Friday, September 15, 2006

More on riding the bus

Anyone who's been on city buses more than a couple of times has probabaly seen it. Two buses trying to round a sharp corner at the same time. A bus making a right turn, the necessary width of its right turn obscured by a car that has stopped to close to the stop sign. These and other nightmare situations seem to face bus drivers on a nearly daily basis, but they usually manage to steer their vessels through safely.

I find this absolutely amazing.

Now, to me, most of the simple feats involved in driving a bus seem incredibly difficult. It's such a huge contraption, and the roadways are so darn tiny and intricate. But as with most things, I'm sure it's mostly a matter of practicepracticepractice. However, these extraordinary situations I described above seem to be a quantum leap in difficulty above the rest. I've seen some incredible driving, buses passing within a centimeter of each other, or within a centimeter of a car, or a stop sign, or sometimes even a person.

I think that when this happens, when our bus driver performs what, to me, is nearly a feat of miraculous proportions, we ought to give a round of applause. That's right. The entire bus should put hands together in honor of the driver's skill, daring, and composure.

I haven't seen, nor heard, or this happening yet. But on of these days, I'm going to clap. And I hope everyone joins in.

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