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I am not new to public transport anymore because it has been something I began with at an early age. Right from when I started junior school, I have been boarding public transport in Lagos state. If you are living in Lagos, you should know that for you to board public transport, you must be crazy like the bus conductors and drivers, otherwise, they will play smartness on you. There are times when you will forget your change and the conductor will not bother to remind you. On other days, you will be merged with another passenger when it comes to the issue of collecting change. Another day, it would be traffic where you are stuck in the middle of the road for hours. I had been stuck in traffic for over 3 hours before and that was three years ago. It was hell that day as I started perceiving different odours that even when I covered my nose, the smell was stronger. If you are too dull, you will be cheated. There was another time I boarded a public transport and while rushing to get down as the conductor was rushing me down quickly before the bus moved, I heard pimm and turned to see where the sound came from, my skirt had torn. I felt embarrassed that day as I couldn't go back home.
There are many memories that when I keep flashing back, I will just laugh and thank God. I have had scratches either on my hands or legs from entering public transport while rushing with others. I wished I could own a car at that spot. There was this memory I will never forget which is making me laugh while typing this. Narrating shortly!
There are some passengers you will meet that will make you enjoy your trip, whether the good ones, bad ones, funny ones etc. One thing about me is that I don't get scared when travelling as my mind would be at peace because I believe nothing is going to happen. When I board public transport, I will plug in my earpiece and start to listen to music without minding anyone but I used to reduce the volume because I know something funny must happen, no matter what.
While travelling last week to Ilorin where my aunt stays in preparation for my service, I boarded a bus with some local women who seemed not to be patient throughout the journey but I was entertained with laughter along with others who were interested in joining the club of laughters. It got to a point, where the driver was frustrated and didn't know if he should say he regretted picking those women and it wasn't like they paid the complete money. Lol. I could see these two women were scared because whenever a trailer passed by our bus, they would shout and tell the driver to stop for the trailer to go first. In my mind, I was laughing and was like, "if we should keep stopping for every trailer that passes us by or overtake us, when are we going to get to our destination?" 😆
It was so funny that I had to stop the music I was listening to while I kept eavesdropping on the women's conversation with each other about how they hated trailers. It got to a point, the driver stopped at a junction to pick more passengers. These women started shouting and screaming that we were in the middle of the road. They shouted at us to come down because there was a big trailer coming behind us. They began to scream at the driver and his conductor to hurry up because a trailer was coming. As the two women rushed out from the bus, a child of one of them fell in the mud and his clothes were stained. I couldn't stop laughing when she began to blame the small boy and slapped his back repeatedly. The poor boy cried. I was just laughing because I didn't even move an inch from where I sat including other passengers, except these two women as they were afraid of death.
The driver delayed us for like 10 minutes and we didn't see any sight of the trailer coming. The other passengers started talking badly and shouted at them to come inside. They were embarrassed when they didn't see any trailer coming but created an unnecessary tension on themselves. We moved and continued our journey, the driver was pissed at both of them and asked "Where is the trailer now?" The women couldn't say a word till they reached their destination. I pity the boy who was beaten because of their lack of patience. I just couldn't stop laughing because I was like, "Nobody wants to die but they keep complaining that this life is unfair" 🤣🤣 no one wants to die but it doesn't make sense to create an unnecessary scene that isn't worth it. Everyone desires to have a safe trip but confusing the driver is another mistake on its own. They really frustrated the driver that I had to pity him. Lol