I usually take the #66 bus to work. This is because I always miss the #64 by about half a minute every day. This has happened every day (not an exaggeration) for three weeks now. So now I will leave 5 minutes earlier so this doesn't happen anymore, as the #66 takes a nice scenic route.

Anyway, on the #66 yesterday there was this woman dressed in camouflage-coloured clothing (with matching handbag), a bit manly and really short hair who had the urge to reveal her life to the bus driver. (She's not a regular on this bus.) The distracted bus driver in turn forgot to let a boy and his skateboard not one, but two bus stops too late. I, sitting in the back, yelled at the driver (for the boy) after he passed the first one, to no avail, because the message got lost in the chatter by the woman.

Things I learned about this woman (while I was trying to concentrate on reading my book):
- she wants to work for ETS but "not as a bus driver" because she only has a class 5 and 7 driver's license
- her salary went down this year because her employer told her her qualifications were insufficient (one year short of a BA)
- she believes women bus drivers are more compassionate because they don't drive over curbs, and brake properly
- she doesn't usually drink, but the night before she felt like drinking lots of beer with her friends and that's why she was tipsy

I noticed the chatter stopped as we approached downtown, wondered why and looked up. She was sleeping, probably because she was hung over.

Today I met my friend K. at his new digs in downtown (Edmonton City Centre East). We sat in front of the City Hall pool and chatted for about an hour. It was a beautiful day, and K. noted that weekdays at lunch are the only time you will ever see a busy downtown. I appreciated the break from staring at a computer screen for four hours.

I also in-line skated in public today. It went pretty well apart from my skates loosening a bit when I got to Mill Woods Park. The braking was minimized by grabbing onto poles when rounded corners or at intersections or by jumping on to the grass. I'm now ready for the big time - and the whole purpose of getting in-line skates - the city's river valley trails.