A happy, rainy Monday to all. Rainy days are a challenge on public transit (obviously!). There are just so many factors to contend with, one of the hardest being how schlumpy I feel in rain gear. I used to have a long, purple raincoat; but it was like a tent. I felt like a man wearing it. A man in purple, granted, but incredibly dumpy. Plus, it wasn't very heavy so on a day like today – February – it barely kept me warm. I do have a fun pair of bright greenish yellow mud boots that feel less dump-tastic, but boots do not make the woman or the outfit.
So what I've learned, after nearly three years of taking the bus, is that rare is the rainfall that requires full on rain slicker. Most days, like today, I can get away with wearing my wool peacoat and a hat. The coat is thick and the wool absorbs the drizzle. It has a nice, wide collar that comes up to my nose when I flip it all the way. My hat today is a rabbit fur blend, so all these animal products (wool + rabbit fur) seem to get warmer when wet. Roll up my pant cuffs and I'm in business. Umbrella optional.
The other downsides of busing it in the rain has to do with dampness, mud puddles, and smelly buses. It was raining on Friday morning – much harder than today – and the roadway on Charles Street (near the intersection with Pratt) filled up with water. This meant that even from the relative safety of the bus shelter some five feet off the curb, I got sprayed as cars sped through the intersection to beat the light. Jokes on them because that intersection has a camera and that jerk can be expecting a fine in the mail in a few weeks. It still is crummy – it's dark, it's wet, it's early in the morning. I do not want to use my umbrella to block rain coming at the horizontal from the roadway. Slow down and mind the pedestrians, jay-hole!
Smelly buses. Rarely is this a problem on the commuter bus, just the one day that the strange woman behind me slurped down some chicken wings … not to be confused with the time a different woman slurped down some hot wings on the city bus at 6:50 am. No, the smelly bus to which I refer occurs only on rainy days like today and typically only on the city bus. But it's not the city bus's fault. I blame the sweaty, agitated, hormone-confused middle schoolers who also ride this bus. Middle school kids smell kind of funny to begin with. My mom is a teacher's aide for a junior high, and I can't even begin to count the number of times she's had to have "the talk" with a student about wearing deodorant and clean clothes. So, they smell funny as a baseline. It's compounded by the fact that they like to run around after school to blow off steam. That means they are sweaty. It's raining, so you can't open the windows on the bus. There's more moisture in the air than usual because it's raining, so things get a little steamy (even if it's only 50 degrees outside). It's a potent brew. Sometimes, the smell lingers even on an empty bus.
What gets me thinking about it is this class that I took in undergrad for peace and conflict resolution all about stereotypes from the minority view. Sure, we all know the stereotypes whites have against blacks or Asians because white culture is the one reflected in the "mainstream" US. But if you're part of a sub-group in the US, you may have just as many stereotypes about whites as they have about you – they just don't know it because they're ignoring most of your sub-culture. Ramble ramble ramble. I swear this comes to a point. So in this class, we read this article that used the "white people smell like dogs when they are wet" example. I was guilty of being in that oblivious majority culture, and this was a total news flash to me. I now feel very self-conscious about it ten years later. Like when the middle school kids get on the bus and say, "Ewww. It stinks on this bus," I'm praying that the don't think it's me.
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