Snapshot
I like getting the bus, partly because I don't drive and it's the only way for me to get anyplace, but also because I crank up my iPod and either lose myself in a book or people-watch. Not in a creepy, touching-myself kind of way, but in an interested, people-are-weird sort of way. I was on the bus yesterday going to see my mum and, thanks to the horrendous Edinburgh rush-hour traffic, witnessed in it's entirety an incident that I would otherwise have missed.
The bus was caught in traffic just before a particularly busy roundabout in Corstorphine and there was a group of young lads walking along the pavement next to the bus, horsing around and generally having a laugh. One of them stuck his foot out to trip the guy in front of him, and there followed one of those moments that seem to happen in slow motion. The tripper caught his victim perfectly while he was mid-stride, and the poor bloke went flailing forward, taking those giant steps you take when you're desperately trying to recover and stop yourself falling. Unfortunately it didn't work and, after travelling a good five feet with his ginormous moon steps and flailing his arms (while his mates watched open-mouthed) he hit the deck, full length, in a muddy puddle (at which point of course the whole group erupted into gales of laughter). The tripper was mortified that he'd actually managed to make his mate fall over, and went rushing to help him up, but the dude looked like he was playing dead because he wasn't moving! He certainly couldn't have hurt himself as he didn't fall hard so maybe he was trying to teach the other guy a lesson...
I don't know what happened after that as the bus moved on, but there were a few chuckles from my fellow commuters - we were briefly united in watching the scene on the street, and shared a few smiles and laughs, but immediately went back to the usual 'not-looking at anyone else in case they're mad' thing that people do on public transport.
The bus was caught in traffic just before a particularly busy roundabout in Corstorphine and there was a group of young lads walking along the pavement next to the bus, horsing around and generally having a laugh. One of them stuck his foot out to trip the guy in front of him, and there followed one of those moments that seem to happen in slow motion. The tripper caught his victim perfectly while he was mid-stride, and the poor bloke went flailing forward, taking those giant steps you take when you're desperately trying to recover and stop yourself falling. Unfortunately it didn't work and, after travelling a good five feet with his ginormous moon steps and flailing his arms (while his mates watched open-mouthed) he hit the deck, full length, in a muddy puddle (at which point of course the whole group erupted into gales of laughter). The tripper was mortified that he'd actually managed to make his mate fall over, and went rushing to help him up, but the dude looked like he was playing dead because he wasn't moving! He certainly couldn't have hurt himself as he didn't fall hard so maybe he was trying to teach the other guy a lesson...
I don't know what happened after that as the bus moved on, but there were a few chuckles from my fellow commuters - we were briefly united in watching the scene on the street, and shared a few smiles and laughs, but immediately went back to the usual 'not-looking at anyone else in case they're mad' thing that people do on public transport.
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on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 4:14 pm.
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