I've owned a car since I was 14. Spent two years rebuilding it and had my own set of wheels by the time I turned 16. I've never been with out a vehicle since. I even lost my license for a couple of years, and still owned a car. I drove it more than I should have and luckily never got caught. So I've never really had much use for public transportation. At the beginning of this year I owed two cars and had the work truck. I gave my 92' Corsica to a charity group in Feb. I forget which one, I'll pull out the receipt come tax time and figure it out. Three weeks ago I gave my 1966 Plymouth Fury III to a museum. The car really was in too good a shape to be anything but a collectors piece. This left me with nothing but the work truck, one of the great benefits of my job.
Well last Tuesday that changed. I went out on a call and found that I had lost reverse gear and that 1st gear was fading fast. I finished the call and feathered the truck to a Chevy dealership. They looked it over and told me that I could just kiss my transmission goodbye. They promised to overnight a transmission and have it installed by Wednesday afternoon.
I walked home that day and found out how truly out of shape I am a mere 5 miles and I was puffing at the end of it. I slept well that night and the next day started out very nice. Got up late and kind of hung around the house. Played on the computer a little and watched some TV. About noon I called into the dealership and found that my truck would not be ready until the next day. Seems they had a problem getting the parts. Made me happy I still got the day off or so I thought.
Along about 3 pm I get a call and have to run out to fix a machine. That presented a bit of a problem since I had no vehicles. I called a taxi and had them come an get me. The taxi ride was nice but ended up costing me twenty dollars. I got to the location and fixed the machine no big deal. Now the fun part was getting home. I didn't really want to spend another twenty out of my own pocket to get home. So I decided to try public transportation. I hiked up to the nearest bus stop and waited. Presently a bus came along and I hopped in giving the machine a dollar.
I sat down and looked around. Now it's been over a decade since I've been on a bus and it was actually a rather enjoyable experience. Public transportation has come along way.
