Bus Stop Conversation - "Poor Mama"

[pardes]

I've learned to avoid conversataion with one particular lady at the bus stop.

Pardes: "Number 33 hasn't come yet, has it?"

Lady: (silence followed by a shrug of left shoulder)

Pardes: "Then it's really late."

Lady: (silence followed by shrug of right shoulder)

Pardes (silence followed by shrug of both shoulders)

Okay, so she doesn't want to chat.....ever.....under any circumstances....

It went like this for two weeks. Silence. No words, no shrugs, not even a nod.

Then this morning I pull up on the bike and prepare for the silence.

Lady: "My Mama needs a bike like that. 'Stead of sitting around at home all the time."

Pardes "Does Mama know she NEEDS a bike? Does she WANT a bike?"

Lady (shrugs both shoulders and lets out a small giggle) Mama don't knonw what she wants."

She then interrogates me about the bike, biking in general, the physical benefits of biking, the problems encountered with bus/biking. Walter Kronkite would have been awed by the amount of information she mined in a mere 3 minutes.

Lady (her cell phone rings) "Baby Sister? Girl, I gotta tell you about this woman and her bike...." She then proceeds to relay all the pivotal information but stumbles at one point. "Oh, I'd say she's about....ummm...should I axe her?"

Pardes "62," I say before she articulates the question. "Soon to be 63."

Lady "She's 62, just like Mama! And you should SEE her bike....why it's even better than the one Junior has and you know Junior...he only buys the best. And you know what girlfriend....she won't even let anyone help her put it on the bus rack. Feisty just like Mama is. And she said she lost 25 pounds in the last two months just from biking to the bus stop and grocery store. Yes, Ma'am, Baby Sister, we gotta get Mama a bike....."


Can't you just hear the conversation that Lady and Baby Sister must have had with Mama? Poor Mama. All she wants to do is watch her soaps and pat her grandkids....and wonder what wild scheme her kids have cooked up for her now.

[smilingcat]

Hi,

It's never too late to start a sport. Well the children is thinking postively toward "mama" so kudos to them and you too. Get them all excited like that. Who knows, "mama" may like it and get the grand kids all involved.

:D

Smilingcat

[Zen]

I'm sure there's nothing that will convince Mama to get on a bike but hopefully Chatty Cathy and her Baby Sister will remember you ;)

[Trek420]

Keep talking and/or shrugging, and answering questions. The nice thing about public transpo is you get to know people you'd never meet in a car, same as riding. Maybe bus passenger gal will be inspired by you, she rides, sibling will ride and then Mom. Junior already rides so there is a foothold in the fambly.

Someday you may arrive and there she is on a bike .... you never know what will inspire anyone to take up a sport at any age. Did you think you'd be riding at 62? Did any of us think we'd be? Life's just full of surprises, ain't it.

I've had some gems of quick conversations in the elevator at work. Like guerilla bike ed :D AM, on the way up:
coworker #1: I could never do that, I live in Concord.
Trek420: I live in Hayweird, it's as far or further from here.
coworker #1: :eek:
Trek: how far are you from BART?
C #1: oh I drive a couple miles.
Trek: Me too, ride 2 flat miles to BART, get on the train, exit and here I am. :rolleyes: It's faster than driving :D
C #1: ohhhhhhhhhh :cool: now I get it, I never thought of that.


PM, on the way down:
coworker #2: doesn't that make you tired riding to work?
Trek: no! I arrive energized, cheerful rather than my usual rasty self, get a little work out in, relaxed. Going home it's the same thing. It's fun.
coworker 2: Oh! Hmmmm.

[tulip]

When I lived in Washington, DC, a woman on my regular route (a the top of a hill, so I was going slow) came running out of her house in her bathrobe, calling after me. She stopped me to tell me that seeing me ride by every day had inspired her and her husband to go out and buy bikes. She hadn't ridden a bike since she was a kid. She invited me up to her porch to show me their new bikes. She and her husband would ride them on the nearby greenway. It was great! From that day on, we always waved to each other and sometimes chatted, always about bikes.

You never know how you inspire people without even realizing it.

[lph]

Poor Mama indeed! This story had me *howling* with laughter :D

[Becky]

Pardes, you are such an amazing writer and that story had me laughing out loud! DH even asked me to read it aloud because I was laughing so hard.

Please keep posting your stories here :)

[short cut sally]

I read the story, and thought it said Baby Sitter, not sister..so I was perplexed why this lady was telling this to the sitter..thinking, does the sitter even care.?!! But I re-read it and it made much more sense. Thanks for the cute story.

[Iris616]

That's a fantastic story! We don't always know when we are affecting the world around us in a positive way. Did you smile all the way to work from the interaction?:)

[OakLeaf]

Pardes, you are such an amazing writer and that story had me laughing out loud! ...
Please keep posting your stories here :)

+1!!!

[mimitabby]

we pass the same people at our bus stop every day. We wave and say hello.
they smile and say hi back. The other day I drove my car and waved and they all stared at me like i was a crazy person.

Pardes, great story. I love taking the bus but there's no bus that can get me to work.

[Lifesgreat]

As they say here in my area: "What a hoot!" That was a cute, funny story.

Experiences like that are just another reason to use public transportation. Things like that don't happen in a car.

[Grog]

Next time, tell them about TeamEstrogen!!

Great story, Pardes.

[maillotpois]

Poor Mama indeed! This story had me *howling* with laughter :D

Me, too! That was excellent!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Maybe Mama can use her new bike to get far away from her daughters. :D

Mama (http://bp1.blogger.com/_JlrN8f-HDhk/RkfH4U-fwaI/AAAAAAAAAJA/0QhVR7FTc-U/s1600-h/C08+-+Vicki+Lawrence+Mama11.jpg)








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[lovelylibrarian]

Pardes, you are such an amazing writer and that story had me laughing out loud! DH even asked me to read it aloud because I was laughing so hard.

Please keep posting your stories here :)

I totally agree. I'm so glad you joined the forum!

[pardes]

You guys are a hoot! Thanks for the comments. I'm downloading a photo from today's ride and will post it later tonight. I'm utterly flabbergasted by the effect my little red bike has on others and vice versa.

BTW, an update on upgrading/downgrading (depending on your point of view) of my bike from a double front gearing to triple. The parts should be in on Monday or Tuesday.

The manger of the LBS chatted with me about it today (I call every morning..."IS IT IN YET????? Huh, huh, huh?")

I swear he's having a bipolar episode. A few days ago it was goinjg to be an even trade with no cost to me. (Heck, I would have forked over the full price of the new parts to get lower granny gearing.)

Today however, there was a thundercloud over his head. He was obsessing that since I was commuting every day, the parts he would remove would no longer be "new."

I tried to explain MY form of commuting that can't even be called pedaling and should be called paddling for 3 miles a day back and forth to the bus with MAYBE another 3 miles a day of alternate universe paddling where my feet barely move but I am transported into transcendent rapture.....

I lost him at "rapture...."

"But all the grease..." he dithered.

"Grease?" I sighed. "You really don't understand my form of commuting. I only have 60 miles on the odometer. There is no grease invloved. Haven't you ever heard of Q-Tips? And. There is no perspiration now nor has there been or will there be until I have developed THUNDER THIGHS...."

I lost him again at "thunder thighs..." But I'm sure the image that stayed with him or woke him up at night was wondering what I did with the Q-tips.

[Becky]

"But all the grease..." he dithered.

Grease, meh. Any shop worth a darn has a parts washer in the back. Tell him that he needs to come up with a better line than that.

[KnottedYet]

Pardes, you made my day!!! :D