Day: December 22, 2004

So on the bus into town today I was sitting up the top about halfway back as I usually do, and in the back seat (trouble zone) were a pair of drunken folk, a man and a woman, who as the journey went on got ridiculously loud. Since they were mostly bellowing christmas carols I wasn’t too fussed.
Then the guy got up and leaned in: “got a light?”
“Sorry mate” I said, thinking, no-one will give you a light because the bus is a no-smoking zone. *sigh*
“Don’t be sorry, be happy,” he said.
He went through every person up top – about ten other people. The guy right at the front, he said “Don’t be sorry, go back to your own country.”
My brain eventually realised what he’d said. By this time he was in the back seat calling out that he hoped the guy wasn’t a terrorist and didn’t have a bomb.
So I leaned around in my seat and said “knock it off”.
This meant I suddenly had a rather dangerous-looking drunken guy with a woman to show off in front of inches from my face. I don’t remember what he said back, because my brain still hadn’t really caught up, but he was challenging me.
So I said “We don’t want any racism on the bus, mate,” which may not have made much sense in the big picture [“off the bus you can go for your life!”] but got the message across.
So I had some shouting at me and glaring at me and a very deliberately slow spit on the floor of the bus, which apparently I was meant to be upset by, and some rather threatening insinuations that my nose was about to be put out of joint, all delivered from a distance of about six inches.
(He told me to go back to my own country, too, which I was secretly pleased by.)
Anyway, I was completely at a loss. I just kind of sat there and blanked him, and I didn’t get injured so I guess it worked out okay. But when I got off the bus two stops later leaving him, his girlfriend, the guy he was harassing and all the other folk behind I wondered if I’d actually achieved anything.
I was pleased with myself for having the presence of mind to say something. I still feel like it was a bit of a random mess and I didn’t handle myself particularly well. But, oh well.
So that’s what I’ve been turning over and over in my head for the last few hours. Except for when we watched Garden State, which is cool fun and generally nice, and for when I watched the first five minutes of Jaws 3 on Sky, and hey! We’re going to London tomorrow!
They’re advertising Without A Paddle on TV now. I stare at the ad and look for things I recognise because it was shot in My Home Town. Um… Seth Green mugging… Matt Lillard mugging… eek.
Anyway. I posted a story about Christmas on my livejournal. Go read.

I’m stretched thin right now. This month has turned out to be really busy, although it hasn’t been really stressful, which is an okay combination actually. But means little blogging and a backlog of email and feeling guilty about leaving lots of cool comments unanswered.
But it’s Christmas very soon. I hope anyone reading this blog has been nagged by me into keeping a mindful eye on their Christmas experience, looking for ways to improve it for next time around.
I had a bit of a windfall the other week – an unexpected tax refund from the last financial year (i.e. the year that ended 20 months ago, pretty much). I’ve spent this month talking about having a conscious Christmas and now I receive some free money – believers in synchronicity, stroke your beards now. The phrase ‘put your money where your mouth is’ certainly comes to mind.
Anyway, I’ve decided to give most of it to charity. My annual Christmas donation to Amnesty International NZ just got covered, but there’s plenty left over, so I’m wondering about another charity or two. Probably something in Palestine, since that experience had such an impact on me. Suggestions of appropriate charities welcome.
(This has the added advantage of making it harder the next time I try and convince myself I don’t need to buy some roleplaying book or other. Did I say advantage? I mean, disadvantage. Honest.)
Things I don’t have time to talk about just now:
* The Jodi Jones murder case here in Scotland – this upsets me.
* Palestine and Israel post-Arafat – a rare chance for progress, likely to be squandered.
* Band Aid 20 – please, no.
* Finally started working on a page with photos from Ireland. Up soon.
Off to London for Christmas in two days. Back on the 29th.
Oh, yeah: Merry Christmas!
Peace, love and antelopes…
~`morgue