I got on the bus a few months back and it was raining. This was Minnesota in January, purported to be the coldest time of the year. The bus driver commented on the “heat wave” and asked the bus if it would get cold that night, ostensibly concerned with the possibility of the road freezing. (Posting this 3 months later, the notion that it was a prolonged heat wave was clearly disabused by the next 3 months of cold, snowy weather).
This question, immediately answerable by anyone with a smartphone on the bus, was instead responded to by an older gentlemen who proceeded to provide the bus driver and riders with the 48 hour forecast, from memory – presumably the morning news as I’m pretty sure he didn’t have a smartphone, or any phone for that matter.
Just as I was about to wrap up my post (I wrote this while on the bus and the conversation unfolded in front of, or more accurately, around me), the driver says “I just hope the little polar bears have ice to float on.” The comedy hour ensued from there. To say it was a spirited debate about our impact on the global environment or even the state of the world would be a gross overstatement.
The bus driver then proceeded to tell everyone how her dad created an ice rink in the backyard when she was a 10 year old. This could have been taken a number of ways. Interestingly, my mind went straight to “it’s not as cold as it used to be.” However, the story continued in the vein of how her father was self-reliant and industrious. Traits we’ve lost.
You can learn a lot on the bus, if you’re willing to listen.
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