February 25 2014 'the old man makes a call'

I  am glad I was a Scout and a Pathfinder in my youth .

Today, I met Comp and Alt. Comp.(Rosemary)  at the bus stop. Comp offered to pay my bus fare (probably feeling guilty for not offering me a shelter under the umbrella yesterday), we discussed an incident I had yesterday on the Bayfield 5.00 pm bus , where a sick lady was not offered a seat by 5 strong men sitting around her.

On board we saw Row 2 girl in her customary seat, and later at the Long Bay stop, NC got in. Knowing that despite the youthful appearance, she would be sore from stretching the day before, I performed my scout"s duty and offered her my seat. The first of three occasions on this trip. The posee was now seated in a group at the front, like it was a convention. First row, Comp and Non-Comp, second row, Alt. Comp and Row 2 girl. Later other regulars joined in at Long Bay, Queen college sleepy head, Kolij sisters and possible brother. At this point, an elderly man got on board and I stood for a elder, the second time for the morning. Fulfilling the scout pledge of "helping other people at all times".

The bus was filled rapidly and at the Cutter's stop, Bus driver,s daughter (BDD) got in. NC seemed a little concerned as this girl had promised to beat someone at school yesterday and she and NC had a situation the day before. At Foul Bay, Julianna and Perfume got in, the bus was now filled to capacity and both had to stand in the front area. By Gemswick, the bus was filled to capacity, so much so, that there was no room to move anywhere. By my count 12 were standing in front of the reserved seats alone.

I was a little annoyed at the practice of bus drivers allowing passengers into the bus, knowing that it to be  filled to capacity, and still no moving when the new passengers cannot go down.  This happened at the Rock Hall stop.  A red lady wanted to get into the bus, there was no room for her to move down and the driver sat without saying a word with the bus waiting. Eventually after complaining, a few people shifted and the red woman was able to step up and the bus continued.

This is where Comp and Non-Comp began there speculative murmuring. A school girl was standing at the end of the reserve seats by the first row, holding onto the barricade. When the crush started she shifted and put her bag on the barricade and sat on it. Apparently the bag slid down and was partly resting on the leg of the old man I stood up for. It then appeared that the bag was on the man's lap and she was sitting on the bag. The talk began that, the young girl was sitting on the old man, and that he was feeling happy. Another said that, the girl had no shame, putting her weight on the senior and so forth.... A little later on the trip the man got a call on his cell phone. NC said that he was calling to get a stretcher to meet him at his stop. I was noticed however, that the man had a cell phone a little newer than Comp's. he had a case and was able to use the phone adeptly. Maybe its time to upgrade our friend to a model like that.

At the Durants stop, the 3 St. Lawerence sisters did not get on board. Everyone realised the obvious reason. Comp's lessons in colours and shapes yesterday, has the little girl confused and the mother in her wisdow was trying to avoid a repeat on 2 consecutive days. The girl maybe went home talking about the 'yellow car being orange".

It was decided that NC would look for an appropriate  learning game for her tablet, and we would retire Comp for her teaching post.

Things were uneventful for the remainder of the journey. At Oistins,  the bus cleared and I think I now understand, why the drivers "pack them in", earlier on the route. He knows that the bus will clear further on, so he tries to accommodate as many as possible. The method of doing so however, leaves a lot to be desired.

On the way, we saw some of the multi-coloured "white" fowls, shown to the girl the day before.

At Hastings, when Comp. got out, I was able to offer perfume aka unspeakable my seat as divinely ordained and fulfil my pathfinder law "to be a servant of God and a friend to man".

We sat together until Bridgetown. No book reading was done that day.

I met all my pledges from my youth organisations. I got to work in peace.

Have an OXO day!!!!