I frequently write about my commutes because they are often filled with interesting characters, (beautiful, frustrating, or weird) or they are composed of somewhat undecipherable random events. Though this might give you a rather skewed view of my ride to and from work, I think Today’s Perfect Moment will present a completely different side of it.

Today, like many days in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area–Not Grand Theft Auto, or Great Teacher Anthony) it rained. While not unexpected, the students groaned loudly enough to disturb my wandering thoughts and drag me back to the lesson at hand.  And though they complained that their weather app on their phone hadn’t predicted this, I merely shrugged, but, at the same time, felt pretty convinced that the news broadcast on the radio this morning called for rain in the late afternoon.

Normally, this would make for quite a few disgruntled people on my commute.   They would be holding their umbrellas far from their bodies, hoping not to drip on them.  They would be tugging at their damp clothes with no longer fit right, and they would be tense and pushy when the bus arrived.  All of it seen before and all of it somewhat expected.

The funny thing was that it didn’t happen that way at all. Nobody pushed at the doors, and most people observed the gentlemanly rules of the previous century and gestured for the women to enter first.  The teen who brought his really cute dog on the bus didn’t annoy any passengers, and in fact inspired more than one of them to approach and pet the creature.  The somewhat thuggish bunch, bragging about their arrest records, were friendly, peaceful and funny.

Maybe it was because of the rain. Maybe it has worn us down.  Maybe we’ve all realized that there really isn’t anyone to complain to and even if there were, there wouldn’t be much point.  Maybe we were too tired to put our shields up.

Whatever it was, it certainly created a sense of camaraderie and a convivial atmosphere on the bus. I, a person who usually gets buried in a book or spends most of the ride looking out the window listening to a weird mix of music (folk, heavy metal, New Wave, punk, rap and French folk music),  talked to 4 different people and smiled at 4 others, who also smiled back.