morning commute

Many people dread their commute to work everyday and that is understandable as for most it means nothing more than being stuck in traffic for hours at a time. I am not one of those people. Fortunately my commute to work changes depending on the day of the week, it never involves highways and typically I miss rush hour by hours.

I sit in traffic, if it is going to happen, for 5 blocks and then I zoom off of the main drag and take the back roads to where I am going. i really don't care if it is a couple of miles longer becasue if the view is a pretty one and the traffic is light I am one happy camper. My alter ego comes out while I am drivng so pretty is always good.

I get to see some things that always make me smile. Some I call the familiar strangers, people that you recognize because you see them over and over again but don't actually know: the bare foot asian man who is always walking near the Falls, the man who walks a really big ugly dog, that just happens to look like it's owner. I even recognise some cars because of the crazy paint job on them.

At least 3 days a week I see these. Sometimes they hold up traffic, other times they give me a heart attack as they kamikaze out of a palm tree slightly ahead of my car and occasionally they intimidate me, as they gather in the driveway of a clients house, sometimes numbering upwards of a dozen and I am convinced they will attack me.

I count my blessings to see them on a frequent basis. Whether they scare me or just walk by they always make me smile in the end, how can you not?

But without a shadow of a doubt the thing that makes me smile the most on my commute is this: It is a lousy photo cos I was at a red light and it changed just as the bus got close enough. It was raining this morning but usually the dogs are all sticking their heads out of the window. You can't help but smile, really you cant. This doggie Bus has been featured on television and even in National Geographic Kids. My girls were thrilled when it showed up in their magasines. All those waggy tails and flapping ears just makes you happy. I think my brother in law should get a school bus instead of his plain, white, ever so English looking, white van. Yepper, I love my commute.