But after all was said and done, I went home with the metro and bike.
Thie morning I had forgotten that my bike had broken the past Friday, and that my dad's saddle would tilt back when sitting on it. So I had to figure out how to to get to this pretty formal, important meeting on time. And indeed, I took public transit, where the actual story begins...
I was off to basketball practice, went by bus. I never take that bus, so I was wondering about where I had to get out... I asked the bus driver: "Does this bus go by Apollolaan (my stop) on the way there or on the way back?" He, irritated by me now, said yes we'll go by it. I then saw it pop up in the screen and I felt stupid for asking it.
Well duh, there's apparently not an end destination here, he'll just go on and on forever... What a job to have I thought, you pass by the same places and people every single day, doing the same thing over and over, imagine that being your life.
A while ago I heard about how have patterns we are used to in our daily cycle; a bus driver driving his normal car will notice the specificly colored stopsign, and out of tendency, stop. It was about free behavior people have, our (bad) habits and how we can change them.
So now I'm late for basketball, my terrible coach want there as usual and we enjoyed playing 4-on-4's allmost two hours, or at least I did, and then I left. Off to the bus stop again, I walked quicker this time since I wasn't sure if the bus was coming yet, and last Thursday I had to 'run for my life' with my neat shoes to catch up with the bus to get on board, a little further down the road. The bus came, and it was the same busdriver as before, not really a joyful spirit. I checked in my public transport card, and it was too low! I'd been using the 'OV Chipcard' all day and forgot to look at the balance on the way out of the bus, in a rush to get to basketball! He said: "That will cost you 2,80 for another bus card." Nprmally I would have at least 3 cards in me, and change. But this time I didn't have either! I politely said I didn't think I had any money on me, and in plain Dutch he responded: "tsja, dan houdt het op!" implying I had to get out...
I was a 15 minute bikeride away from home, didn't have my Longboard which I told myself earlier that afternoon I should take, and no money to get in a bus/tram. I was very disappointed for a second, began praying, and then realized my phone's bundle was set to start today! If I could get it to work while walking, dad might be able to pick me up and I'd be home in no time! For somereason, I had taken a grapefruit with me, my book for French class and some 'pepernoten', which I enjoyed thoroughly along the way. In no time I called dad who said he could pick me up and then I tried figuring out the 3g free internet for the remainder of the walk.
The amazing thing about this whole story, is that my phone's data package was supposed to come way earlier that week. I was actually busy ordering this deal, the Thursday night (7 Nov) in the testweek when I had a big chemistry, Greek and French test the next day(!). But there was something inside of me that night that told me I had to get it done as soon as possible, if I had to, that night. And so it was supposed to arrive 5 workdays from then, so next week Thursday. That Tuesday (Nov 12) I get an e-mail that they just accepted my requested order and would need some time to prices the request. Then later on, I get told I could either stay the package with a different phone#, or wait till my phone's number was transferred, which would take till at least Monday, the 25th of November. And that was sorry if how everything came together in that single moment and I realized the greater plan, to get me home and to get this story online.
Thanks for reading one of m6 extremely long thoughts, I just wanted to put it somewhere online... by John