Spring Ride

Spring Ride

I had a meeting of the writers group I associate with over lunch and I elected to take the bus “fixed route” service, or the regular bus route. The restaurant is right on the bus line and the bus goes right by my office. It’s an easy ride as far as accessing the system from my office. I ride almost a hundred percent the train these days. I forget what riding the fixed route system is like.

Now, it may just be my imagination but I sense a commotion on the main line that I do not sense on the train. I am not sure why except class. People with less money ride the bus because the ride is less expensive then train; also, the train is a fixed corridor where as the bus lines are “still” many and varied and serve all the county area. State street “22” is the route I ride to get to the lunch today. State Street is the main artery in Salt Lake, State street services several Department of Workforce Services, plasma shops, Department of motor vehicles, City, State and federal Court houses and a host of State Liquor Stores. On the State street Bus noise level is always at a low level white noise if one does not concentrate but if you choose to listen you can here bit and pieces of conversations from every conceivable class. Kids busing to a better school district, folks on cell phones desperately calling their pro-bono legal counsels to make sure their met at the court house because their case is “up today” at 1:00 pm and “they better be there” Or the guy who is trying to pick up the chick he just met on the bus by telling her “my ride’s in the garage and I’m going down to pick it up” or “ I got my ride stolen last night and I think they may have found it and I going down town to pick it up.” Then there’s kids screaming and mom’s with black plastic bags on their way to find a laundry mat somewhere to do the families wash; girls is way short skirts I mean way young girls, barely teen agers who should be in school but who are not , on their way to trouble. I swear there is always someone on the bus somewhere with a western drawl trying to convince someone of how bogus the Warren Commission was or how he was a lost special forces soldier and has to report in to the VA hospital once a week for his shots. It’s public theater! It’s like all the worst PBS radio stories came to life at once and you are living them or least listening and if not a story for NPR then they should be.

The ride back to work following the meeting seemed less chaotic. It was mid day—the school kids are not out of class yet and the afternoon torrent of laborers returning home from their days work is still hours away. The day is cool but definitely Spring. Motorcycles were roaring all up and down State Street. Temps tomorrow should be near 60…

I have included a number of images taken on my trip today.