Route 16

I take the bus to work as often as possible. Being a consultant who has to attend meetings requires me to have a car near the office more often than I would like, but I'm working on figuring out the transfers to get me to my project sites without too much extra time. In general, I really like taking the bus. It gives me about a half-hour of time to read, knit, listen to podcasts, notice odd gas prices, eavesdrop on the Target summer interns' discussions of their nightly parties... And I let the driver deal with the traffic and road conditions.

But this morning was one of those days when you long for personal rapid transit. I was sitting in the first forward-facing seat which meant I struggled to keep my two bags on my lap while knitting. Having a seat in front of you limits the opportunity your purse has to slide off your lap, leaving your hands free to worry about manipulating your five double-pointed needles. Ok, but, I can deal with the bags flinging themselves about. And maybe the new
KIPers Bag could alleviate that problem. I'd propped myself in as securely as possible, and was happily knitting away and listening to
Brenda Dayne's soothing voice when something in front of me made me look up.

I noticed the woman sitting sideways had pulled a sort of vertical toiletry kit out of her backpack and was sniffing a series of jars individually and in combinations. She settled on one and poured a generous amount of some essential oil onto her hand and then reached around and spread it on her back (or the seat, I couldn't see her). Now, I don't consider myself to be a highly scent sensitive person, but I have been fighting allergies and a headache for a few days so the aroma of her selected remedy put me off a bit. She pulled out a couple more little bottles, sniffed "Valor" and returned the kit to her bag. She then pulled out a self-help book aimed at middle aged women (sorry, I don't recall the title, only the photo on the cover), wiped her oiled up hand on the forearm closer to me and commenced reading.

I'll grant you, it was interesting to watch this ritual - and gave me something to write about today - but, really, a private pod on a track that would zip me to the office while I knit in peace, that's got some appeal. I bet I could still see the Holiday station sign from my pod...