Another Bus Adventure

Uncategorized 2 Minutes

Having had the bus company cancel my ride an hour before an appointment last week, I was taking no chances. Neighbor Cindy gave me permission to park in their driveway, the closest parking space near the entrance to my development. The bus company agreed to pick me up there. The woman I talked to said she would leave instructions for the driver.

I got up an hour earlier than usual to get ready, eat a little granola, and get the ice off the windshield of the car. It was 12 F (-11.111C). I couldn’t have been in Cindy’s drive more than two minutes when I saw the bus drive right by. It paused near the first icy patch, then continued toward my house. I was instantly out of the car and reaching for my phone. No one picked up the call at the bus company, so I left a message, hoping someone would get it. I began to pace back and forth on the road, hoping I could get the bus to stop for me on the way out. It was cold! The dispatcher did call and immediately let the bus driver know to come back for me. I stood in the middle of the road waving. I must have looked cold, because the driver turned up the heat.

I’m often the only rider in the bus, but today we picked up three other elderly people. The man lived in a trailer park near me. I asked if he had much damage from the hurricane. He said no, but the flood ripped off the front steps. Everyone had been evacuated. He was lucky to have friends living nearby who took him and his wife in. They stayed three weeks.

We picked up two women, obviously people who knew the man and each other. They were laughing and joking. If this had been a musical, we would all have burst into song as we rode along. They were discharged at Haywood County Respite. A woman at the door greeted them warmly by name, proving to me that they were regulars.

I usually have to wait a long time for the eye injection, but not today. I felt herded along to the small waiting room. Skipping the vision and pressure test, I was given the numbing drops. My eyes had to be closed after that, so I fumbled for my brand new glasses case and stowed my phone in a pocket. This was the first day I was wearing glasses after three years without. Somewhere along the way, I lost a knit purple glove. After the injection I stumbled along the hallway to the waiting room and sat down for a few minutes. I had hoped to use a very small space with windows overlooking the front door, but a man with two children had claimed the space. The bus could be a while, because there were no drivers free at that moment. I thought I was aware of all vehicular movement on the approach when I heard someone at the door asking if Anne Mehrling was there. Aaauuuggghhhh! I hated that the bus driver had to come inside for me. She was very nice about it.

On the highway I kept reminding myself to tell her where to let me off. It would have been embarrassing to get to my door and say, “Oops! Can you take me back to my car?”

I think I’ve earned a nap today.

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

61 thoughts on “Another Bus Adventure”

  2. That was a bit of an ordeal, wasn’t it? However, you look stunning in your new glasses and the photo is excellent! You appear to be none the worse for the issues encountered, but I do have a picture in my head of you standing in the middle of the road frantically waving!

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      1. True, that was good for your walking routine, and no doubt some enjoyment of the neighbors, but something about the frantic waving to make sure the driver did not leave you for not being where you were when they did not pick you up last time, after all your valiant efforts to make sure to get picked up, just struck me as an Academy Award winning performance, so that was just me saying, “Brava, Anne, awesome encore!”

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          1. I love your bowing and waving and smiling. Reminds me of my acting years–one of the best parts! As long as it is not life threatening, miscommunication can be fun. I dare say, ours was not life threatening–you seem quite capable of getting out of the way should the bus not see you. One of my father-in-laws favorite sayings was “Hold the bus!”

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  4. You certainly earned a nap so I hope you got one unbroken by any other frustrations.

    I missed my afternoon nap so I’m off to bed early. Going to my brother’s in Llandudno tomorrow and we will lunch with my nieces. Massive Hugs

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  7. oh my goodness! The travails of Anne with an E. That is crazy that they were going all the way to your home this time. Hope your nap was wonderful.💕

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  9. Sounds like quite the adventure! Glad everything worked out in the end, even with the cold and the bus mix-up. Honestly, after a day like that, I’d need a nap too—or maybe a good carpet cleaner to tackle all the dirt I’d track in after pacing around in freezing weather!

