More Bus Lessons

Aside from providing enough time for the bus ride to school, one of the other lessons GI learned on his not quite first day at Uni was to bring a sweater or a jacket when he goes to school. Even if it warm when he leaves the house, it could be chilly in the bus and GI didn't bring anything to keep him warm on that fateful 3-hour bus ride to the city.

So on Wednesday 29 February, my warmly-clad GI took one of the M61 buses to the city two hours before his 2pm class.

Yes, he was early. Yes, he was warm. But oh no, he lost his wallet on the bus!

GI called MacGyver who advised him to report his debit card as lost. MacGyver gave me a call to relay the news.

I wondered whether GI had money to get home. I wondered if he was all right.

I wondered what else we'd need to report as lost.

I wondered whether he'd get his wallet back.

Lost and found.

We were sure of the LOST part. MacGyver called the bus company, reported the lost wallet, gave the location and time GI rode the bus, and provided some contact details. Our question was whether we'd get to the FOUND part.

"Have a little faith," MacGyver said. "We'll see."

I'd like to think that I was optimistic that the wallet would be returned. People here are generally honest. (They even have a commercial about people's honesty here.) MacGyver was told that they would not know whether the wallet was surrendered to the bus driver until the buses returned to the depot at end of day.

When I got home that evening, I was happy to see GI home safely. He was quite calm about the whole thing. He told me that his wallet must have slipped out of his pocket during the trip without him noticing. (The hazards of skinny jeans, you know.) He said he is adding 'check that you haven't left anything on the bus before getting off' to his list of lessons learned.

I wish he'd learned that lesson without having to go through processes of losing something first.

Anyway, by the next morning, we got three things from this experience :

1. New lesson learned

2. GI's wallet back

3. Renewed faith in humanity

[Bless that soul who picked up GI's wallet and gave it to the bus driver.]