Sometimes...

I feel really, really dumb.

Howie is still non-functional.  With it being the very end of the month, the nice garage people are tied up with last minute inspections, people who had set appointments.  So they haven’t even started to figure out what’s going on with him.  Okay, I understand that.  When I have an inspection appointment I want my allotted time too.

My very wonderful friends have been letting me drive one of their cars the last few days.  Have I mentioned how wonderful they are?  Anyway me, being me, can’t allow myself to impose forever.  Which leaves me with several options.

Take next week off.  Not good.  I don’t want to use up that much vacation the first week of the year for such a silly reason.

Take a cab to and from work.  Not good.  Too expensive.

Hike.  Only a mile and a half or so.  It would be fine except it is dark.  Reading is really not the safest place to be hiking around alone after dark.  Not the neighborhoods I’d be going through.  I really prefer not to start out the year by getting shot.

Take a bus.  Perhaps.  I’ve never taken a city bus.  I have no clue how to go about it but I decided it couldn’t be that impossible.  So I went online and did some research.  As far as I can tell I need to take Route 4 to get to work and Route 3 to get home.  Fine.  Only thing is in all the buses I’ve seen throughout the years, none of them have a route number.  They all have a destination.  And several different buses go to the same destination so how exactly do I know which to hop on?

There’s a woman at work who I know rides the bus so I questioned her.  Apparently the things I am clueless about are common knowledge to everyone who has ever ridden a bus.  So much so that she didn’t understand what I was asking.  It ended up being a bizarre conversation.  Me, mounting frustration.  Her, hysterical laughter.

The schedule lists the beginning stop, the ending stop and two in between.  Only in Reading there is a bus stop on pretty much every corner of every full street.  The corner closest to me isn’t on the list.  If I stand there will the bus stop for me?  And how do I know which one to get on when more than one goes to the same place? 

Then there’s the problem with getting off the bus.  Do I need to ride all the way to the end or is there a way to disembark at the corner nearest to where I work, again not list on the set schedule?  If I can get off where I want, how do I tell the bus to stop?  Or doesn’t it?  Is the door left open and I leap out when it slows for the stop sign, ready to roll when I hit the ground?

Then there’s the paying of the fare.  There are passes available.  Only no where could I find where to purchase one.  At a sales outlet the website says.  Hmm.  Sure would be nice if they provided a list of them, wouldn’t it? 

That’s when I decided it would be better to take my chances and hike.  Or I could continue to inconvenience my friends who are beyond wonderful to help me as they so kindly do.  I have told you how absolutely wonderful they are, haven’t I?