There is a lovely (Indian?) tram driver who often works on my route. Middle-aged, with bushy 70s-style sideburns that remind me of a teacher I had in high school, he seems to take real pride in his profession. Whenever he is driving on my route he is always announcing every stop, making sure that old ladies have enough time to sit down properly before moving off etc.
Today he got on at the tram depot which is about halfway down my line, as a passenger, presumably having finished a shift on another route. He bounced on board, shaking hands with the driver and making jokes. He then spied Tourettes Man (who I was sitting opposite from).
I suspect that most routes have a sort of 'mascot' passenger that the drivers keep an eye on and make sure that they are ok because the driver was exceptionally pleased to see him and shook hands with him before sitting down next to him. He then listened patiently as Tourettes Man enthusiastically lectured him on the finer points of every single budget buffet restaurant in town - providing a sort of cost/benefits analysis, in combination with a laborious but thorough description of every food item offered.
The off-duty tram driver listened, enraptured, helping out every now and then when Tourettes Man got stuck listing food types, until he had to get off to catch his connection, when he shook hands with Tourettes Man and bade him farewell. By choosing to use his tram journey in this manner, the driver had consierably brightened up Tourettes Man's day, and calmed him down a fair bit (he was getting pretty agitated by the time the driver got on) as well. Nice one.
Walking the block from the tram to university, however, I saw a very 'American Beauty'-type scene. Two slightly deflated heart-shaped helium balloons with 'I love you' written on them were fluttering in the wind...attached by long strings to a pretty solid and unromantic-looking municipal rubbish bin. Whoever said that pictures speak a thousand words was on to it - just wish I had a camera with me.
2022
3 years ago
2 comments:
Hello Alice,
I couldn't help but notice your blog was a new edition to Terry's long line of "my friend's blogs". So I thought I'd check it out.
Two things came to mind. First, what a lovely and really quite captivating writing style you have, and second, that no one had commented yet.
Knowing the frustrations of people not commenting on your blog I thought I'd take the time to do so.
Keep it up.
Why thank you Subcomandante, in a funny way i'm not too concerned about comments at this stage - initially this is mostly a place for me to record my observations (thanks to Terry the blog-acolyte for the suggestion) - but if other people enjoy checking in every now and then, then it's all the better :-)
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