title? Hmmm....yesterday?
Yesterday's bus ride to town was....interesting.
It was a type of bus I'd never been on before, not a new one though.
All the seats were too high, fine for regular people, not so good for the rest of us, so about 98% of the population, my feet didn't reach the floor properly, just my tippy-toes.
There weren't many of us passengers at that time of day, but all of us were over 50, with me being the youngest on board I think.
(Unless there were people at the back that I didn't notice).
Anyway, the ride was jerky. Very jerky.
Either the brakes were "grabby", or the driver was stomping on the pedal too hard.
We all spent the ride grabbing for support and bobbing around like corks in the ocean.
My neck was not happy.
I started taking notes.
Bus route, bus number, time of travel, where from, where to.
In the city, when rounding a corner from xxx Street to xxx Street, one elderly gentleman slid off his seat, landing heavily on the floor, banging the back of his head quite hard.
It really did sound like someone had dropped a bowling ball.
As the bus driver pulled over, (if he hadn't I was going to make him), another elderly woman, myself and the man's wife all moved to help him. I instructed him to stay down for a moment and get his balance before getting up. Then we three helped him back to his seat. He was quite heavy, so this wasn't easy. The driver had walked back to see if he was okay.
I added this incident to my notes.
When we reached the stop where we were all getting off, I noticed the man was looking quite grey and got more concerned. I spoke to his wife and learned he is diabetic and they had just come from the hospital, where he'd been undergoing some tests.
I advised them to go to the transport office and file a complaint or report, whatever it is they do in these situations. The wife said they would and I said that I'd email an account of the ride and the fall as soon as I got home from work later in the day. Which I did.
I think this was necessary, because he fell hard and the head bang was awful to hear, he may have sustained an injury not immediately apparent, and this should be on record if he needs to go to a doctor at a later stage with headaches or something.
We exchanged names and stuff like that, then I went across the road to wait for another bus to get to work.
Almost at Norwood, I heard the message tone on my phone. a message from my electricity supplier, asking me to call *this* number and quote *that* number in regards to my electricity account which was overdue, according to them.
Not on your nelly mate!!
That bill is paid! In full! And 5 days before the due date.
So I rang and got put on hold for a while, then spoke to a nice young girl who tried to transfer me to the correct department, but couldn't get through. I said, look, I have to get to work within a half hour...
She said she'd email the department to phone me at home about 5pm. Okay, that's fine.
Then I went to the bank to get a little cash from the ATM.
Hah!
It took my card, didn't give it back, didn't give me any cash, didn't even spitout a receipt.
So I went inside and the nice young primary-school-age teller went to the machine and told me it had just spit out a card at the front.
Well! I ran outside as fast as my little knees would allow, to get my card before someone else grabbed it, then came back in and withdrew cash over the counter.
After all this, by the time I got to work, all I wanted to do was turn around and go back home.
I've never had such an eventful morning.
Thank goodness the store was really busy, (I'm talking flat out here), so my shift went really quickly.
I napped on the buses on the way home, then sat around waiting for the electricity company to phone me.
They didn't and still haven't, so I'm guessing they checked their records and found my payment.
Another day in the life of River...
It was a type of bus I'd never been on before, not a new one though.
All the seats were too high, fine for regular people, not so good for the rest of us, so about 98% of the population, my feet didn't reach the floor properly, just my tippy-toes.
There weren't many of us passengers at that time of day, but all of us were over 50, with me being the youngest on board I think.
(Unless there were people at the back that I didn't notice).
Anyway, the ride was jerky. Very jerky.
Either the brakes were "grabby", or the driver was stomping on the pedal too hard.
We all spent the ride grabbing for support and bobbing around like corks in the ocean.
My neck was not happy.
I started taking notes.
Bus route, bus number, time of travel, where from, where to.
In the city, when rounding a corner from xxx Street to xxx Street, one elderly gentleman slid off his seat, landing heavily on the floor, banging the back of his head quite hard.
It really did sound like someone had dropped a bowling ball.
As the bus driver pulled over, (if he hadn't I was going to make him), another elderly woman, myself and the man's wife all moved to help him. I instructed him to stay down for a moment and get his balance before getting up. Then we three helped him back to his seat. He was quite heavy, so this wasn't easy. The driver had walked back to see if he was okay.
I added this incident to my notes.
When we reached the stop where we were all getting off, I noticed the man was looking quite grey and got more concerned. I spoke to his wife and learned he is diabetic and they had just come from the hospital, where he'd been undergoing some tests.
