On The Bus

There are some strange people on the bus. The more I travel using the local bus service the more I'm beginning to notice the various quirks and learn the etiquette. First you spot the "seat hoppers", these people, usually young, often soldiers, are never happy with the seat they are in. As soon as someone gets off, up they pop and move into the empty seat. There seems to be no order to this constant improving of seat position, sometimes they move forward, sometimes back, often both in the same ride. Then there's the "nodders", also usually soldiers, always tired. The monotonous whine of the bus soon has them nodding off to sleep. Often as their heads droop they suddenly jerk awake, but slowly the weight of their head takes its toll and the nodding begins anew. Its like those nodding birds with the glass of water that were all the rage when I was young.

This morning I noticed the "place holders". These are usually middle aged men who sit in an empty row and strategically place their bags on the seat next to them. They scowl at anyone who dares to think they would move their goods. Usually the only people brave enough to request a move are other grumpy middle aged men who themselves are probably "place holders" when there are empty rows. Of course, there is always at least one "talker". He, usually young, is happy to talk on his cell phone on the top of his voice, making out that his life is way fun and that even though he is on a bus at 6am he parties all night and is really cool. There always are numerous old ladies, some tight lipped, serious and sour, some smiling, fresh smelling and neatly dressed. My favorites are the old men who seem to have all the time in the world and are interested in everyone and everything. This morning the old guy sitting next to me wanted to know what I was listening to, where I worked, and who we going to give Gaza to when the bombing is done? Luckily there is little traffic at that time of the day and we arrived at my stop before we got to the hard questions.