Bus-tastic adventures!

There is part of my daily routine makes every day an adventure. The bus ride to work. First you must understand that I am not talking a nice red double decker or even one of Ken’s ridiculous bendy buses
but a small blue minivan which often looks like something is about to fall off of it.

So I leave the comfort and safety of my house every morning at 7.30am and try and avoid the next door neighbours dog who enjoys chasing me off the compound in the morning and walk the five minutes to the bus stop.

Challenge two after Pepsi the dog is you have to cross a main road. Although there is a zebra crossing and traffic lights no cars actually stop. It is like being a character in a computer game legging it across 6 lanes of traffic to the other side. Some mornings I wait five minutes to cross much to the amusement of the Zambians who seem to have no fear.

Then you get to the bus stop and the fun really begins. Each bus is privately owned from what I can understand. They basically go where you want them to go and have no real specific route. There is normally about 5 or 6 buses at each stop all competing with one another. They also will not leave the bus stop until the bus is totally full. Every morning I get heckled by the chaps that collect the fares to join their bus ‘white lady, white lady, we have the best bus, theirs is broken/dirty/full/unsafe’. I normally just hop on the one that looks most full as then you know you will leave soon. This morning there were 26 people crammed into a bus made for 16. Never again will I complain about the 133 bus route or the underground again.

Once the bus is full and leaves the bus stop it races the other buses to the next stop to get the most customers on board. It is terrifying yet highly amusing to be a part of.

My favourite bus moments so far have been when the chap who collects the fares sat on my lap as here was no other space or being handed a baby whilst the mother sorted out her basket of banana’s. On both occasions no words were exchanged......