Beach Town Bus Driver

June has given way to July and the "June Bugs" are waning as more families are arriving for their summer vacations. This can make for a somewhat volatile mix on the bus. I had a pretty full load of passengers on a northbound trip last night. There were several families with small children making their way back from an evening on the boardwalk. Mixed in among them were a bunch of June bugs who had been out drinking and partying. Somewhere in the back of the bus there was a very loud foul-mouthed girl. I couldn't see her because there were quite a few people standing in the aisle of the bus. But I certainly could hear her as she ranted, "f***" this and "f***" that. Some of the passengers back there started to tell her to watch her mouth because there were children on the bus. It made no difference to her. She just kept on going. Popular sentiment being against her, I knew I could get rid of this little sweetheart without even getting out of my seat. I made the stop at 16th Street and announced on the P.A., "This is 16. And the girl with the limited vocabulary back there, this is your stop. You passengers back there, please let me know when she goes out that back door because I'm not moving this bus until she is gone." The people back there immediately started yelling at her, "Get out! Get out!" At first she resisted, saying "I paid my f***ing two dollars. I don't have to get off this f***ing bus." But the crowd was too much for her and she either quickly gave up or her friends dragged her off of the bus in fear of the swelling opposition. She was kind enough to wave good-bye to me as she and her friends walked past the bus on the sidewalk. I got a squatting, two-fisted, middle finger salute with the tongue sticking out. Cute girl --- reminded me of a gargoyle. I said to my remaining passengers, "That little princess is going to make some lucky young man very happy one day." They laughed and clapped as we drove on to the next stop.

Sympathy and prayers to all of the victims and their families and friends.

Is there anything that we can do?
Yes, conserve energy.
Why is this important?

See: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050707/why_london_why_now.php

See: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0516-25.htm

Yes, I'm still alive and I'm still drivin' the nightline. We have just navigated through the 4th of July holiday weekend and man-oh-man did we move a lot of people. I'm hoping that was the peak for the season and everything will be downhill from here.

I don't know whether I have been suffering from writer's block or if the job has started to become routine. A few interesting things have happened in the last couple of weeks, but nothing that I thought worthy of the blog. I guess I'll have to hone my creative writing skills and embellish the stories a bit for your entertainment. So far, believe it or not, I haven't had to do that.

I always try to make the bus ride pleasant for my riders. I announce all of the bus stops and mention a few of the popular restaurants, miniature golf courses and other attractions along the way. For the real late-nighters, I mention all of the open-all-night pizza shops and fast food joints. When the passengers get off of the bus I have a few standard phrases; Have a good night, or if it's so late that the sun is starting to come up, Have a good day, See ya now, Bye-bye, Watch your step there (for the drunks), Good night, See you next time (for the regulars). Occasionally I'll slip one in that gets a pretty good laugh. When a group of pretty young girls gets off (not too young of course, but obviously younger than me) I might say, "And, if you're ever interested in an older man, you know where to find me."

Now, the thing that disturbs me a little bit is that the response is always laughter. Everybody enjoys getting a laugh but I can't help but wonder, is it really that funny? Well, after having another look in the mirror, maybe it is.