Dear Fellow Transit Patrons,

This morning I had been running late. I wanted to go to my voluntary math lab tutorial so that I could complete the lab with knowledgeable TAs around and with a printer in the vicinity because I know that if I were to print it at home, I'd probably jam my printer - again.

So I was running late. The train was literally crawling for the last two stations it took to get to the one where I get off. I'm not just saying that it was a little slower than normal... See, at the regular train speed, the rails on the sides of the track are a blur and I can't even tell that there are bars there. Today, I could count the bars that made up the rails as well as see that someone had tossed something that resembled paint out of a window once and it coated the bars in some spots. That is how slow it was going.

Which is all fine and dandy because then I got off at the right train station and got onto a bus. I had an excellent spot to sit and then approximately twenty minutes later, that all went to hell. A woman getting off (or on..?) the bus collapsed, hit her head and went unconscious. So obviously the bus driver had to completely stop the bus and was calling for an ambulance. This is all very good, but I was sitting near the back and since it is an extra long bus, I couldn't see what was happening at the front. Until people started filing off of the bus. When I realize that most of the people were off of the bus by now, I stand up and file off as well, single-file just like in kindergarten. I notice people standing around and, since that particular stop was near a hospital, there was already a nurse there (I believe that she was on the bus on her way into work).

This will probably sound completely callous and horrible... But I really wish that I didn't have to get off that bus and then board another one (that barely had any standing room).

But... I'm glad that the bus driver and other fellow transit patrons took the initiative to make sure that the woman was alright... Because occasionally I'm just a little too selfish for my own good. But I did realize that I was definitely no longer having a 'bad day'. I hope the woman was right...

And to my fellow transit patrons, I understand why you all were cursing the woman for collapsing. But I am almost 100% positive that she did not collapse and go unconscious to ruin your day. It wasn't someone out to ruin your morning or make you late for your first lecture of the day. She was a woman who fell and then couldn't get back up again. I hope that if anything like that ever happens to me, there'd be people around willing to actually help me.

And yes, I was late for my drop-in tutorial session, but it was fine as I had the lab completed within 16 minutes anyways.