For those of you who just tuned in, I took a commuter Metro Liner and a Bus to work and back and wrote about it here and here. This is the last chapter on my Adventures In Bussing.
I left work about 15 minutes early to catch my bus home from Sun Valley to North Hollywood. The good ole’ Number 152! The bus picked me up on time, and I was glad for that. I noticed that the bus going back was pretty crowded….not packed, but crowded.
There were several young women that were wearing white knit shirts, the kind with straps and no sleeves. One particular woman wore one of those shirts with a black bra underneath with the straps showing. She was overweight, her stomach was hanging out, and she was put into her pants with a shoe horn. She had a baby slung over her hip and it was wearing nothing but a Tshirt and a diaper. Her eyebrows were pencil thin. Yes….she was “a real lady”.
Then three African Americans boarded the bus about a mile into my trip. A young man was wearing one of those black cloths that fit tightly over his head. They call those “do rags”. I guess it’s because it’s a rag that goes over your “do”. (heh heh) He was “tatted” up to his eyeballs. I was looking for gold teeth, but alas…he had none. As a matter of fact, he was missing a few of ’em.
Since it was after 5:00 p.m., my guess would be that all the welfare recipients “woke up” and was now up and about. I’m starting to get a little nervous. Then I thought…the bus driver does this every day….and if he’s not afraid, then I shouldn’t be concerned. That seemed to calm me down. Other than that, the bus ride was uneventful.
I got off at my stop and again I walked across Lankershim Boulevard to catch the “elegant” Metro Liner. After I purchased my ticket, I had to wait for the second Metro Liner to pick me up as the first one was completely full. I hopped on the Metro Liner and got my seat. Again…there was no one to take my ticket. Oh well, I have it in case anyone wants it.
The ride was pretty good except the driver kept putting the “pedal to the metal”. We were going so fast that we passed another Metro Liner (they are supposed to be 4 minutes apart). When we came to a stop, she put on the brakes pretty fast, and I had to hold myself from sliding across the seat. I always try to use logic when I get a little “panicky”. Here it my logic for this one…I just kept thinking that she must not be going that fast..or we would have fish tailed or jack knifed by now. And since we haven’t done that, I tried to put that thought out of my mind.
A young woman sitting across from me, had to get off the bus, and as she got up, she held a center pole with her right hand which steadied her. The driver put on the brakes so hard that the force of gravity swung her around that pole really fast. It was kinda comical. If there wasn’t a sideways bar to stop her, I am sure she could have entertained everyone by giving us a pole dance. I think that she would have kept on swinging around the pole for quite some time.
In my first installment of Adventures in Bussing, I had mentioned that there were 10 parking spots reserved for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in the parking lot where I parked my car, and I couldn’t figure out why they needed the parking spaces. Well, I found out all about the Sheriff’s Department and their parking spaces. Here goes….About the fifth stop on my journey home, several people departed the Metro Liner, and 4 or 5 Sheriff’s were waiting to greet them . The Sheriff’s randomly wait at a station and check tickets as people exit the bus Metro Liner. I later learned that you must purchase a ticket to ride the Metro Liner, but checking the tickets are random. If you are caught without a ticket, it is a really stiff fine.
When I got to my stop, I took a deep breath, got off the Metro Liner, found my car and I drove home. Would I do it again? Never….even if gas was $5.00 a gallon. I’m too old for this type of “Adventure”.
The Empty Nest 
