Today, as I continued to mourn the loss of Gord Downie, a scene on the bus made me realize that I find people amusing….or is it confusing.

Two different people were talking on their phones; one in front of me and the other behind me. The one behind me was using the walkie-talkie function, so I could here her, as well as the person she was speaking to.  I would also be remiss if I did not explain that she was yelling into the microphone because she was holding it two inches from her face and must have been worried that the person on the other end couldn’t possibly hear her.  The one in front spent her conversation detailing her thoughts on her ex, his wardrobe, ways in which she wanted to hurt him, a lively description of his genitals, and a few choice words for other acquaintances.  It probably comes as no surprise that this conversation was spiked with lots of expletives (not that I blame her).

I hope you don’t get the wrong idea. I am not complaining.  It was an interesting show, probably better than whatever is new on cable.  My only wonder is when did people stop thinking of the bus as a public space.

Sure, over the years, I have seen a ton of spectacular scenes on public transportation. These two people hardly qualify as the most colourful.  They certainly weren’t the loudest people I have ever encountered.  They also weren’t the bawdiest, or even the most interesting.

I guess I just can’t get over the fact that they wanted to share their conversations with all of us.

After the show started to get repetitive, I put my headphones on and listened to “Up to Here”–the first full length album of the Tragically Hip. I intend to listen to all of the albums this week.