People People Everywhere

The city is crawling with local tourists!! What is a local tourist - it's someone who lives in Washington but rarely ventures in to the big city!! They are coming out of the woodwork for the annual flower show at the Washington Convention Center. They are very easy to spot! Look for the following:

• Dressed in shorts and sandals on a cold morning so they won't get warm/hot in the Convention Center.
• Dressed in bright "flower" colors even though they don't go together. Can you say Purple and Bright Pink!
• Flowers in their hair - the big plastic kind - I kid you not!
  
• Fanny Packs!! No self-respecting Seattlite would be seen wearing a fanny pack.
• Some want to try and blend so instead of a fanny pack they will wear a purse that is slung over a shoulder and across their body. Gotta have free hands to carry all those flowers.
• They don't know how to stand in line at a Starbucks or how to place an order!! They are afraid to move in front of the display case so they back the line up. They order a "small" drink? They don't know to move over to the bar to wait for their drink to be called?
• They stop in the middle of the sidewalks to stare up at all the tall buildings! Gee Ma - look at them there buildings - they touch the sky! We must take pictures of every single one!!

This all makes me a very bitchy city dweller! They take too long at my Starbucks - they clog up the sidewalks when I am trying to catch my bus - and they slow up the bus route because they poke their heads in to the bus doors asking whether the bus stops at their park and ride - if the answer is No they think the driver should be able to tell them which route does. 1. Shouldn't they be checking the bus schedules before they head out so they know which bus number they need and where to pick it up at. and 2. How in the hell is a driver supposed to know the times and stops of every single Metro and Sound Transit route. People - come prepared when you are venturing into the big city!

On a related topic - the driver of the 218 Bus that arrives at my stop at 4:07 is a Nascar Driver wannabe! He drives so fast! I think he is working on his personal best - trying to knock minutes off his fastest time from Seattle to the Issaquah Highlands! When we got to the park and Ride he announced what time it was - thanked everyone for riding with him today - and says he hopes we'll ride with him again! Today he got to the Park and Ride at 4:40 - scheduled to be in at 4:42 - he knocked 2 minutes off his time!

De