PRE AMBLING

Once the bus crosses Van Ness Avenue, all bets are off.  It's a rolling adventure.
Today was no different than any other day in that regard - the bus was packed full, and people pushed in both front and back. What WAS different was that the bus driver was a middle aged gentleman with severe anger issues, who may have disliked Chinese people.
Judging by his venomous attitude.

To judge by some of the passengers on board, he may have soul mates who speak Chinese.
One gentleman spent the entire time on the crowded bus bitterly bitching into his cell-phone in Mandarin. Another male sneered at the young Cantonese American girl who tried to explain to him, gently, what the bus-driver had angrily screamed.

啊生，巴士司機要求你保持嗰啲木板堅守直立....
嗰些木板咁尖嘅....
由於係銳同尖, 有人可能受傷了。


["Oh sir, the bus driver firmly requests that you keep those wooden planks vertical...  they’re so sharp… because of their edges, it is possible that people might get hurt."]

People injuring themselves on his wooden planks?
Impossible.
His attitude made clear that such nonsense was only a concern of stupid white people and equally stupid American-born Chinese. Real people, people with common sense, should have no problem.

Hmmph!

She was a very nice young lady, and didn't deserve such a reaction at all.
Especially as she went out of her way to be clear and courteous.

I got off at Powell Street, before he tried to push his way through the exit-scrimmage at Stockton.
Had to tell the Mandarin-speaking phone yacker to move it ('dwei bu chi, wo hsiang hsia cherrrr'), and excused myself to an old lady on the other side (mou i-si-ah, ah yi…).
I'm certain mister 'Wooden Planks' managed to exit before either of them.
Despite being further from the door.

I had my own thing with wood going. Filled a pipe with Greg Pease’s Sextant Mixture, and wandered down through Chinatown to the office.
Though not as warm as yesterday, it's bright and lovely outside.
I feel full of piss and vinegar too.
Marvelous tobacco.



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