#12, midday
On its way downtown, the 12 bus crosses the east side of Capitol Hill and rides Madison the rest of the way downtown. Since it passes right over Pill Hill, during mid-day the bus is always crowded with elderly residents headed for their doctor’s appointments.
One of the gentlemen on today’s bus was one of Seattle’s true elders, an aged patrician with watery eyes and a gentle smile carved out of a thousand wrinkles. He was talking to the slightly younger man next to him.
“Wow,” he said. “This was so much easier when Madison had the cable cars.”
They’ve been gone since 1940, incidentally.
I love this. I hope that when I’m his age, I’ll be riding the light rail and can turn to someone and say “This is so much easier than when there were buses!”
When I’m his age, I hope I’m alive.