I remember it being right after Martin Luther King weekend. I am sitting in my bed with my PJs on, and it is 4:30 in the morning. I have the TV on, Facebook up on my computer and my cell phone in my hand. I am like that person waiting for the winning lottery or Keno number to come up on one of my screens.
The anticipation is killing me. “Come on, show me the closer!” I say to the screens. Then, at precisely at 4:41 a.m., one of my co-works posted on Facebook what I had been waiting for… “ School closed; just got my call.” Yahooo!
I know, I am worse than one of the kids. So now, it is time to decide what to do for the whole “snow day.” This is another one of those reasons I love driving a school bus, because we get all the holidays and snow days that the kids do.
Yes, let me tell you I am seriously like one of the kids on a snow day. I am out in the snow as much as possible! It just so happens that this was our first of many snow days here in Washington. The first day, the roads were just barely covered, and I was surprised that they called the whole day and not just a two hour late start. But who am I to complain?
So I ended up going to the mall with my daughter and getting supplies for the house because they were calling for more snow. The rest of the week we got over a foot of snow, and then the freezing rain. With the holiday weekend and all the snow days, I was off of work and at home for over a week. I couldn’t wait to get back to driving and a normal schedule.
The following Monday, the snow had melted, mostly, but the temperatures were still low. Our first day back ended up being a two-hour late start. I am not so sure that was enough time because the snow had melted plus the rain then overnight temperatures dropped below 30, a recipe for some really icy roads in the mornings, which they were. I say this because, while I was walking out to my car at home, I almost fell on my biscuits. Then driving into the bus barn I watched people slide all over the roads.
What really made me think that we shouldn’t have been at work was when I stood right outside the door of base/transportations lounge. What I saw was like an episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” I waited for the sound effects because I stood there watching my co-workers walk super carefully across the sheet of ice that covered our bus parking lot. Then, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or help when I saw two of my co-workers do that “banana peel slip” move and fall right on their biscuits.
I am seriously kicking myself for not video taping this. It was quite comical to watch. Yet, you have to wonder what the bosses were thinking in a situation like this. What if someone seriously had gotten hurt? I say this because the rest of the morning all we heard over the radio was about kids falling and buses sliding. Oh well; we got through it and to say the least it was an interesting first day back after a great snow storm!
Now, I have written in my past blogs about how little air flow there is in my bus and how the windows get all steamed up on rainy days. Well, there is another down fall of this very poor air circulation…smells! In fact, one of the things that I really stress when going over the rules of the bus at the beginning of every year is to not wear or apply any perfumes or lotions while on the bus.One of the reasons for that is because, if a person does apply, the whole bus will smell it.
Yet, if a student has asthma, if could possibly trigger a breathing attack. This is my way of communicating to the students that I can smell everything on the bus! I have smelled nail polish, hand sanitizer, matches and many other things. Over the years, I have taken many sports trips. I realized very quick which ones I no longer wanted to take…football and soccer. These two sports always play, no matter what.
Say it is raining. They are out in the grass, mud and rain, running up and down the field sweating their teenage hormonal bodies off for the win. Well, you have heard the saying “It smells like a locker room in here.” Oh, you have not smelled anything until you cram 50 wet, muddy, sweaty athletic bodies plus all their gear into a 40-foot bus! This is were you go, “yuck!”
How about the walking teenage whoopee cushion? Oh yes, stink bombs, farting or whatever you what to call it…are the worst! I know that you can’t aways control your bodily function’s timing and need to release the gas unexpectedly but OMG, on the bus? With all the windows up it smells like an outhouse! So, here is a little tip for new drivers…close your driver window ASAP! If you don’t… that smell has no where to go but towards you, right past your nose and out the window! So close your window and have the kids in the back ( preferably the trouble makers) to put down their windows for a few minutes. This should clear out the smell in no time.
Plus, you get to smile knowing that they just had to inhale that wonderful smell!
Christe Smith is a school bus driver for the Olympia School District in Olympia, Wash. She has been enjoying driving a bus for the past 10 years and has experienced many events that she has decided to share with the rest of the STN readers. You may also view her blog at Life as a School Bus Driver.
