cross. The driver slowly crept forward and he was probably wanting the light to change, but it didn't, and he crept forward into the intersection, and then, well, he couldn't really stay there, so he drove on through.

I saw the Chinese gentleman looking at me through the window so I waved to him, in appreciation for his willingness to ask the driver to stop. As the light finally changed the bus pulled through the intersection, and stopped, and switched on its flashers.

I ran across the road to the bus stop but once again I was still on the wrong side, and the light was once again against me. But this road is a smaller side street, just one lane each way, with a considerably smaller volume of traffic. Before the light had changed again every car wanting to proceed through the lights had done so, and the way was clear.

I ran across the road, up beside the bus, and the door opened for me. I thanked the driver for waiting and headed up the back to my usual spot. I shook the Chinese gentleman's hand as I passed him and thanked him for asking the bus to stop.

What a beautiful start to the day.