Slow Down

Remember yesterday when asked talking about the creepy bus driver? This was the same bus driver that I wrote about last week who called me out for driving too quickly. You may also remember that last week I was grousing about the size of my art portfolio that big canvas pouch that houses all of the stuff I use for my intro Drawing Class.

The portfolio is huge. The portfolio is large enough to house my seemingly huge clipboard that I have a couple of pieces of dry paper clipped to. If you've ever been on a liberal arts campus you seen the little art majors dutifully tugging these portfolios from class to class. It seems awkward for these able-bodied folks, who are young as well, consider trying to do this in a wheelchair. What I was thinking. Anyway I have figured out how to at least stuff the clipboard inside the pouch and get it zipped up – – this is no small feat – – it's getting easier to do with repetition. I've found that if I raise the foot pedals on my wheelchair up a little bit I can cradle or arrest the portfolio on my foot pedals and keep hold of the strap in my left-handed drive the power chair with my right. I'm actually getting quite efficient at doing this except on cold rainy mornings that my nemesis driver is on the route. I was cold and tired when the bus finally pulled up. The speed setting on my chair was at number four. I know I am much more accident prone at setting four and I think I really had intended to knock the speed down before accessing the bus but as trying to balance the portfolio, have my bus pass out to swipe on the meter indigo she ate getting in to the bus outs of the rain as quickly as I could. The space between the farebox and the turnstile is kind of narrow and of course going at speed four I bumped portfolio off my foot pedal, and the driver groused “I told you to turn the speed down”. I could not argue even though I wanted to all I could do is manage to say thank you and push myself past the turnstile trying not to harm anything in my portfolio. Somewhere in this time I was frustrated and that's when I somehow misplaced by bus pass though I did not really realize this until I got to class.

Now losing a bus pass is no big deal really in the scheme of things. I mean after all even if I had lost the bus pass it would be just the process of getting another. I could probably fake my way onto the bus most the time anyway not even swiping the pass. Most drivers don't even look at my pass are in my opinion even care if I have one or not. Still this was a on my mind of having lost something crucial. It put me in a funk when I could not find the bus pass in my backpack in the art class searching my backpack numerous times. I even asked the instructor look at my feet to see if I had dropped it on my foot pedals which is the most likely spot. My instructor looked at my foot pedals, not really knowing what to look for, and assured me the bus pass was not there. I was bummed out.

I bluffed my way onto the bus on the way home after drawing class. I had to get home brush my teeth rinse my mouth for an expensive dental appointment I had an hour. I've found if I tilt my chair back just the right way with my foot pedals extended up as far as they will go I can actually see my foot pedals clearly. I had a minute or two before the appointment so I lean back in my chair and raised my feet and looked in the light and then I could see totally hidden by my shoes under my shoes the white background of a bus pass. My pass was on my foot pedals and I was saved. I don't it's a little deal but in the day of disappointments it was probably the best thing happened all day. I got one of my sticks out spread my legs as much as I could and yanked the bus pass out and secured it into my backpack I was set free transit until my next careless act…