A very long march

I opened my eyes while it was raining cats n dogs this morning. I forgot to book a taxi so I got to take the bus. Coz it'd be impossible for this middle-of-no-where when everyone in SH is looking for a taxi, though the rain stopped by then.

So I got to the Bus No. 757 bus stop around 8:20. There were already 3 buses of people in the stop waiting for the same bus. Two guys in front of me was complaining, and one of them said that he has been there waiting for 40 minutes and never saw the bus coming. We were lucky because this stop is the beginning stop where there are commoderators. One of them came to us shouting in SHnese that the bus was stuck in the way coming because of traffic jam and we'd better find other ways to go to work. There's no way to get a taxi and Metro doesn't go to my office. I can only turn to bus No. 700.

The bus stop is just in the front. There just happened to be a bus, but it already has more than 20 ppl gathered by both the front and back door. It seemed no way I can get on in a normal day, but, today is an abnormal day. The bus driver refused to open the back door, which should only be used to let people get off, but is a common practice in SH to let people get on when it's too crowded, provided that they pay at the front first. Since most people on the bus were just too lazy to move to the back door and we were pushing and squeezing very hard, I got on the bus and was standing in the middle from the front and back door. But all the people were very angry at the driver's stick-to-the-rule which is considered stubbon, because it was such a waste of time.

The super crowded bus.

So everybody got get on the bus, a non-AC one, and complaining about the driver. The pessangers suggested that the driver don't stop and open the door if no one is getting off at the next stop, because it could save time and easoer for the people standing against the doors as they can bearly move.

The bus driver asked if there's anyone getting off while he arrived at the stop, so he slowed down. No ppl were getting off so the passengers think the driver should ask earlier so he wouldn't need to slow down the bus. So he took the suggestion n asked pretty early the following stop. No body replied. He asked several times to make sure. Still no reply. So he passed. A few mins later, a lady shouted out "Damn, why you didn't stop?" The dtriver went, "Com'on, I asked hundreds of times and no one answers! What were you doing just now that you just realized?!" The lady shouted "No, you didn't ask. I didn't hear! You got to stop and let me off! Open the door!" The bus happened 2 be stuck in the jam, so the driver gave up and let her off.

As the bus moves in the jam, it's prob. much faster to walk than take the bus, so when it stuck at somewhere closer to the next stop the driver shouted "who ever want to ger off next get off here, I'm not gonna stop at the stop!" A bunch of people went off. Later we had another stupid woman sueing the driver didn't stop. I bet a normal driver would have went totally crazy, but I said, it's an abnormal day, everything went weird. This SHnese driver was anormaly patient.

The jam has no sign to get better, but the bus isn't that crowded. It took more than 20 mins to get to the next stop, so people just got off one stop before. After the bus turned onto CaoBao Rd., it stuck at the intersection for around 10 mins and still didn't seem to move. A girl asked the driver to stop so she could walk. But the nice driver rejected this time coz he can't open doors at intersections. The girl went mad "Oh, u've already broken the traffic rules so many times not stopping at the stops. I can sue you, you know." The driver was tough this time, "Go ahead! Go sue me! Who cares?!" The crazy girl stepped next to him and almost screaming:"You dare not to open the door. I'll show you, either you die or I." The driver had enough and finally opened the door.

The wheel finally roled a few round and stopped again. Now the bus is in the middle of the road instead of on the side. A guy got fed up and wanted to get off. There would be no danger, even if he got off in the middle of the street since all the cars around can't move at all. The driver may have realized that he had broken too many rules, so he couldn't to break one more. The guy went crazy as well, opened the buss window n jumped out of the window. Damn I missed a pic of the action!

After an hr on the 5-mins-drive CaoBao Rd., the bus turned onto HongXu Rd. and crawled pass YiShan Rd.. I finished my sandwich and apple before my office is finally half-an-hr walk away, so I decided to get off. The bus was on the side and not near an intersection, so the driver easily let me go.

This is how the street looked like when I got off. The air was very pleasant since the dust has been washed away by the rain. I haven't felt so fresh in SH for a long time, and walking on the street around noon during weekdays. It felt quite good. Tho it started raining again, and I left my umbrella at home, I felt quite good and lucky that I have an understanding boss that has no requirement on my arrival time (but I do go to work everyday around 8:30 everyday). But then...A "lake" lied in front me! I stared at it for a couple of minutes didn't find any better way, so I stepped in to the water.

After the very long march, I got to the office at almost 2, and my supervisor was still not there.

Later when I go back after work, there is still no 757 bus to carry me back and the buses were still there on the other side of the street. New reported this, and it was all because the water pump in WuZhong Rd. tunnel studdenly broken and water rised there to like a swimming pool in a few minutes during the peak of the morning rain. Thus, cars got stuck there.

Labour law experts suggested that arriving late at work today should not be counted as being late. So, lalala, I can still get normal pay~