Magical Technology

The Schnitzer from the park blocks.

Yesterday was like a feel-good technology commercial on the bus. After we’d boarded a elder Asian woman came to the door and said the route number of our bus and then the route number of another bus that has an overlapping but different route. The bus driver tried to clarify which bus we were and which bus she wanted but they went back and forth without much success.

Finally the bus driver said, “Someone, help.”

And the passengers at the front of the bus immediately began to help by speaking very loudly and repeating what the bus driver had been saying because you know, if a person doesn’t understand the language, volume helps.

[This reminds of the time Bob and I were coming home from a trip and we were going through security at the Munich airport. There were at least three major levels of security and this was the third one. There was this woman working in security who was shouting at me in German and making vague gestures that offered me no clue to what she wanted. Anything I tried just made her yell louder. I finally said, “You can yell as loud as you want, I still don’t understand.” I think she just liked hollering at people. Obviously we weren’t the first English speaking people to go through security at that airport.]

Finally the lady decided to get on our bus. She was a tiny adorable elder carrying a backpack at least half as big as she was.

Sorry, she repeated a few times, as she boarded, but you could tell she is one of those old people who isn’t embarrassed by anything.

She sat down next to the passenger across from me and immediately started a conversation using the half dozen words of English she knew. The passenger was a guy who was pretty funny. She said she was 77 and he told her she looked great. Then I think there might have been a misunderstanding because she said she had 48 grandkids and he said, wow, that must make Christmas tough.

She said she was Chinese and he figured out which flavor she spoke and then said, hey I want to try something.

He took out his iPhone and started translating questions which displayed in Chinese characters that she could read. She nodded and laughed. It was so cute.

Later she whipped out a phone to call her daughter and after talking for a minute handed the phone to her new friend. He said, yeah, just hanging out on the bus with your mom. She’s pretty cool.

Then he clarified that she was on her way to the correct bus stop and how long it would be before we got there.

Sometimes random moments with strangers can make your whole day.

Last Sunday I heard Bob let out a whoop in the kitchen and I ran in there and he was very proud to show me this pancake.

I’ve got a daffodil. It’s out front being rained on. Some of my neighbors have a lot of daffodils but mine always seem to take their time. I can see a few more on the verge. One of my favorite spring moments.

This evening I made the total Pacific Northwest amateur error. It wasn’t raining so I took my raincoat off and left it in the car.

I was only going into the market. I had a short list. I’d be out in a few minutes.

When I left: Monsooning. Sideways. Or is that what monsooning means?

I had to wring out my purse when I got home. I feel like I spent half my week walking around with wet pants. I’m in sweatpants now with fuzzy socks and soup re-heating on the stove so I’m happy.

I’ve had a computer intensive week so I’m going to unplug for 24 hours and see if I can revive my poor mouse arm.