Friday, April 24, 2009

A walk, a big lunch, a bus ride, another bus ride, and a great show

Today was jam-packed with excitement!

Earlier in the week, I'd made plans with my friend Andrea for lunch at our favorite place: Souplantation. This morning when I woke up, I decided to walk over there.

I researched my route carefully, using Google Maps and MapWalk.com, and decided that my best best was... straight down Bellflower and up Candlewood, exactly the route I would take had I been driving. I need to pay better attention next time, because various sections of Bellflower are lacking in sidewalk (what's up with that, Long Beach/Lakewood?).

It is 3.1 miles from my house to the nearest Souplantation, and according to MapWalk, a person of my size should be able to walk that distance in 1 hour, 1 minute (why the one minute, I wonder?), burning 344 calories for his/her efforts.

I left about 15 minutes early so that I could hit the ATM that is luckily on the way, and set off, dressed like a 9 year old on the first day of school (sneakers, last year's J. Crew cargos, a t-shirt, a denim jacket and my awesome canvas backpack from Powell's bookstore). I forgot to pay close attention to the time, but I believe it took me 1 hour, 6 minutes to get there, which is fine, because I do walk a bit slower than most people (I had a slow Tom Petty song in my head for most of the way, but switched to Colonel Bogey's March when I thought I might not be on time to meet Andrea).

I was, however, on time - five minutes early, I think, and our lunch was fun and exciting and she even demonstrated a wrist wrestling move on me (but only after I told her that I struggle to open jelly jars, and made her promise not to break my arm).

Afterwards, it was my plan to take the bus home - I had to be at the theater tonight, and I was afraid the one hour, one minute walk home would wipe me out too much. Plus I wanted to have some time to hang out before I had to leave, and according to LBTransit.com, if I planned it right, I could be home in 15 minutes. Also, I've never ridden the bus in Long Beach before, and thought it would be fun.

However, I did not plan it right. For one thing, I decided to go to Lens Crafters and check out a new pair of glasses. That took longer than I expected. Then, apparently the buses in Long Beach/Lakewood run on a once an hour schedule (!), so I had to wait for the bus I wanted (the 93, headed "Downtown").

I'm not exactly a habitual bus rider, unless I'm in another town (Portland had great buses, as does San Francisco!), but after finishing up at Lens Crafters, I stuck to my plan and went to sit on the bus stop. I had brought my iPod and a book and my cell phone but I didn't really do any of those things. I sat on the bus stop and waited.

And waited.
And waited.
And waited.

Two other buses passed in the time I was sitting there (both the same number, apparently going to the same place, and they arrived within seconds of each other). Nobody else joined me at the bus stop.

Finally a bus with the correct number arrived, and I, in my haste to get home and off that damn bus bench, hopped on. I should've paid more attention to the sign on the bus itself, but because I was sitting on what I thought was the right side of the street (and I was sitting on the right side of the street), I assumed that the bus I was on was heading in the right direction.

A few turns and a couple of blocks later, I realized that I wasn't going in the right direction. Instead of panicking, I eavesdropped on another man's conversation with the bus driver about the next stop, decided that it would work for me to get off there as well, and so, I did.

I crossed the street, found another bus stop, and called the local number to the LB Transit people. I verified that I was indeed waiting for the right bus, and then I asked the woman I was speaking to when the next bus was due to arrive.

This is when things got tricky.

She said, "Oh! That bus just passed three minutes ago! There won't be another one for an hour!"

AN HOUR?

What the hell kind of service is that? One freaking bus an hour? And by now it was quite late: I needed to be on the road for Santa Monica at the very latest by 6:15. It was now 5:45. I had no idea when the bus was coming or how long it would take to get to my stop, and I also had to walk a bit to my house from the stop...

She put me on hold so she could verify the exact location of the bus at that very moment, and I contemplated my options (oh, and while I was on hold, some crazy guy with a whole collection of ugly golden crosses approached me and asked if I wanted one. I shook my head no, and then he asked me if I pray. I didn't hear his question at first, and I said "I don't know." He got very angry at me at that point and was all, "What do you mean, you don't know!" Finally he went away):

1. Patrick had left from work to pick up his friend so they could go hear their other friend's band play. He was probably already in West LA. Not a chance he could help.

2. I could call a cab.

3. I could commandeer one of those Long Beach Dash vans that chauffeur old people.

Finally the woman came back on, and said that the bus I needed was 3 minutes late. She told me that he was at the major street directly to the north of me, and that he was headed in my direction. I thanked her, hung up the phone, and about 30 seconds later, up pulled the right bus.

Notes for next time: pay closer attention to the bus I'm boarding; bring a map; don't cut it so close.

Oh, and have a better answer on hand for crazy cross-wielding dudes.

...

I did make it on time to Santa Monica, even found a good parking spot, and got to see The Bourgeois Gentilhomme again. Great show! Closes in just a couple of weeks!

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