Insanity.<\/p>\n
One definition is : Doing the same thing, over and over and over again, knowing<\/em><\/span>\u00a0 what the results will be, and doing it yet again expecting different results thinking ‘this time it will be different’.<\/p>\n I, your Captain, know full well that I should not be out riding public transportation here in Ulaanbaatar during the morning and evening rush hour periods. I know full well that the buses will be jam-packed. Often the buses are so jam-packed that I can not even begin to think of opening up my cane-seat and sitting.<\/p>\n Further, I know that I may have to wait a considerable period of time to even get onto a bus.\u00a0<\/p>\n And yet Sports Fans, again today, I went downtown at 4PM and began my trek home at 5:30PM. This was in the heart of the madness that is the combination of automobile traffic that moves at a standstill and the jam-packed buses.<\/p>\n A Miracle?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The Miracle<\/em> <\/span>is NOT getting onto the bus. Oh no. Not at all.<\/p>\n The Miracle is getting OFF<\/span> the bus.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n This evening I had a single seat (yet another very considerate commuter gave me her seat) beside an open window. The people standing in the aisle were packed so tightly against me I could hardly change my seating position.\u00a0<\/p>\n Finally my stop was coming up next.<\/p>\n I debated : Should I just ride to the end of the line and get off the bus as it returns downtown?\u00a0<\/p>\n I decided to try to get off. It was almost impossible to stand up. But I wiggled my way up. The bus driver (had been doing this all along) stopped the bus about 200 feet before the bus stop to allow people to get off the bus ahead of the crowd of people who would be fighting to get on at the bus stop.<\/p>\n How I got off I’ll never know. I had a lot of help from the other riders. Then we were a crowd of people, walking single-file on the pavement along side the traffic, between the traffic and a fence that kept us from the sidewalk. This fence is to prevent jay-walkers. Luckily the traffic was practically standing dead-still. Keep in mind that it was now dark.<\/p>\n “Captain! Coming downtown during rush hour is absolute insanity. There is no reason in this world that you can’t make your bus trips downtown between 10AM and 2PM and be outbound by 4PM.”<\/p>\n My next scheduled trip downtown is this Thursday. With God as my witness, I swear that I will go early and avoid the craziness that is the rush hour.<\/p>\n I’ll wrap this up with more insanity : I did NOT even have to go downtown. I could have mailed my post cards to YOU at my local Post Office here in my apartment complex. I just prefer to go downtown to the main Post Office where they have a drop box for International Mail ONLY.\u00a0<\/p>\n Change Captain : Embrace CHANGE.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Stop this craziness of spending two hours of your time just to mail post cards at the Main Post Office.<\/p>\n While I am at the downtown Post Office I buy more post cards and stamps. Also, by the way, I like to get a Burger King Whopper while I am out!<\/p>\n Below is a link to my blogspot Post dated today, SEP 30, 19, showing more scenes of Vladivostok. I hope you check it out.<\/p>\n