Everything in a second

It is friday. Hoping it will become saturday soon, I got ready to office and ran to the bus stop at 8:50AM. I have two options to get the 11A bus to office. One is to walk 10 mins to get to the bus station or get a 17 bus from a stop closer to my room and reach the bus station in 5 mins. But the 17 bus from the nearby stop comes only at 8:55AM and my 11A bus to office is at 9AM. So its tight schedule. I usually get 2 mins advantage in reaching the bus station. Sometimes I had even seen the 11A bus reaching at the exact time this 17 bus reaches the bus station.

But today, the 17 bus was late. So I took the 7 bus which stops one stop before the bus station. But its hardly 50m from the station.I was looking for the 11A bus all the way just to find it infront of the 7 bus. I was just hoping that I would catch the bus in time. Suddenly the traffic signal went red and like a movie, the 11A bus went away while my bus was still behind the signal. Damn. in 30 seconds, the bus again started and we were on track. I can see the 11A after few cars infront. My mind just said that I could catch the bus anyway. If it was India, I would have jumped out and ran to the bus infront. No one would worry about that. But in UK, things are different. The doors of the bus are closed and you cant even stand near the door. When we were almost near the next stop, there was the traffic signal again. As before, the 11A bus just passed the signal and the signal turned red. Oh! no. I had to wait for another 15 secs and the signal went green.

The bus was moving slowly and I wished that I could push the bus from the back. Why should I push the bus. I could even run to the station if I can get down. With these stupid thoughts in mind, my bus came to the final stop. With little doubt, I starting walking fast to the bus station. With the doubt increasing more, I started running to the bus station. I could see the 11A bus and the passengers getting inside the bus in queue. I would have no chance of getting the bus if its India. All passengers would have got in in 5 seconds and the driver will take off even before the last passenger is inside the bus. But here, each passenger would get in, get the ticket even if it means searching the purse for the coins and it may take few minutes. After every passenger has gone in, the driver would close the doors and then start the bus. I can see the last passenger getting in. I was running fast and the door was closing slowly. The whole world went to slow motion with me waving my hands running behind the bus. And I was reaching the door side, when the driver started the engine and drove off. No use of running behind the bus with closed doors. The driver wont care even if I am running with the speed of the bus. I thought he even knew that I am running towards the bus, but he didnt care. Its time for the bus to leave and he left. I was standing in the bus stop and saw the time 9:01. The bus was late today and still I missed the bus in a second.