I advised them to go to the transport office and file a complaint or report, whatever it is they do in these situations. The wife said they would and I said that I'd email an account of the ride and the fall as soon as I got home from work later in the day. Which I did.
I think this was necessary, because he fell hard and the head bang was awful to hear, he may have sustained an injury not immediately apparent, and this should be on record if he needs to go to a doctor at a later stage with headaches or something.
We exchanged names and stuff like that, then I went across the road to wait for another bus to get to work.
Almost at Norwood, I heard the message tone on my phone. a message from my electricity supplier, asking me to call *this* number and quote *that* number in regards to my electricity account which was overdue, according to them.
Not on your nelly mate!!
That bill is paid! In full! And 5 days before the due date.
So I rang and got put on hold for a while, then spoke to a nice young girl who tried to transfer me to the correct department, but couldn't get through. I said, look, I have to get to work within a half hour...
She said she'd email the department to phone me at home about 5pm. Okay, that's fine.
Then I went to the bank to get a little cash from the ATM.
Hah!
It took my card, didn't give it back, didn't give me any cash, didn't even spitout a receipt.
So I went inside and the nice young primary-school-age teller went to the machine and told me it had just spit out a card at the front.
Well! I ran outside as fast as my little knees would allow, to get my card before someone else grabbed it, then came back in and withdrew cash over the counter.
After all this, by the time I got to work, all I wanted to do was turn around and go back home.
I've never had such an eventful morning.
Thank goodness the store was really busy, (I'm talking flat out here), so my shift went really quickly.
I napped on the buses on the way home, then sat around waiting for the electricity company to phone me.
They didn't and still haven't, so I'm guessing they checked their records and found my payment.
Another day in the life of River...
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What a day! I hope that the gentleman who fell is OK (loved your concern and support) and that you do not have too many other days like that.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you just have days like that. Re the bloke who slid off the seat, that must have been quite a corner. I have noticed that in such situations, people want to immediately haul the person to their feet, perhaps as proof of their okness, instead of letting them just get up in their own time, as you allowed him.
ReplyDeleteI swear those bus rides just get worse and worse in the way they jerk around suddenly. Are the drivers not being taught how to properly drive a bus, or are the buses themselves just really shoddy I wonder.
ReplyDeleteHope the older guy is okay.
Good heavens!- your life runs on methanol!
ReplyDeleteIt's a drag race. (Cars, not queens.)
How eventful indeed. And how annoying was that electric bill matter? They are wasting your time and adding stress.
ReplyDeleteThere's a few bus drivers I take note of who are as rough as bags, jerking and stomping on the pedal, making passengers bobble about like spring dollies - I always report them, I figure they need the extra encouragement to work at their job.
ReplyDeleteEC; I also hope he is okay, it was awful hearing the back of his head hit the floor.
ReplyDeleteAndrew; It's always best to let them settle a bit before getting them up, just a minute to recover from the shock is all they need.
no-one; there's a few who give jerky rides, but this was the worst. I'm going to start noting down bus routes and times for every jerky ride.
R.H. my life usually drifts along, but the buses are getting bad.
Joni; I was all prepared to give the electric company a piece of my mind, but I'm glad I didn't have to. I hate doing that.
Jayne; that's what I'm going to do from now on.
Wow....what a morning. I hope someone comes down hard on that bus driver. Totally incompetent.
ReplyDeleteDelores; I emailed my report as I said I would and I hope the couple also reported the incident. I hope the bus brakes are tested and I hope the driver gets a little retraining. Possibly other drivers too.
ReplyDeleteWhat? WOW what a day!! You know, our car got hit along the side by a bus when we lived in Australia. Craziest drivers ever; very aggressive. Also, your international readers mightn't realize that SCHOOL busses and regular busses, they are the same. here in the US we would be super scared that pedophiles and the like would be on the busses and we don't mix people like that.
ReplyDeleteI sure HOPE they got your payment and that this fellow is ok. I hardly know what to say.
Sounds to me like the bus driver needs retraining. Your incident is another classic example why i don't use atms or efptos machines anymore they just can't be trusted :-).
ReplyDeleteHappy Elf Mom; I had a reply form the bus people this morning. The bus brakes were checked and found to be in perfect working order, so the driver has been called in for some extra training. They had no other knowledge of the elderly gentleman falling off his seat.
ReplyDeleteWindsmoke; the driver is getting an extra training session.
The ATM I most often use is normally okay, just this one time, I think maybe a note got jammed in the dispenser or something. It can happen if a note has a little tear in a crucial spot along an edge.