The proper coughing evangelist gives me a "tract"!

Today I spent most of my day travelling around by bus and trolley. One of my favorite things to do when I have enough bus fare and time to get out of my trailer and go exploring.

Mind you my day was not entirely about exploring. The main purpose of going out by bus today was to pick up a check from a company that I did some computer work for (a job that ended up being less than what I had originally thought I would get from it).

But on the way there and afterwards I met, as so often happens on my outings, some rather interesting people that made the hours I spent on bus and trolleys today more interesting than they would have been otherwise.

It takes so little to get most people to start talking about themselves and their lives. Just some sincere interest, perhaps a word to brighten their day, and a carefully crafted and timed question is all that it usually takes.

Every life has an interesting story to tell if we will but be a listening ear instead of all mouth every once in a while .

I met and talked to too many people today to adequately describe all my interactions in this little ol' post but some of those I met were particularly interesting.

On the way to pick up my check I met a guy who had on a bright yellow vest with a safety helmet on top of his ball cap. He looked a bit funny actually with the way his helmet was so far above his head that it might not have done any good had he gotten into a real accident.

I looked at him and said "You seem to be really safety minded?". That's all it took with him as his story began to unfold for me.

He had apparently been run over by a bus, had sued and had won $20,000 dollars for his pain and suffering. I thought initially that this was pretty good given that he did not appear to have been the worse off for his accident. Until he opened his mouth and showed me his teeth! Some of the most misaligned and all whacked out teeth I have ever seen! Ouch.

I commended him on his courage to still be riding around on a bicycle and he wisely said that it was like falling off a horse. You had to get on and start riding again or else you would become too afraid to ever ride again.

I am not sure that I would have that kind of courage under similar circumstances.

I then moved to the back of the bus along with another passenger who got up with me to make room for someone who needed the seats we had been sitting in.

This passenger and I then got to know each other a bit. He was an architect who showed me a small photo album he carried around showing some of the work he once did. I'm not sure why he carried it around but he struck me as having very low self-esteem and I wonder if he just wanted something that he could look back on with some measure of pride.

As I got on the next bus, in conversing with the bus driver, I found out that he absolutely loves his job! I mean loves it. It was nice to see someone who really enjoys their job...such a thing is so rare these days. Nicer still that he was my bus driver as he was most helpful in helping me get to my destination.

Just before I got off a Christian Science person started witnessing to him trying to convert him to Christian Science I suppose.

The Mall that I got off at was absolutely beautiful! It had the most character of any that I have been to here. Large covered walkways but exposed on one side, along the outside of mall stores. The walkways reminded me of long walkways I had seen in some European monasteries.

Just beautiful. And a grass covered, large courtyard in between the mall buildings.

All set in a Spanish style architecture. I fully expected to see some Spanish women with long dresses coming out with castanets .

Absolutely gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed looking around for the office that I was searching for.

I love that kind of architecture. It reminds me of my years in Spain where I saw a great deal of that and brings back fond memories of those years.

When I got back on the bus to go the other way I ended up with the same bus driver who proceeded to give me an earful about the Christian Science "evangelist" who had continued talking incessantly to him. I proceeded to tell him that I was a Christian but that it wasn't fair to "witness" to anyone who was a captive audience and unable to get away LOL. We chit chatted some more about other things and I transferred to a trolley which eventually took me to my favorite buffet...Hometown!

Wanting to get out of my trailer and the area of Clairemont where I have been "stuck" I headed all the way to Palamor to eat at the buffet there.

When I got on the trolley I was surprised by the pungent smell of people on board. The bad breath, stinky butts, stinky seats being warmed up by the warmth of new bodies causing previous fart smells to start rising again, the smell of overly sweaty arm pits and fat rolls, and the sweet smell of some kids chewing bubble gum for the 100th time mixed with bad breath all combined to make for a somewhat pungent and rather stiffling odor LOL.

I don't recall the trolley smelling so bad during the winter when I was last on it much. Perhaps the heat of the summer months brings out the smells.

There were times on the way to Hometown that I just wanted to open the first door, jump out and get some fresh air LOL. But I restrained myself and got into several other conversations.

Among them I found someone who has me beat with respect to having a better living situation than me. His place doesn't cost him a penny. He works at a place that gives him a free room in the back of a warehouse that he pays nothing for! I guess I can't say I have the best living situation in all of San Diego anymore .

To make a longer story short or to shorten this already too long account...on the way back home I met a most interesting man.

I saw him cough into his armpit instead of into his hand.

A most proper thing to do mind you. And I said to him "That's pretty good that you coughed into your arm pit. I don't see too many people do that!". That's all it took with him and he proceeded to tell me a bit about himself.

It really does take so little to get people to start talking about themselves and asking them questions sincerely because I am curious about something gives me a chance to lend them my ears for the short time we interact. It's a form of loving others actually.

Anyway it turns out that this man works with and teaches pathologists (what he was doing riding around on a bus instead of a car is something I did not ask him about). So he is very aware of germs.

And because of his line of work and because he is so aware of how unhealthy it is for people to cough into their hands and then grab things or shake the hands of others he has become a sort of evangelist against improper coughing.

When he sees someone cough improperly...get this...he gives out a little tract of his making to them. Kinda like Christians sometimes give out tracks.

He gave me one...not because I coughed improperly but because he just wanted to show me what it was.

On one side there were two hand drawn, artistic representations of coughing. One improperly. And one properly. With the words "No, Nyet" under the one and "Yes, Si, Da." under the other.

Then on the back it had "Please pass along. Prevent the spread of GERMS".

In these days of swine flu it's nice to know that my new pathologist teacher friend will be on the ball and helping people cough properly wherever he happens to be.

Though it did strike as somewhat contradictory when he got up and put his whole hand around those most dirty and germ covered objects that every bus has. The hand rail.

I wouldn't touch one of those things with a ten foot pole in this day of swine flu and such...if I can help it. When I must use them I make sure I don't chew my thumbs, pick my nose, or rub my eyes until I am able to make it to the nearest bathroom and wash those GERMS off my hands LOL.

Better yet, if I must maintain my balance I wrap my whole arm around the hand rails. A sorta armpit embrace that prevents the GERMS I know are there from getting all over my hands!

I sometimes wonder if I look downright weird wrapping my armpits around hand rails wherever I go LOLAROTG (Lauging Out Loud and Rolling On The Ground). Well...when I have a need to that is. Otherwise I kinda surf the floor of the bus, balancing myself with no hands, until I can jump out unto solid ground again LOL.

I wonder where that whole "no hands" bit came from. It's a popular saying but I don't mean that I have no hands only that I don't use them LOL.

Anyway that was how my day was. Another most interesting day spent mostly travelling around between places on the buses and trolleys of San Diego.

Carlos