Where is the Bus??!!

  Today is cold, rainy and very windy. One of those autumn days where you finally realize that even "Indian summer" is officially over. And what was I doing on this fine afternoon you may ask. Why I was waiting for the school bus. For a very,very long time.

  Riley is a school "walker". We live too close to the school to have busing provided. You must reside farther than 1.8 km from the school in order to qualify for transportation...unless your child is in kindergarten. No one really knows how they came up with that distance. Or exactly how much extra it costs to bus the closer kids. If at all. But that's the rule so.....

  Once all the routes are up and running you can apply for one of the empty seats. If you are lucky enough to get one they tell you where and when your child's bus will show up. You cannot ask for any changes such as a closer stop. The bus company is very strict. Very strict.

  This particular bus also does another school. So the driver drops off an entire bus load of students before ever reaching Riley's school, where he loads up again. Now the other three buses show up between 3:00 and 3:05, load up and off they go. Not this bus. Sometimes it doesn't show til 3:15 or even 3:20! A full fifteen minutes after the bell rings. It's not the driver's fault. By law he cannot let a kindergarten student off the bus without an adult there to pick them up. So if the parent is late, he must wait. Also there is traffic to consider. Again nothing he can do about that.

  But today was ridiculous. I arrived at 3:25...the earliest the bus has ever arrived. I'm constantly moving my umbrella from side to side as the wind changes, trying to keep it from popping. The rain is coming down sideways so most of the time I'm still getting wet. The other parents are there too waiting....in their cars, warm and dry but I digress. A quick check of my phone, 3:30. Ok it's only been five minutes. Feels like longer but ok.

  Check again, 3:35. Well, it probably took longer to load the bus. Any second now. 3:40, nothing. 3:45, nothing. Twenty minutes. I've been waiting 20 minutes. In the cold rain. Trying to keep my umbrella in tact. Not happy. Not happy at all.

  3:48 the bus arrives. A full thirty three minutes after the "scheduled" arrival time. The driver is smiling telling the kids to have a good evening and to do their homework. He's as happy as can be. The parents are not so happy. We are tired of waiting. We have other things we could/should have been doing.

  Will I call the bus company tomorrow and complain? No I will not. Why? Because we are one of the lucky ones to get that coveted seat. Will any of the other parents voice their irritation? Nope, not a chance. They too are part of the chosen ones. We cannot afford to do anything to anger the bus gods and have our seat pulled out from underneath us...literally and figuratively.

  So this will be my only complaint. I will put on my big-girl-panties and move on. My only complaining will be done to anyone who reads this. And John. 

  Ang