B is for...

B is for Buses...

For someone who lives in a city known for its trams, buses certainly have played a significant role in my life... of course neither of these stories takes place in Melbourne.

I met one of my best friends, C, while traveling in Europe with another friend, G. Picture this: G and I were travelling on Bus-a-bout, a sort of hop on hop off backpacker network of buses that travel around Europe. We had been staying with a friend of G's in Paris and were scheduled to leave at 8am on whatever morning it was. We slept in, woke up in a tizzy and rushed to where the buses leave from to see them driving off in the distance. We headed over the road (actually road is an understatement, picture one of those huge wide Parisian boulevards with about five lanes of traffic in each direction!) to grab a coffee and collect our thoughts. After a couple of minutes we see two Bus-a-bout buses pull up again. knowing full well they were not coming back for us, because although we had a booking they do not wait for anyone! G ran across the road to find out what was going on. She called out to me from the other side of the road to come over, so me, laden down with two lots of (girls!) bags ran over and jumped on the bus.

Meanwhile; C and her husband (at the time!) where on their first Bus-a-bout leg, having shown their booking slip to the guide of the first bus (about three buses left from the same place at the same time and for some unbeknown reason did not have a sign showing which was going where.) got themselves comfy. As the bus headed down the road and the guide began talking about their destination, (I cant remember where it was but it can not where C was supposed to be going!) she gingerly put her hand up and said, um, I think there has been a mistake. After much convincing, tanty throwing and whatever other threats where involved, the driver, totally against policy (how many times did we have to hear those words!) contacted the other driver and had both buses return to the original leaving spot.

Suffice to say, we got on the bus and everyone HATED C and her hubby for making the bus so late, but G and I LOVED them because we got to get on. We got talking and it turned out we were all from Melbourne, had all been living in Edinburgh, (just down the road from where I was living in fact) and had heaps in common. We kept running into them throughout our travels and at the end exchanged all the usual email addresses etc. I was heading straight back to Aus, and although you say you will, you never keep in touch. 6 months later, I was coming out of the store room of the Bookshop I was working in and ran straight into this guy who looked so familiar but I just couldn't place him. it was N, C's hubby, they were back, living in Melbourne. After a couple more spooky coincidences, C and I decided there had to be some reason we were meant to be friends so we might as well go with it. that was about 6 years ago, and we've gone through so much together, kids, relationships (starting and ending), complete meltdowns, librarianships. She's cooking me dinner tonight!

The other Bus...

I met my partner (here by known as 'the boy') on the school bus. We used to sit together, well actually he always sat next to me. I had such a crush on him, we kissed once but he reckons he doesn't remember. Anyway, we were pretty good friends, and ran into each other from time to time. This was all about 15 years ago now. About four years ago I found out on the small town rumour mill that he was back and where he was living. I knocked on his door, as you do, not having a clue what to expect. I mean it had been at least four or five years since I had seen him, I could have been greeted at the door by his wife and kids, or his boyfriend for all I knew! Turns out he was also single. I was thinking 'your looking good' and he was thinking 'your looking good' and, well after that I stalked him for a bit. (Well look, it's not really stalking if they like you back is it?) Well anyways we got together. When I told my brother about it he made some comment about running out of guys to chase and having to recycle my old crushes!