BUS BLUES

[schlomo]

Bus Blues

This afternoon my wife dropped me off at a convenient bus stop while she took our 100-year-old adopted mum for a haircut.

I didn’t mind that the bus to Waikiki was delayed for about 30 minutes. I was able to take my daily walk within sight of the bus stop so that I could use my time constructively (my father loved the word constructive: “What did you do today that was constructive,” he would invariably inquire).

When I finally saw the bus arrive, it dawned on me that I did not have a mask to protect myself from a host of viruses that are circulating in Honolulu. Constructive could perhaps morph into destructive.

Squelching my dismay, I figured that as usual I could sit far away from anyone who wasn’t wearing a mask. Boy was I wrong! After I entered Bus 2, I was appalled to find that no passenger was wearing a mask; and what was worse, the bus was so crowded that I had to precariously stand in a narrow spot in the front aisle. My balance isn’t foolproof, so I grimly hung onto a metal bar until someone offered me a seat in the accordion-like slightly rotating middle section of the bus. But after I sat down, the ride was so continuously bumpy that it didn’t take long for me to wish that I was standing again; unfortunately, until we got to Waikiki proper, there was no room to maneuver anywhere else.

After a while, I felt nauseous and almost retched. When the bus became less crowded, I stayed put. I didn’t want to roil my stomach any further until my stop came. When I finally got off the bus, I took some deep breaths and felt much better.

While I can’t control how many people are on TheBus, or where I have to sit or stand, at least I can make sure to wear a mask. In fact, I wonder if my motion sickness was aggravated by being without a mask. 

The upside of my venture on the bus is that no one was coughing or wheezing or sneezing or drooling or, as I was close to doing, vomiting.

[jonibee]

It's too bad about your bus experience ..Carry some peppermints for that upset stomach feeling and a small paper bag and tissues just to be prepared for future upsets. Also a mask for your own well being...