Things that happened to me yesterday

Yesterday was a weird day. I have a tendency to notice silly things or overthink situations, so I’m not sure if this was just in overdrive yesterday, or it actually was an odd day.

Anyway, I was woken at 11.30am by an important phone call, and I’m fairly sure the caller knew I was just awake and barely aware of what was going on, so that wasn’t a good start. Breakfast, shower, and I’ll head into work, says I.

Just as I get to the bus stop for my first journey of the day, I see a bus driving off. Fuck it, says I, Mark Walsh runs for no bus. So I get the next one.

After my first bus, I have to get a second one to my place of work. While waiting for this, my laptop bag on me and my earphones in, looking utterly unapproachable, some nice old dear asks me for directions, then there’s that awkward smile by both parties where I realise she’s talking to me, and she realises I didn’t hear a word of whatever drivel she was spewing, and she has to repeat. I then tell her I have no idea about what she’s asking me, as it’s a wonder I manage to find my way to work every morning.

So then the bus comes, with no number displayed. I get on, and ask the driver “Number 18 I presume?” No answer. “Is this the 18 yeah?”, now I’m not a real stickler for politeness or manners (this may not be true, I probably am a stickler for politeness or manners) but he just continued to stare straight ahead and just sort of mumbled in an affirmative tone. What the fuck? Shit like that pisses me right off. If you’re gonna be useless with talking to people, then display the fucking bus number in the goddamn panel, that’s what it’s there for. A number of people then got on and asked the same question, much to my amusement.

So there I am, sitting down with my earphones in, and we get to a stop about half way along the bus route. A few people get on, and it’s all fine. Then one person comes and sits beside me. Sounds normal, but there was empty seats all over the fucking place, and I was sitting right in the middle of the seat, and then had to go to the strenuous effort of moving over for this guy. There was no (non-sexual) reason for him to choose to sit beside me instead of taking an empty seat. Fuck’s sake, now I have to do the whole polite “Sorry mate can I get by ya there?” when it’s at my stop. It was just weird and annoying.

So later on, after work, I decide to grab some food before hopping on a bus. Then as I’m about to pass by the bus stop, the bus I need is there. What do I do?

One look at the traffic told me another bus might not be around for a while, so I had to get on. On the bus, I saw someone who looked really like an old work colleague of mine. It definitely wasn’t him, but it just set me off remembering some of the stuff that guy had done/said during the time we worked together, he was hilarious. We then passed by the petrol station where I had planned to get some food, and I looked in and didn’t see a hot food section, so I made the right decision in getting that bus. Mark : 1, World : ~1,287.

I also saw a Tony Soprano lookalike, he had the large frame of Tony (James Gandolfini) but sadly the hearing aid he was sporting sort of lost him the cool mafioso factor.

Off that bus, walking toward the next. Shit, there’s one there now. I could run and catch it? Nah, Mark Walsh runs for no bus. It drives off and behind it there’s an even better bus (leaves me closer to home). Oh yes! My hatred of running for buses has paid off. Mark : 2, World ~1,287.

I get on, use my bus pass, and look around for a seat - right at the back, grand. Holy shit, was that - ? I looked and there sat the ex work colleague I had been thinking about on the previous bus. Bear in mind that I hadn’t seen this guy in about two years, and the one day I get reminded of him I see him on the bus. There was brief eye contact, and I could tell he recognised me (I just knew, alright!? ), but we were on a packed bus and both had earphones in, so we did the manly thing. We pretended we didn’t recognise each other.

At the back of the bus there was a girl in the corner and I was certain I knew her from somewhere. I then spent ages trying to think where I recognised her from. It was really cramped at the back, and I was sitting in a seat that faces the people in front of me. Where the hell do you look when you’re sitting there? I stretched out a leg to ease an oncoming cramp, then remembered I was wearing my battered old runners that I should have thrown out ages ago but they’re far too comfortable for me to do so. Fuck, retract the leg, retract the leg! You fool, Mark, don’t let the passengers see what a lowlife scumbag you are with your tattered shoes.

As passenger numbers dwindled, it was just me and that familiar girl at the back of the bus. Fuck it, it’s gonna annoy me unless I ask. Turns out I did know her from somewhere and we got chatting about all the general bullshit people do these days.

I’m certain there was many more interesting things that happened me yesterday, as I made the mental note to make this post, but alas, I’ve forgotten it all now.

As you can see, I’m very comfortable and normal in social situations.

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