Thing 119 Collect Randomers at a Bus Stop

My sense of rejection is balanced only by how proud I am that we all listen to our parents, and never take a lift from a stranger... Nobody wanted to get into my car. Well, nobody that didn't know me. Do I look so shady? Really? I know the shaved head doesn't do wonders for my personal appearance, but really? That bad?

I used to hate the feeling of waking up after a proper night out and remembering that I'd parked up in town before hitting the pub the night before. It's bad enough that my head hurt, but now I've to crawl out of the scratcher and take a bus to town to collect the car, at which time I'll probably have a ticket. Not right.

I remember standing at various bus stops, Corbally, Casteltroy, Dooradoyle and watching cars zoom by, and wishing... please, just one of you stop... I really want a lift... You could be standing there for ten minutes, or forty minutes. The timetable doesn't count as a guide to when you can expect to see a bus, it's more like a rough guideline as to when people should start expecting to anticipate the possible arrival, potentially, of a bus. Also, it rains in this country. A lot.

Now it's been a while since I had to use public transportation to get around on a regular basis, but I'm assuming it's not changed that much. Still never on time. And I know for a fact that it still rains in this country. So I wanted to be someone's saviour. A knight in dust red Seat Cordoba shaped armour.

I picked a bad day to try eh? Sun splitting the rocks after a month of rain. No one minds waiting for a bus in the sunshine. If the alternative is sitting into a car with a man who looks like he might be on his way back from a Neo-fascist meeting... What would you prefer?

The first two fails were in the Raheen/Dooradoyle area. One male, one female, seperate bus stops. I decided not to try different people at the same stop. Could you imagine it? "Want a lift?" Reply: "No thanks". Me: "Okay, how about you? Do you want a lift?"...

I kind of thought that women would be more nervous than men. If a dude is pulling in and asking some random woman to go for a spin, he's probably up to no good. I wouldn't have thought that's what the blokes were thinking, but apparently I'm that menacing looking. To think, I even cleaned my car for this!

After that I spotted a girl at a stop near me. Pulled in. Want a lift? Turns out I already knew her. I was tempted for a minute to just drive off... couldn't do it. So after I dropped her off, I made for Casteltroy. Studenty types are broke right? They'd love to save the bus fare. Please. Somebody get into my car... Wow. How creepy does that look....

No luck out there either, and I got a look from one person that was so frightened I nearly drove off for fear that she was about to scream for help. That'd be a funny one to try to talk my way out of...

No Garda, I wasn't harrassing her, I've just been driving around all afternoon trying to pick up strangers...

Anyway. I'm giving myself a compensatory fail. I did pick up someone at a bust stop. So it's not a complete loss.