Street Life

[dotinthesky]

I was waiting for a bus yesterday evening (and failing to get any since London + Rain = Crammed Buses) when I noticed a guy looking at me. Eventually he got close and explained that he needed to catch a bus or cab to Homerton Hospital. Then he produced his pièce de résistance: a giant gaping wound on his forearm beside what looked like a protruding bone. My first reaction, before he showed me the wound, was to say I didn't have any spare change - but when I saw the state he was in, I tried to make amends for my suspicion by convincing him he needed an ambulance. He refused categorically. I asked what had happened and he said he fell off his bike. He then wanted to know which bus I was waiting for (number 8), said he was waiting for the same one (it doesn't go anywhere near Homerton Hospital), then slipped inside the 388 through the back door when it arrived. I lost the chance of getting neenaw to allocate him some help.

This morning, I'm bundled up and miserable with the other commuters as we wait for the bus into town when I spot something out of Hulbert Selby Jr's imagination walking towards me: a young woman in a tiny black mini skirt, high heels, teeny top that says D & G, bleached blonde hair, fake fur coat (open) and a cigarette. Her skin is covered with acne and she blows smoke like she doesn't give a shit. Every. Single. Man. Can't. Help. Staring. An unsettled girlfriend even steps in front of her man's field of vision because he's incapable of quitting the gaping.

Who's this girl and why is the cold not bothering her? Has her work shift just ended and she's heading home while the rest of us start our day? She flicks her cigarette into the gutter, lifts her fake fur coat's hood to cover her head and enters the bus before everyone else.

Comments

[fj.livejournal.com]

Geordie girl, and she was overdressed.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

There was no fake tan though.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

She reminded me of the street hookers that worked São Paulo's street corners when I was growing up. In winter, the city can be quite chilly, but they'd still wear the bear minimum and show their wears whenever a car slowed down.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

That would have made Transformers so much more entertaining.

[jellyfish93.livejournal.com]

love the visuals. wow.

[stevek.livejournal.com]

Cunning way for the girl to jump the bus queue though! ;-)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It's a dog eat dog world.

[mirple.livejournal.com]

I'm not a man but the acne would put me off!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Yeah, even her legs were covered with red bumps.

[millionreasons.livejournal.com]

She sounds like a short story - you should write it.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I couldn't do her justice.

[idioticpoet.livejournal.com]

That woman was missing two things to appeal to me:

lack of a cigarette
mid-calf sexy boots.

[petercampbell.livejournal.com]

There's something about buses that attracts eccentric or totally out there travellers. They're always the ones to sit beside you as well.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

And now they are home to rude teenagers too.