Change of Seasons

If I didn’t know better, I'd swear it was a full moon. What a cast of characters I have seen this morning.

To start, I was filling up our car at the gas station (Green note: I don’t normally drive to work. My wife was going to drop me off at the bus stop) and the guy from the car in the next bay returned to his car from paying in the store. He slid behind the wheel, put on his sunglasses (heavy cloud cover this morning, not a hint of sun), lowered all the windows and cranked his Rap (and I mean window-shaking-cranked) as he eased the car towards the street. Maybe it’s just me, but is anyone really impressed by enlightening lyrics such as, “I make a lot of money, I do what the f___ I want...”? Boomin’ bass, boomin’ bass, yet more boomin’ bass.

An obvious chick-magnet.

Observation #2: a dump truck with a trailer slows down in front of the gas station while I’m pumping gas. I’m wondering what his intent is as I see no obvious obstruction in his path. He starts to turn into the gas station. Oops, too tight a turn. Must back up a bit, halting traffic on Fraser Street, adjust front wheels, try again. He arcs the truck onto the paved approach to the pumps. I’m thinking, “He can’t fill that thing up here. Even if they do have a diesel pump there are facilities tailor-made for re-fuelling large trucks.” Sure enough, he parks it in front of 4 re-fuelling bays and leaves it idling while he goes in for a coffee-to-go.

Words escape me. And don’t even get me started about emissions concerning purposelessly idling vehicles.

Observation #3: while dump-truck-guy is in the convenience store, pickup-truck-guy pulls in, parks in front of the store, across the drive aisle from the series of gas pumps, with a lit cigarette! Don’t they teach people anymore (at a very young age, I might add) that fire and gasoline are a dangerous combination? How rare a combination is health consciousness and good judgement?

Observation #4: this occurred a couple of days ago on a construction site in Langley. After a short discussion with a site supervisor, I had returned to the truck to leave when a “grunt” (so-named for his discretion I’m about to describe) parked his forklift in front of my truck, with a lit cigarette in his mouth, and walked across the yard to pick up a jerry can of gasoline! Don’t these people get it? Fire/ gas/ bad!

Observation #5: as the bus approached this morning I was happy to see it wasn’t very full: I’d get a seat. I flashed my Farecard and walked in scanning for the best available seat. At the back, just up the steps to the rear compartment, two people were sitting on opposing benches, directly facing each other. I don’t know if they knew each other. The man was Caucasian, and in the glance I gave him I’d describe him as a cross between Burl Ives and a Sikh. Strange analogy I know, it was something about the beard.

The woman across the aisle was having issues of some kind. She was breathing in great sighs, and, again in the brief glance I gave her, she seemed to be swaying in her seat. Her appearance was dishevelled and unwashed. My seat did not face her, and I wasn’t about to turn around in an obvious move to analyze her further. I did note that no one else on the bus was seated anywhere near her. I was about to plug in my earbuds when I heard her ask the man across from her, “When is it? I mean, not what year, I know it’s 2011, but what month is it?”

The guy actually paused before he answered. Whether that means he didn’t know either, or he was reluctant to engage her in conversation, I don’t know. He did tell her it was September. She spoke a couple more sentences, but in a lower volume so I couldn't hear. A couple of stops later she exited the bus and I noticed she was barefoot. Last week that would have been fine, although a bit unorthodox for bus transit, but not out of line considering air temperature. This morning, not so much.

“What month is it?” Wow. I lead such a sheltered life.