old friends and bus adventures. in crawling into 2014.

It's Friday morning, I'm in the bath and no reality check! I know! Colour me pink! (actually, the heat of the bath may really do that!)

I've talked here, several times, about the diarist who originally got me hooked on od, purely by noting my first entry. I know! I'm such as attention whore! I do believe if no one had commented on my first few entries I would have drifted away.

Anyway, I digress. The first diarist who was, at the time, called foxglove. I won't add her more 'recent' name as she's a very private person and her diary is still there despite several years of non use.

I had tried to find her on the net several times over the years with no success, her name is relatively common, but the other night I had a revelation... Her husband's name isn't! So I put both her name and her husband's name into Google and came up with a page which had been written by someone with her name, dedicated to someone with her husband's name. It had writing, very much in her style, about experiences I knew that she could have had since being at OD because of her job. She also had a bio which really couldn't be anyone else - and an email address.

I emailed and we've chatted back and forth a few times. She really is a beautiful soul who has always touched my heart with her life experiences and her caring nature. She's also one of the key players in getting me and rich together.

So, the closure of OD is something that has inspired me to find an old friend so she can choose what to do with her old diary :)

As for the bus adventures... it was all part of the adventures that make up a non mundane life.

Because the time I finish work is later than it used to be I drive the two miles to college every Wednesday night for Spanish classes. I used to cycle but the time is a little tight for that. This past Wednesday was open night for prospective students which always means a heaving car park. I planned to cycle because it would be quicker than going around in circles trying to find a parking space right? Right.

Except I couldn't find the front light for my bike! I have to go down some pretty dark roads/paths before the main road with it's cycle path. So, I decided to catch the bus. I borrowed Rich's 3 month ticket and went to the bus stop. The time for the bus came and it went, a bus for the hospital came. I could have got that and changed but didn't. Finally a bus came into view but it's sign didn't look as though it had the right number. When it got closer I could see "sorry not in service". I'm not sure why a sorry wouldn't be in service, they should always be there for when a sorry is required but I digress.. it stopped at my stop and let one of my teenage neighbours off. I stood, open mouthed, in the doorway of the bus. "aren't you picking up?" I asked. He explained that a bus had broken down so they were just trying to get commuters home from the town centre, picking up towards town had been cancelled. "i just want to go to college," I told him. I could see him struggling between what he should be doing and what he wanted to do. He let me on under the condition that he turn the light out so no one could see me and spent the journey talking about how we should do as we're told within our work situations! I got off at the traffic lights before the traffic lights for college so that he wouldn't need to stop at an actual bus stop to face the same thing again.

Once in class I asked a friend who lives in the next town if she would give me a lift home. She was more than happy to do so. Because of the open evening she and another friend had car shared. After class I waited while they both visited the bathroom, chatted with various people and we finally walked to the car. When we got there she remembered that she had laid the back seat down and got it ready for the allotment the next day. There was no way a third person would fit. I shrugged, told her not to worry, I only live two miles away. And off I went. Since I was unsure as to how well the buses were running after earlier I decided not to wait at a bus stop but walk instead. Periodically checking to see if a bus was coming. Finally, after a mile, there was a bus. I wasn't quite close enough to the stop so I ran. A lad at the stop stopped the bus for me although he didn't want to catch that one. What a star!! The driver said (in a deep wiltshoir accent) "that'll keep you fit! I got you on camera!" Okay!! raises eyebrow whatever! I got off a few minutes later at my stop and went home...