Please state your destination

is the request made on the bus.

This is because many would state a fare amount which causes problems if the fare changes and the requested amount is no longer correct.

I have to get a ticket that covers all the zones, so wherever I am going the fare is correct and paid.  Therefore I have got out of the habit of saying where I want to go and the drivers don't ask because there is no question the fare is paid.

So what is the problem, you know something has come up to make me post about it.

SO early morning I get to the bus station, there is a bus pulled in to the correct alphabetical slot to be the bus I need.  However, it does not say on the front which bus it is, what route it covers.

So, having a tongue in my head I step on and ask the driver. I ask is this the X5 to (the final destination city in the direction of travel) yes it is he replies, and fiddling with the technology nods that he has now put the route up on the front of the bus.

In retrospect perhaps I should have a) then stepped off the bus and checked the now being displayed route information or b) rather than asking the route designation number and final destination I should have stated my intended destination.

Why...well, I took my seat, yes my favorite place, and settled down to read. I have mentioned before the motion of the bus tells me where I am to a large extent.  So when there were not the sways and stops I was expecting I looked up.

This is not where I expected to be, we are on a main road and not traveling through the village.  At first, briefly, I wonder if there is a disruption to the usual route and this is a diversion.

But no, that hopeful reason for the change is quickly quashed. This I recognise is the route for the X6. Same final destination different route, so it does not give me a connection to my next bus to work.

Oh dear, now as we approach the sea, this route going along the coast I try to apply the reframing technique taught as part of the emotional resilience training at work.  This is not me on the wrong bus, this is not me going to have to figure out what bus to get from the city out to my job, this is not me going to be late getting there.

No, this is me looking a beautiful views out to sea, this is me looking at a new local land mark. Enjoying a change!

Nah!

That wore thin, wore out waiting for a second bus, and on that bus which was of the meandering ilk.  It went so many places, unfamiliar places, turns and twisting places that I began to wonder if I had the wrong bus!

I had figured out one to get me to work, I got there. I was late to my usual start time, by over half an hour.

No one noticed! I changed team six months ago, the old team used to my timekeeping they would have noticed. The new team not so much used to me yet.

So in future I will try ina keep in mind there is a good reason to say where you want to go, after all the driver may hear X and the city name and not be concentrating enough to hear five not six!

Miss focused effort.

As I stood, early morning at the mid point bus change heading to work I was looking around, passing the time when something caught my eye.

I looked at it, contemplated the options for an alternate action, took this picture and shook my head.

Can you see it, can you see what caught my eye?  There is a double pun hint in that question...on top of the sign (which is not working big surprise) that is supposed to say what bus is due next, do you see that bit of red.  Yes it is a can of pop, well I expect an empty can that once contained a famous brand of pop.

So it was obviously too much effort to take the can and pop (the puns just keep on coming) it into the bin, which you can also see in this picture.  No far easier to make the effort to stretch up (even a tell person would need to stretch) and balance the can on the top of the sign!

Oh dear!