most dreadful bus ride ever!

Last night, I had the displeasure of watching my bus pull away just as I was getting out of the Metro. My general rule about running after buses is this: I will swallow my pride and run after a bus only if I need to catch it to get somewhere on time. Yesterday, I didn't really need to be home at a particular time, so I didn't run after the bus. Besides, I had peeled away and sped out into the street. There was no way I was going to catch it anyways unless I was FloJo (which I'm not, clearly).

I waited over 30 minutes for the next one, which I totally expected even though it was rush hour and buses from either line I can take should arrive with far more frequency. But hey, this is Metro and I don't expect it to be efficient or on time. By the time the next bus came, about 25 people wwere waiting to get on it.

Luckily for me, the bus stopped right in front of me so I was able to get on first and actually get a seat. I chose an empty seat near the back door so I could make a quick getaway as soon as we get to my stop. The seat was right next to a normal-looking guy I really didn't give a second thought to. As my fellow bus-stop-waiters were getting on the bus, it started to fill up quickly. People who were standing were not only squishing each other but also the riders who were seated.

The person squishing me on the left was a man with a belly that made him look as if he was 7 months along in his pregnancy. His protruding belly, which was literally a couple of inches from my head, was making me uncomfortable. I understand that the bus was crowded and all, but did his belly really need to be competing for space with my head? Couldn't he have turned his belly other way? I know better than to expect any amount of personal space on a crowded Metro bus, but I did expect my head to have some leeway.

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, I turned my head slightly to the right to avoid Pregnant Man's belly and saw something that made my stomach turn. The man sitting next to me was picking his nose. The Nose Picker was not at all subtle. He was just going at it as if this was going to be his final opportunity to pick his nose in his entire life. Gotta make that one count, I guess. Or perhaps whatever he was digging around for was being especially elusive. Regardless it was gross. And it was adding to my already crappy bus ride home.

So there I was last night, sandwiched between a man's pregnant belly and a voracious nose picker. Thank God my bus ride home is only 10 minutes long.