Took the bus to downtown Auckland today. Couldn't see a thing out the foggy windows. The weather was packing up nicely from early on. The smiling bus driver on the 974 with the wide-brim hat turned the lights on for me so I could read the fat Weekend Herald more easily. From the back of the bus I could see his big smile in front mirror, looking at me.
"Thank you!" I called out...and the bus pulled away.
I got off at the corner of Victoria and Albert Sts. End of the line. It is windy there, near the base of the Sky Tower. The rain was swirling down, blown up, down and all around.
The walk to Unite House was brisk and foot traffic was light. Tried to get a wireless connection on my laptop from the 12th floor, but the only strong, unsecured signal was from "Hanover Lvls 10 & 11".
Later, when I went back to "M2" (Victoria & Albert) for the return journey, I found the Saturday buses were every 40 minutes instead of the weekday 20. On the downside, I was 25 minutes early, but the upside was going to be the smiling bus driver with the wide-brimmed hat who turned the light on for me so I could read more easily.
The bus stop there has no shelter other than overhead. The idea of standing in the stiff cool gale blowing along Victoria St for 25 minutes held little appeal. A walk around the block seemed like a good idea to kill some time and I headed off down Albert St toward the NZ Herald / APN building. The footpaths aren't covered much down that way. Umbrella up...tussling with the wind for control amid all the grey and the storm noise.
On the way up Federal St, I took a photo of the Sky Tower against the overbearing clouds with my mobile phone, so the walk wasn't a total loss.
The bus arrived and the smiling bus driver with the wide brim hat clipped my 10-trip as I boarded and I wandered off down the back for the trip home. Couldn't see a thing out of the foggy windows. I sat down and pulled out the fat Weekend Herald. The lights came on and I looked up to see a big smile in the mirror up front.
"Thank you!", I called out...and the bus pulled away.
I like Saturdays. Even wet, blowy ones.
