I went home half an hour early today because my throat had been hurting all morning and I felt feverish. Kinda wish I had waited that half hour.
An elderly lady stepped onto the bus 2 stops before I was to get off. She adjusted her wheely thing and began turning around to sit down, I presumed, when the bus suddenly jolts off and she crashes mercilessly into the seat right next to me. It happened so fast that I had no chance to catch her or break the fall much with my half-extended right arm.
The bus driver noticed right away but had to move on to the next stop before she could stop. A young man and a woman helped the lady up. Poor thing was in pain and shock and rightly upset. She said she'd been close to falling before because the bus drivers don't give the elderly enough time to sit down, to which I can regrettably attest. Some drivers will wait until you're seated but others will just race off. If you have troubles with your balance as a youth then I can't imagine what it's like for the elderly.
Ironically enough she was on her way to the hospital for an appointment already so while the bus'd take her there (it's the end stop) it just made things even more tragic.
Bus driver lady apologized profusely but did it rather clumsily by stating she had never had this kind of accident before and she wouldn't carry on the drive at first, even when the old lady repeatedly stated she wanted to be on her way already. When the woman who'd helped out stated that it'd take 20 minutes to half an hour for an ambulance to get there (whereas by carrying on it'd take 10 minutes tops) and that she'd take care of the old lady once they arrived at the hospital, bus lady caved in.
Well, she caved right after writing down her name and the phone number to the bus company if the old lady wanted to 'report her', and repeating her apology a couple of times along with questioning if the old lady was feeling sick and to say so immediately if she started to feel sick. Poor old lady just wanted to get things over with and it was hard not to jump in there, though I held back since it wouldn't have helped her any. I gave her my best wishes when it was time for me to get off.
What a lousy morning this was.
