Traveling like the locals

I promise that I'm not going to be discussing COVID-19 or what's happening over here during all of this craziness, although that could be a future post when there's more distance from the reality. No, instead, I'm going to talk about my experiences with the buses here. It's not going to be a particularly thrilling post, but it is a new experience that I've had and that many in The States may see as foreign as I did when I arrived here.

When I first came over in August on my "scouting" trip, hoping that my visa issues would be worked out before I left, I did A LOT of exploring as some of you know. I was very comfortable taking the train and walking didn't bother me either. The one thing that I was EXTREMELY hesitant to try was taking the bus. There are many reasons for this, some of which some of you may identify with.

First, the schedules didn't make sense. Living in an area of Texas where public transportation isn't readily or easily available, the knowledge of reading a train or bus schedule was not something I had. Train schedules are pretty easy to decipher, but the bus schedules are like Egyptian hieroglyphics to me, even still. Luckily, I have now figured out how to find a bus stop on Google maps and see the times for every bus that makes a stop there. MUCH easier to understand.

Paying for the bus was also intimidating to me. At the train station, you have kiosks you can use or a nice person to buy your ticket from. There aren't any kiosks or people waiting to sell you bus tickets at the bus stops, though. I was unsure of how to pay on the bus or if you had to have a pass. Luckily, when Caleb and I moved over, he was smart enough to find that the main bus company in this part of England has an app you can download and then buy tickets through that. Everything is contactless here, too, so you can use your UK bank card and tap to buy on the bus. Not as intimidating as I'd made it up to be in my head.

What did, and still does, scare me is figuring out when to get off. Unless you're on one of the fancy buses that has an automated announcer telling you the next stop, you have to know exactly where your stop is and ring the bell before you get there. You also can't ring it too early or else the driver won't stop, which has happened to me twice. I don't know what I'd do without Google maps; get lost, probably.

The last, and probably most important, reason why I was hesitant to try taking the bus was pure prejudice. In The States, I think the primary belief is that the bus is only for those of lower economic status. They (the buses) are thought of as dirty and scary with scary people on them. Here, they're a normal way of transportation. Yes, there are still a lot of people with cars, but with gas being so expensive (right now it's the equivalent of about $5.30/gallon for unleaded), there are plenty who don't. I'm happy to pay someone else to drive me where I need to go so that I don't have to worry about that kind of cost. Also, the buses are very clean. There are some questionable people on them sometimes, but the majority are everyday people just going to or from work or shopping.

I'm glad that I finally branched out and take the bus. I do love the train, but it's more expensive and crowded than the bus. But for long jaunts, like into London, the train is the way to go - shorter and more comfortable. Either way, I'm starting to feel a little more like a local.

Weather woes

I haven't written for a while because I haven't really been inspired to. Life is becoming more normal, if you can call it that, and I'm adjusting to the differences pretty well, I think. However, one of the areas that does cause some disappointment and frustration is the weather.

Weather in Texas is unpredictable, to say the least. It could be snowing in the morning and then in the low 60s by afternoon with tornadoes popping up that night. I'm used to not really knowing what's going to happen with the weather hour by hour and day by day. That's not really the problem here. The problem is, what many of you have probably already guessed - the rain.

My friends from the Pacific Northwest will know what I'm talking about for sure (and maybe have some suggestions as to how to deal with it). Coming from Texas, where we've been in a drought since becoming a state (it seems), having to deal with so many days of rain is quite a new experience for me. I have always liked the rain - the sound of it, the act of cozying up on the sofa during it, falling asleep to it - but here it's a little different. There ARE those times when it's a steady pitter-patter, but for the most part it's just drizzle or sprinkles, which is just annoying. It's not really enough to use an umbrella, but if you're out in it too long, you do get soaked. Plus, when it's in the 30s and 40s, you feel like you might just die.

Then there's the wind that comes with it. No matter how hard it's falling, when the wind is involved, it's completely miserable. You can't hide yourself anywhere to avoid the wind and your umbrella ends up getting turned inside out, which is truly the worst. Needless to say, my love of rain is waning (no pun intended).

Now, let's talk about how this effects the public transportation systems. You would think that a country that has been dealing with this weather since it's creation would have a better system of how to deal with it. There have been numerous times when Caleb and I have been on the train into Guildford and it's delayed or slowed because of a landslide. Why hasn't this been addressed YEARS before now? Surely they have civil engineers in this country that can shore up the areas around the tracks to make sure that there isn't erosion that causes landslides. And don't get me started on my 30 minute train delay yesterday because a train crew employee was late to work "due to the weather". Come on!

To be fair, I have been told that we moved here at the worst time of the year, and I've been here in the summer many time,s so I know that there is hope of less rain. I just need that hope to hurry up and become a reality.