Hold the Traffic

<Ported from my “When it Rains it Pours” blog —now being consolidated in this blog>

…I take public transportation to work. Yesterday morning’s brief story was quite interesting, but could have been a dangerous and horrific experience……

I was on the the commuter bus, just minding my business and reading my book. Most times I’m asleep, but I guess God wanted me up for this one. We had just come down the ramp off of the I-395 highway and were making a right turn to so that we could enter the parking lot of the Pentagon like we do every morning. At that very instant, the side door which is used to board wheel chair riders unsealed and came off the track. That’s when we found out about a neat safety feature that is built into the commuter bus. If that door is open, the bus operator cannot move the bus! Before I continue…..did I happen to mention that we pick up a wheel-chair bound rider every morning—and that he was there!!!!!

Well, with the bus now at a stand still and Jason (the wheel chair bound rider) unable to believe that he didn’t go flying out of the bus (but thankful that he didn’t) the driver went out and attempted to rectify the situation. The way that the road is constructed only one bus could fit where we were and we were, essentially, blocking the main thoroughfare that EVERY bus used to enter the Pentagon. What a nice little traffic jam we created. There was no need for me to call the boss to let him know that I would be a little bit later, since it was 6:00 in the morning and he didn’t get in for another 2 hours, so I just waited. After about 25 minutes of trying, the bus driver spotted the next bus that went along that route leaving the Pentagon and flagged him down so that the rest of us poor souls that did not already abandon the bus (and believe me, I did give it a thought or two) could continue on our journeys to work.

It was interesting to listen to the traffic report when I got to work and hear them talk about the humongous backup, but they had the facts all wrong. Somebody had phoned in that the commuter bus had crashed!!! Listening to what was being reported reminded me of those days when we used to play telephone at birthday parties. Well it finally all got worked out, but it was long after I got to work. I found out later form Jason, it took quite a while for them to get him off the bus. Poor guy. I’m sure there not too many happy drivers either.

I sure do hope we don’t start every work day like that! When it rains, it pours!