on cities, home, missing

buses in sydney are, how would one put this lightly?, tempramental.

sometimes they're early, sometimes they're late, sometimes they don't come at all, but most of the time, they're on time. this does suck, however, when you find yourself waiting for the last bus of the night when the two previous buses didn't come. imagine standing at a stop for nearly an hour with full knowledge that not one but two buses should have come during that time, but didn't, and this next bus is your only chance to get where you need to go quickly--with no assurance that this last bus will show at all. this happened to a friend of mine. thankfully, i got on that last bus with him.

the only real comparison i have to offer is that of chicago. public transportation is much less complicated there, although i will say that the city has a few advantages in that way. it doesn't have a harbor with undulating coastline to deal with. it doesn't have its old non-grid street system to complicate the roadways. it is, geographically, quite a bit smaller than the area of sydney and suburbs.
that being said, buses don't have schedules, more or less. they come during times of the day (ie, my route ran from early morning to late evening), as often as they can. there is no opportunity for one to be late or early or not come, as it is wizardlike in appearance. it just comes when it comes. there'll be another one just like it in fifteen to twenty-five minutes.

i miss this about chicago. and now that i've reached my subject, i miss a great many things about chicago. i miss charlie, my bike, i miss the pocket map i have since sent to my roommate for on-the-go navigation, i miss the cab numbers programmed into my cell phone (which i never used but was so glad to have), i miss the general guidelines to stay out of the south side at night and the the lake is to the east. always to the east.

here, the buses come on "schedules," which they seem to shirk. i'm afraid to get a bike on the road because of the very real threat of riding into oncoming traffic (keep left, keep left, keep LEFT), any pocket-sized map would be as big as this continent itself, the harbor is to the north...wait, where are you again?, the dangerous spots as likely as the nice ones.

i don't know if this makes any sense. i'm tired and a little frustrated, so i'm calling this quits. goo night.