Aamused in Austin, TX

Now that I've had a few weeks, I'm noticing regular patterns in my new commute. One is the drivers on the #15 (unlike the #40) are always going to ho-de-do down MLK at a leisurely pace. It's just not a heavily trafficked route. I must say that has had the effect of calming me down in my morning rush. I still get to work and on time, just in a more leisurely style! The drivers seem to rotate fairly regularly, but there is an emerging a cast of characters around me such as:

The guy who stands in front of Berkeley's Mental Health Services at my stop and asks me for a light. He knows I don't smoke, this is his way of saying good morning. I then get treated to a glowing treatise on how wonderful it is to be alive, how great the day is going to be, how lucky I am that I don't smoke, and how long he's been clean and clear of drugs and alcohol. When I get on the bus he always says hi to the bus driver and bye to me before he retreats to the steps of MHS.

As we ho-de-do our way along the route, we stop a few blocks later to pick up two youngish kids on their way to St. Leo's Catholic school. A few more blocks and I see the owner of Sweet Adeline's bakery putting out his sandwich boards. At that stop a young hispanic woman carrying college text books and wearing a studius look gets on. She sits in the back and reads her notes, never looking up. I assume she attends Laney College just past downtown Oakland. She never gets on the bus but there is a woman draped in shawls and flowing skirts that I see on the sidewalk about now. She wears a shapeless knit hat with a big flower in it and brown suede clogs. She pushes a black shopping cart in front of her. I have no idea where she's heading as the cart is always empty.

There is a string of fixed-income/low-income retirement complexes all along MLK. They have names like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. Sojourner Truth is located directly across from Children's Hospital medical center. At that stop an elderly black woman gets on. I like her. She's skinny, spry, wears crispy ironed blue jeans, a nice quilted silk jacket and carries a matching, over-sized quilted black bag with gold chain straps. She always wears a colorful silk scarf tied around her hair-do and huge Sophia-Loren type sunglasses. She's a star; incognito. No autographs, please.

I get off the bus near the BART station where I pick up a connecting bus that drops me at my office. It's the same connecting bus I used to take when I took the #40 down Telegraph. Because the #15 is so lightly traveled however, I get there sooner and I'm now taking an earlier cross town bus. I miss getting to see Gary, the blind guy who meets no strangers, and Lori with her seeing-eye dog.

Once our dry season hits there will be a new schedule to get used to. I plan to walk down to Ashby BART and then from MacArthur to the office. That will give me a little over 2 miles of solid walking, 4 days a week. I really need it, but I hate walking in the freezing cold lugging bags and umbrellas. So, I shall wait until the weather improves before I begin that routine. For now though, the bus is fine and it's beginning to feel like home.