16 days of moving
By babykarret on November 30, 2005 - 6:36pm
#16. The 135
Ah, the trusty 135 SFU/Burrard Station express bus. It ferries me back and forth between the place where I often need to be and the place where I love to be--SFU Burnaby and downtown Vancouver, respectively. And sometimes I'll take it halfway home too. I almost never take it when it's packed, which means big long rows of seats, good for curling up on; and the length of the trip makes it nice for catching up on readings on the bus. I've had a couple of good random conversations on it.
It was actually the first bus I ever took to SFU, back before the Millenium Line was finished. I remember stepping onto the conjoined bus that first time, marvelling at how everybody had their heads buried in textbooks, and how very soon I was going to be one of them. Taking it eastbound around 4 o'clock in the afternoon is fun too, since that's when all the older Chinese women are going home from shopping and chatting about the things that matter and that are annoying, like how frustrating their kids are.
Tomorrow is the last time that I'll be rushing from my downtown class up to SFU for my evening class. To the Hastings strip mall, the 135, the stop before the hill, I bid adieu.
This morning, on the 135 going East, there was an old Chinese lady with headphones singing in Chinese. She had a song book, hand-written, with the characters flowing horizontally. It annoyed the young Chinese girls behind her, and the middle-aged Chinese woman in front of her gave her the evil eye. At first I thought it was a child singing, as my eyes were trying to rest. She only paused to talk on her cell phone, which had the Loudest Ring Ever.
The 135 has many tales to tell, but not nearly as many as the 160.
I remembered taking the 135 back in the days when it went up that steep hill on Nancy Greene Way (? I can't remember the name) before they re-routed it to the other way that wasn't as hard on the bus full of passengers. I remember hearing the grinding noise of the bus as it was probably on 1st or 2nd gear plugging up that steep hill. 135 was not nearly as bad as taking the number 10 Hastings Express just shortly after Main St with those druggies. Ah, the good old times.
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