Daily Dour Dosing

The shutdown of I-5 in the southbound direction, again, proves to be a non-issue. Sure, a little discomfort for a few thousand people, but nothing they can't deal with. Come on...people accept congestion and they are willing to accept a whole lot more of it rather than the alternative: Alternative Transportation.

But I'm boarding the homebound bus on Tuesday, and this week it's more packed than ever. I usually take the time to walk up to an earlier stop to ensure a better position on the bus, but mostly, I really don't mind if I stand...it's only a 20 minute drive down the freeway to the first exit, where most people get off anyway.

The vast majority of the new people on the bus do not live on the bus route. They are foreigners, aliens, and outsiders. They drive to the supermarket parking lot and catch the bus there, because low density sprawl also means low density bussing, which doesn't exist. So they don't have the option of walking to a stop. I would guess that I'd have been thrown out on my ass back in 2003 if I asked the sales representative at the new 250 home Wispy Pines development if there was a bus stop anywhere near it. First of all, I guarantee not a single inquiry was ever asked by anyone to anybody about bus service for the first 15 years of this sad suburban experiment. But now! These same fuckers are driving to the bus stop and climbing aboard.

I'm not complaining...in fact, this is the sort of thing I wish for. Fewer cars. But I'll tell you, these new people are not at all enthused about taking the bus.

In northern Colorado, out near Milner Glade (I think on Glade Rd.), you'll find the Land of the Gloomy People. Some sorta enclave of people willfully closed off from the rest of society. As we drive by, the people outside never smile, never move with any purpose -- they are just there. I can't be sure what they are thinking, or even if they are thinking, but they look to be as depressed a group of folks you ever might come across.

And that's almost exactly what all these new bus people look like! Not only pissed off about four dollar gas, they are even more pissed when they see the bus coming and it's packed or standing room only! There's a hesitancy when they board; wishing for a moment that it just can't be for real. And when they get on, here we go! Act two of the performance -- you'll hear big sighs, you'll see folded arms and thin, crooked, dour smiles, and no chattering from these people, other than to grumble about the conditions...it's too hot...the driver doesn't know what she's doing, etc. Guys will steal the seats and not offer them up to even the most obvious candidates for relief. Oh, the debauchery!

And, yes, in your mind's eye, you already assumed these were white people. You were right.