Last weekend the berry situation became critical. We reached the point where we had to work to eat as many as we picked. I made a pie and we are still eating lots of berries but the supply is slowing down.
On Wednesday, I left my phone on the bus.
This is something I am normally careful about. I check my keys and phone and make sure I have everything when I exit. But I had an extra bag and somehow my phone slipped away.
It wasn’t in my pocket when I got to the car and I knew it was gone right away because it talks to my car and my car couldn’t find it.
A couple of years ago, Bob left his iPad on the bus. It was during the pandemic and there were so few bus riders that iPad remained on the bus for over a week. We could watch it riding back and forth to downtown and then going to the bus barn at night until the battery died. It took almost 2 weeks for him to get it back.
It would be very challenging to get through two weeks without my phone, so I was determined to rescue it from the bus.
My first idea was to wait until the bus looped back around to the park-n-ride again. From the schedule, it looked like that would be at least 45 minutes and I worried that meanwhile someone could use my phone for nefarious purposes or squirrel it away to Algeria and I would never see it again.
I went home and got on my desktop and put it in Lost Mode. I could see its location and it looked like it was on the lawn next to the park-n-ride break room/maintenance building.
Oh, I thought. It fell out of my pocket into the grass. I better hurry back before someone runs off with it.
I went back to the park-n-ride. (Trip 1) It was not on the grass. I went and found a bus driver standing around vaping and looking like he hated his life. I explained what was going on, thinking he might say, “Let me check the break room to see if someone brought in your phone.” or “Here, I just picked this up. So happy to find the rightful owner.”
He did not. He asked me where the app said it was and also asked me if I had a smart watch.
Thanks for helping, guy.
I waited for the bus to loop back down and the bus that arrived was not my bus.
I went home and got back on the app. It looked like my phone was headed for the bus barn. Oh well, I thought. I clicked the button where Lost Mode would have my phone make a noise. I needed someone to find it and send it to Lost and Found. (I also called Lost and Found to describe my problem.)
Then I was about to proceed with my evening when it looked like the phone was headed back to the park-n-ride. I jumped in the car. (Trip 2)
When I arrived at the park-n-ride I waited for the bus to arrive and the bus that arrived was not my bus. I talked to that driver and he was sympathetic but what could he do?
There was a maintenance person so I asked her if anyone had found a phone. No luck. I looked in the grass again and checked the schedule thinking, for sure the next bus would be my bus.
It wasn’t going to arrive for 45 minutes.
I thought I could wander around the park-n-ride but what were the chances that after all that, it wasn’t my bus?
I went back home. I checked the app. My phone was at the other park-n-ride north of mine which meant that my bus was still in service and would be coming back down.
I went back to the park-n-ride. (Trip 3). As I drove in there was a bus like the one I took parked to the side, out of service. I stopped the car and talked to that driver who looked for my phone. He also said reassuring things like: as soon as it’s found they would take it to Lost and Found and I could get it then.
I went to the platform to wait for my bus. At 7:17 (!) my bus arrived. It was the same driver who did not recognize me from earlier but let me on the bus, it was stuck in the crack between the seat and the window.
SUCCESS!!!!! I went home and cuddled with my phone for the rest of the night.
