So there I was on the bus yesterday, on my way to do my weekly food shop.
(It was the best of several bad options, as the nearest supermarket to me is about half-an-hours walk; I don't drive, live alone and am socially isolated, so I don't have the option of having someone to call upon - whom I could be certain was not infected - to ferry me back. Plus there's the whole social distancing thing to consider, which makes me averse to using taxis for the same reason.
Online shopping is out as well, given that there is now such a backlog in getting stuff delivered.
I also have COPD, so while I could walk the distance to the market okay, by the time I got back home with several, heavy, awkward bags of shopping, I would not need to wait for Corona to finish me off, lol.)
I had gone up to the top deck of the bus as it was relatively empty; also the noise from kids screeching on the lower deck was too much to deal with. (I am extremely noise sensitive and that kind of thing is like physical pain to me.)
At the far end of the bus, a woman - with a young boy beside her - was close to coughing up her lungs onto the window facing her. I mean, what part of 'Self-Isolate if you think that you're infected' did this moron not understand? While she was far enough away from me, that I can reasonably hope I was out of the firing line as it were, I nevertheless had to go within a couple of feet from her in order to make my way back downstairs and to the exit. I was practically crossing my fingers that she would not start hacking up again as I drew nearer. Luckily I made it down and out of the bus, just as I could hear her once again barking away like billy-oh upstairs.
The return journey was made almost as unpleasant by two late-teen skangers, who were loudly blaring out some shite modern pop music on their phone. My polite and very courteous request for them to turn it down a bit was met with a firm "No! We want to listen to our music!" by the surly, baseball-hatted, male teen of the species. I ended up just getting off the bus as I could not bare this racket anymore. (If there were a virus that exclusively affected ignorant, selfish, obnoxious bastards like them, I would most certainly not be shedding any tears on their behalf).
I'm done with using public transport now for the near-future, as it is just not worth the hassle or distress anymore - especially at a time like this. It looks like I have no other choice than to risk getting a taxi back from now on. And considering that I have a free public-transport travel pass- on account of being on Invalidity Benefit - that pisses me off even more so.
