Many know and understand the frustrations of Roman public transportation (mezzi) as well as its benefits. I lived 5 years of it!! I never had my own car to get me where I wanted when I wanted. And where I lived, I often had to rely on night (after midnight) buses if I wanted to do anything with friends after dinner. I'm so grateful that I could even have that. Hell in Houston, enjoying wine is out of the question as I have to drive everywhere to get anywhere fun or exciting. So I really miss having public transportation as an option. That's another blog for a later date. Roman transportation.
Today I took all options-tram, train, metro/subway, and bus. Like I said..benefits- tons of options and frustrations-tons of options for a 35 minute trip. :) Overall experience-nice, smelly, surprising efficient. Really, don't you love summer and i mezzi? Come on, that smell is something that is quite unforgettable. I learned in nursing school to spray your shoulders/sleeves so when a bad smell hits you, you recover by sniffing your shoulder or just bury your face there. Who cares if people of the bus think you've failed at an inconspicuous pit check! I'm telling you, that shit works and will save you from gagging from the rechid smell!!
And of course, night buses tend to hold the fair share of characters, but its the dirty guys, and I mean sexually harrassing ones, that top the list! I've had the multiple bum rubs with the extra appendage, ass grabs, boob 'i'm just trying to hold on the bar' swipes, and even had my back pack, that was more next to me than on my lap, humped. Although that book bag occasion happened in my early days in Rome and it took a bit to realize that the bus wasn't swaying/rocking THAT much and telling him off in Italian wasn't possible so the get up and switch seats was the option I took then.
My night bus experience this evening wasn't horrid as some of my previous experiences, but influenced me to write this blog. Tonight was the staring drunk. And I'm not talking from the other side of the bus or the chair across from you. No! The drunk, who although you are sitting and there's tons of space around you, they lean up on the pole that is connected to your seat and stare down at you or at your window reflection. I never looked up completely as to not make any eye contact but focusing on the reflection in the window, I realized my guy was a very masculine woman. Lovely! So I knew I wasn't gonna get the cock rub but damn the slimy grin and blatent staring that I could see through my peripheral vision was so annoying. I mentioned that there was free chairs and she just shook her head no. Then I just got up and moved, but that damn grin and stare continued. Ugh!!!! You cant do anything with drunks so I didnt really want to waste my energy.
I was able to get to where I was staying without any cost that evening and am so happy that I had that option. The timing was great as I never waited longer than 5 minutes at all today with my public transportation. So for italian transport thats amazing in itself. And all the sites you see through windows and people watching opportunities is so great. Really, with the bad, theres lots of good but I wont push it to say the good outweighs the bad cuz more often than not, they dont.
Dont you want rush out and use public transportation!!! Come on, you know you wanna!
No comments:
Post a Comment