The Woman On The Bus
May. 5th, 2010 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ailbheOn Friday, after swimming, we all trooped off to the bus-stop to get the bus to ERAPA, so that Linnea could have a birthday cake on her actual birthday with some of her friends, two in particular (this reminds me, we have gifts received which ended up in a bag, must get them out and sort out thank yous).
The bus was rather busy when we got on - two adults, and children aged, I think but could be misremembering, 12, 7, 6, 5, 3 and 2. I had crutches and for the prevention of screaming the toddler was removed from the buggy and the bags (many) were seated in it instead (too many to go on the single high luggage rack without spilling). I asked the driver, before we started, if there was enough space for the buggy, and he said yes, so on we got.
The bus was pretty full. There may have been seats further back or upstairs, but with a buggy and crutches and small wobbly children that wasn't possible to investigate. One of the priority disabled seats was empty but the space in front of it was full of a huge suitcase, whose owner was sitting in the aisle seat on the other priority disabled seat. So to avoid falling on the floor I had to quickly sit on the bottom step of the stairs, since I can't stay upright on my legs and crutches in a moving bus. Linnea and Emer sat on the step above me, side by side, holding the rails tightly. I'm not sure where everyone else ended up, but I think the toddler got a seat as the person most likely to fall over without one.
That was fine until the woman with the big suitcase dropped it on my foot.
She was getting off the bus, and wanted to get up the aisle in good time, while the bus was still moving, before it reached her stop. The first I knew of this was when the corner or wheel landed on my left foot and the pull-handle hit me on the head. I pushed it up and back from me and said something like "Ow!" expecting the usual "Oh sorry didn't see you - It's ok it was an accident - Are you ok - Sorry I can't get out of the way - No no my fault" stuff. Instead, she continued to shove the bag through my legs, and walked on my left foot. I said "Ow, you're standing on my foot," or something similar.
I'm not sure what happened in what order after that.
She said I should move my feet, and I said I couldn't stand while the bus was moving because of my crutches. She said I shouldn't be there and the crutches were dangerous and I said that I was beginning to agree. She said I should go up the stairs, and my children got slightly anxious because they couldn't go anywhere - there was a queue forming on the steps above them - and I reiterated that I couldn't stand while the bus was still moving.
In the end, she put one of her feet on each of mine, and I said Ow a lot more, and then I said "Could someone please take my crutches? They are inconveniencing this woman," which is about as rude as I get under extreme stress really, and someone did, and the bus stopped at a proper bus-stop, and she wheeled her suitcase over both my feet on her way off the bus, and the people queueing up behind her went past making noises of disgust and annoyance -- directed at her, not me -- including a suggestion to call the police.
Linnea told me that I had to move because people behind them on the stairs needed to get off, and Radegund helped me to pull myself upright using the various handgrips provided for standing passengers, and I pulled myself around the corner of the stairs onto the seat so recently vacated by the suitcase. Linnea and Emer came downstairs and got out of people's way so that other people could get off the bus, and asked where my crutches were, and I said "That nice lady is holding them for me," or similar, and she gave them to Radegund and I sat and shook a lot and apparently apologised to Radegund a good deal for being so dashed inconvenient.
I have never encountered anything like it before unless I was actually being deliberately attacked by someone whose main goal was to attack someone.
The trip home was much better - still crowded, but full of nice people, and although Emer fell asleep on my lap and I had to wake her to walk off the bus at our stop, so she cried loudly the whole way down the aisle, Rob met us at the stop so she got carried home. And the 5- and 6-year olds (I have a 6-year-old!) were incredibly well-behaved and gave up their seats to the elderly to the manner born.
At least we were doing all this with lots of bus-using experience, because if we'd been on the bus because my crutches meant I couldn't drive (which they would, I couldn't possibly handle an accelerator, let alone a brake pedal, with my hips as they are), we'd also have been trying to work out which stops to use and how to park the buggy and so on. As it was we could use all our brain power to say things like "I can't believe what she just did - can you?" "No, I can't believe it - can you?" "No, it really was just -" "Yes, it was, wasn't it? I can't believe it, can you?" and so on.
