Below Zero and Ornery

Every morning this week, I've checked the temperature before scuttling off to the bus stop. It's not been above -1 yet. Somehow it feels like this is the one week you earn your bragging rights to being a Chicagoan for the rest of the year. 101 degrees, asphalt bubbling on the Michigan Avenue bridge, and people could still be boasting about making it through the Chicago winter.

People tolerate the cold for about 6 days I've found and then start to snap and frankly, completely lose it. It sunk to a whole new level on the bus this morning though. Bus was late, packed to the doors not shutting point, blah, blah, blah. We were all tolerating it, except the very last woman that squeezed her way on. She was complaining, a lot, loudly. I was sardined in next to "kissing couple." Every few minutes one or the other would peck his/her beloved, then swoon. I had counted 33 kisses about 40 minutes into the ride. Then, "Complaining Girl" tried to push past "Kissing Girl" and KG called CG an unsavory name. CG complained even louder, then waited until the next stop, pulled her arm back and hit KG square in the back of the head.

Mass *gasp* from the rest of the bus.

Then some other fed-up passengers pushed CG off the bus in a swell of collective frustration. Everyone had wanted to call CG the same unsavory name, but instead got to eject her from the bus that she had waited so long for to begin with.

Maybe it will be warmer next week. For now, we'll just keep earning our badges (except for CG who the rest of the bus decided doesn't get one).