Wednesday, January 12, 2005

The last bus run ever

The gods smiled on me this week by ensuring that, not only would I only have to drive the library bus once, but I would be accompanied by a workmate whom I count on to do all the heavy lifting for me.

In the post-Violet bus roster, said workmate will be taking over my Wednesday afternoon bus run. So just to make sure that he knew about all the quirky customers (the frail, the smelly, the child-like and the grumpy), he was assigned to come with me this afternoon. He was very obliging; it took only a minimum of manipulation to get him to do all the driving, most of the checking in and out of books and, of course, the carrying of three large crates heaped full of hardback books.

It was a really warm day for a change, and it was just as well that I had a full bottle of water with me. Apart from squirting some of it on my head when the heat got oppressive, I drank the whole lot and didn't even need to pee for four hours. I joked that, if I had a better figure I would be driving the bus in a bikini. M. replied that he didn't know what the city's chief PR man would make of that. I thought that M might've been secretly glad that I wasn't about to strip down to my underwear despite my un-model-like shape.

One of my regular customers, on hearing that I was leaving my job, promptly went home and returned with a little present for me. A box of mini-Moro bars and packet of cinnamon cookies. I should leave more often.

1 comment:

Violet said...

better than a punch in the face or a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as the Aussies say...