Well… it was actually just one unfortunate event which caused a whole lot of other disastrous events to happen. I left my house at 9am to catch the 9.06am bus to work which starts at 10am (yes it takes me that long to get there). Knowing that it’ll be an hour, I started my usual routine of reading a few chapters of my book (I’m surprised this is my 4th book since mid feb!). Since the rain this morning, the traffic was quite heavy so I know it’ll take longer than usual. Once a while I’d scan the bus and look outside to rest my eyes from the pages. The air was rather crisp and clear. Somehow it flooded the inside of the bus with this awkward hum. Like everyone’s thoughts were louder than usual.
After one too many chapters, I took another eye rest, when I realized that I was not on the bus route. I was on another freeway, which has no bus lanes or stops. Realization number two—I was the only passenger on the bus. I kept my book and walked to the front to check if there was a bus driver on this speeding bus.
Bus driver: oh! I thought there weren’t any passengers on my bus anymore. I’m off my duty already.
My thoughts: You’ve gotta be kidding me =.=”
Bus driver: where are you headed to?
I explained the exact stop and mentioned I’m not familiar with the routes cuz I’m still new to Perth (I still use that excuse when I get lost =p). then both of us just looked at the only possible turning to the left that’ll take me to work, as the bus sped off on the right lane of the freeway.
Bus driver: it’s not my fault. I’ve signed off from my shift and I’m late for my dental appointment at ten.
Me: bbb…but…but… you could have checked properly before concluding that you can go get your teeth fixed! (ok I didn’t say that out loud, but I think he should have known better).
Bus driver: I think you should call work to let them know you’ll be late.
My thoughts: you reckon?!?!?!?
Soon he dropped me off at a major junction, somewhere between ‘I don’t know where’ road and ‘move aside or you’ll be run over by heavy vehicles’ street. I walked for about 200m to a bus stop and called Tim at work to shout mayday. Though he was tempted to just come and save me, I decided to brave it up and find my way to work, alive (it was already 9.50am).
After 15mins of freezing cold wait, a bus came and took me to Wellington Bus Station in the city. I ran to the info centre and explained my story to this attendant named Kit. He’s really professional and gave me all possible routes to get to work and said TransPerth overcharged me 54cents because I failed to tag off at the bus that was supposed to take me to work. Apparently I can call them to claim that back. (my call would cost 30cents so I think it’s ok to donate half a dollar to the public transport than to get back 24cents for my dignity).
I had to take 4 buses, transfer buses at 2 major bus ports to get to work in 2 hours and 15mins from home that day. There goes my one and a half hours of pay (and not forgetting the 54cents).
When I got into the last bus, I spoke to God to calm myself down. “Dear God, as I’ve learnt about forgiving others at Cell Group last night, I think I’ll graciously forgive the bus driver who’s at the dentist now. May he have a good teeth-fix. But can I please blog about this?”
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