The bus was rather busy when we got on - two adults, and children aged, I think but could be misremembering, 12, 7, 6, 5, 3 and 2. I had crutches and for the prevention of screaming the toddler was removed from the buggy and the bags (many) were seated in it instead (too many to go on the single high luggage rack without spilling). I asked the driver, before we started, if there was enough space for the buggy, and he said yes, so on we got.
The bus was pretty full. There may have been seats further back or upstairs, but with a buggy and crutches and small wobbly children that wasn't possible to investigate. One of the priority disabled seats was empty but the space in front of it was full of a huge suitcase, whose owner was sitting in the aisle seat on the other priority disabled seat. So to avoid falling on the floor I had to quickly sit on the bottom step of the stairs, since I can't stay upright on my legs and crutches in a moving bus. Linnea and Emer sat on the step above me, side by side, holding the rails tightly. I'm not sure where everyone else ended up, but I think the toddler got a seat as the person most likely to fall over without one.
That was fine until the woman with the big suitcase dropped it on my foot.
She was getting off the bus, and wanted to get up the aisle in good time, while the bus was still moving, before it reached her stop. The first I knew of this was when the corner or wheel landed on my left foot and the pull-handle hit me on the head. I pushed it up and back from me and said something like "Ow!" expecting the usual "Oh sorry didn't see you - It's ok it was an accident - Are you ok - Sorry I can't get out of the way - No no my fault" stuff. Instead, she continued to shove the bag through my legs, and walked on my left foot. I said "Ow, you're standing on my foot," or something similar.
I'm not sure what happened in what order after that.
She said I should move my feet, and I said I couldn't stand while the bus was moving because of my crutches. She said I shouldn't be there and the crutches were dangerous and I said that I was beginning to agree. She said I should go up the stairs, and my children got slightly anxious because they couldn't go anywhere - there was a queue forming on the steps above them - and I reiterated that I couldn't stand while the bus was still moving.
In the end, she put one of her feet on each of mine, and I said Ow a lot more, and then I said "Could someone please take my crutches? They are inconveniencing this woman," which is about as rude as I get under extreme stress really, and someone did, and the bus stopped at a proper bus-stop, and she wheeled her suitcase over both my feet on her way off the bus, and the people queueing up behind her went past making noises of disgust and annoyance -- directed at her, not me -- including a suggestion to call the police.
Linnea told me that I had to move because people behind them on the stairs needed to get off, and Radegund helped me to pull myself upright using the various handgrips provided for standing passengers, and I pulled myself around the corner of the stairs onto the seat so recently vacated by the suitcase. Linnea and Emer came downstairs and got out of people's way so that other people could get off the bus, and asked where my crutches were, and I said "That nice lady is holding them for me," or similar, and she gave them to Radegund and I sat and shook a lot and apparently apologised to Radegund a good deal for being so dashed inconvenient.
I have never encountered anything like it before unless I was actually being deliberately attacked by someone whose main goal was to attack someone.
The trip home was much better - still crowded, but full of nice people, and although Emer fell asleep on my lap and I had to wake her to walk off the bus at our stop, so she cried loudly the whole way down the aisle, Rob met us at the stop so she got carried home. And the 5- and 6-year olds (I have a 6-year-old!) were incredibly well-behaved and gave up their seats to the elderly to the manner born.
At least we were doing all this with lots of bus-using experience, because if we'd been on the bus because my crutches meant I couldn't drive (which they would, I couldn't possibly handle an accelerator, let alone a brake pedal, with my hips as they are), we'd also have been trying to work out which stops to use and how to park the buggy and so on. As it was we could use all our brain power to say things like "I can't believe what she just did - can you?" "No, I can't believe it - can you?" "No, it really was just -" "Yes, it was, wasn't it? I can't believe it, can you?" and so on.