Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Door Crasher...

I was sitting on the bus today waiting for the driver to get his ass in gear and get me home. Let's say the bus is the blue car in the diagram to the right. To our left on the other side of the bike lane, traffic was coming to a stop for the red light. I was busy scrolling through music on my iPod when suddenly there was a crash against the side of the bus about 6 feet in front of where I was sitting. I look up and there is a cyclist laying in the bike lane, most of his bike on top of him. Next to the bus was a white mini van with its passenger side door wide open and a very sheepish looking teenage girl climbing out.

Now, I didn't see exactly what happened but I can assume that the girl opened the door without looking, the cyclist swerved at the last second, bounced off the side of the bus and hit the ground. The man riding the bike stood up, brushed himself off and uttered what I can only imagine were some choice words in the direction of the girl and rode off.

So, accidents happen, no one got hurt and the since the bus wasn't dented, no damage to property. Where's the rant? I hear you ask. My rant is this:

The girl who caused the accident, as I said, looked sheepish and she was clearly having an 'Oh, shit' moment. However, the ENTIRE time, she not for one second lost the ridiculous smile on her face. I could see her mouthing the words 'I'm so sorry' at the cyclist, then she looked at the driver of the van (I assume her mother), then she just stood there....smiling. After the cyclist got up and rode away, she stood there for a second or two and then walked around the bus....still smiling. Now, I understand that she was probably dying of embarrassment since a street full of rush hour traffic and a bus load of people just witnessed the accident she caused. I also understand that humans are weird and sometimes we laugh when we should cry and vice versa.

What I don't get though is that she didn't even attempt to help the guy up. The bus driver managed to get out there and ask the guy if he was okay but she just stood there. Smiling. What is wrong with people? Take your head out of your ass, get over your misplaced feelings of being the centre of the universe and help the person you just caused injury to. How hard is that? It's crap like this that makes me wonder how we'll ever manage to sort out the really big problems in the world when people can't even perform simple acts of decency.

Anonymous smiling teenage girl - you should be ashamed of yourself. Despite your inability to wipe that inane smile off your face, I hope you learned your lesson.


Saturday, July 10, 2010

I'm sensing a theme here...

Feet. More specifically, photos of feet, much like this one of my feet taken on a beach on the way to Port Arthur, Tasmania. The water was surprisingly cold. I should tell you all about that little trip the Boy and I took to Tasmania, but that's a story for another time.

Back to the feet. Lately, it seems like every blog I visit - and I visit so many wonderful blogs, I really should start making a list - there is a photo of the blogger's feet. Some are in shoes, some just in socks, others are bare but the line of the shot is almost always the same. It's not really unusual but I found it funny that I kept coming across photos like this.

There are changes *afoot in my life at the moment. My feet are once again itchy. This started awhile ago but the plans to scratch the itch were drawn out, future plans. Now the scratching has begun. The first phase of the plan is in motion and in a matter of weeks, I will no longer be calling the island home.

I am excited about what is to come, and maybe also a wee bit petrified. Mostly excited though. I feel like I've been asleep for a really long time and now I'm just starting to wake up. I feel an energy creeping back into my bones and a sense of possibility that has been missing. It feels good.

There will be more to come on this topic but before I really spill all of the beans, there are a few people I need to tell face to face. Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed that I find a lot of boxes in the next couple of weeks.


*sorry, I couldn't resist.