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  11. Quite the adventure. Is your glove lost for good, or did someone find it for you? Love the glasses (and seeing you).

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  15. The glasses make you look so young!

    Btw, some of the comments here are ‘nested’ so that there is only one letter to each line making it impossible to read.

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      1. This was on the phone so maybe it is my end? Can you get someone else to check it on their phone?It is not every comment- just those where one person responds several time to you in the same thread. I had this problem once and it was the comment setting.

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  17. Well you made the best of your ordeal … sounds rigorous and yes, you deserved that nap. So after three years, you return to wearing glasses full time? I have to go for my green card renewal appointment for getting photos and fingerprints taken. The office moved from Detroit to Warren, which is a 60-mile roundtrip for me, which I wouldn’t drive in good weather as I have no clue where it is and have to go by expressway. I have scheduled a Metrocar driver to take me there and back. I filed my application to renew the card, imagining they would not set an appointment for weeks and it doesn’t expire until June, but no … they scheduled it almost right away. I’m not happy about it in the least and the car ride is $442.00 (including a $70.00 tip) which is pretty horrifying as well. Thankfully I only have to do this every 10 years.

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    1. Your green card renewal sounds harrowing. I hope it goes better than you think it will.

      Evidently, my eyes had settled enough that I can have glasses again. My distance vision is good, except the eyes do not see the same thing. One is it 20/20 and the other at 20/30. The glasses will make them even again, and the readers will also pull my eyes together. I am still getting used to the glasses, not seeing as well as I should in a few more days.

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      1. Yes, I am not looking forward to it at all. Now was this change back to glasses a result of your eye injections, or all this time after the cataract surgery? I wore contact lenses from 1974 to 2009. Around 2000 I needed bifocals and I was fitted with one contact for distance and one for close-up after trying the readers and still couldn’t read anything as I had to put it the length of my arm away!

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        1. They told me right after the retina leaked that it would take awhile for my eyes to settle down. Possibly, I could have asked for glasses sooner. I was certainly ready to wear them all the time when I went to the regular eye doctor recently.

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            1. I used to wear trifocals, but I didn’t think I needed that anymore. I might have been wrong. It is very difficult for me to see the laptop and music on the piano. Some of that may be due to the fact that the eyes are not working well together yet. I will wait until the end of the week and see how things are going then.

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              1. Since I began using this Windows 11 laptop, I have everything magnified. And it is a bigger screen, so I don’t understand that. I have this WP site at 175% right now! I have to go back to the eye doctor in April, three months earlier than usual, as he suspected I may need cataract surgery and I’m hoping not.

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                  1. I’m sorry that happened to you. Without the cataract surgery it might have occurred, so it’s too bad you did not know beforehand and maybe foregone the cataract surgery.

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                    2. I thought cataracts were a gradual thing. I remember Marge telling me once that she woke up one morning and her vision was blurry and she went to the eye doctor and was told she had cataracts. That is too bad for you. I was talking to a woman at the grocery store – what a “live wire” she was, about to turn 98 and saying how she can’t wait to get out in her garden and soon she’ll be starting her 30 different colors of geraniums by seed inside the house. She lives alone, takes care of her house, drives and has only had a pacemaker – otherwise healthy. Hmm – 98 and I’ve always said I didn’t want to be around at 98. Maybe it’s me.

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  19. Anne, what an adventure. I would also take a nap afterwards and then enjoy some soup and sourdough bread. After several of my knee and foot surgeries, I too had to wait for these busses. The driver came to me with a wheelchair in my kitchen and wheeled me through the garage and then to the bus. I too was alone. Then the reverse later. And back home for a nap. Glad those days are behind me. Be well. It is such a good photo of you in your sweater all bundled up. Layers. That’s the way to go.

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      1. Anne, I love your term bus adventures. There is always something to observe such as fellow humans, the landscapes, or traffic. A necessary evil turned into an adventure! Have a wonderful day! oxox

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