somewhat relevant ramblings

- Another delicious week (or so) behind me. Had some unexpected alone time- the result of the ever mysterious immigration/registration laws around here- so zipped around several days and saw people I didn't know I'd have the chance to. Left me feeling good. And warm. And loved. And sad. And a bit worried. And wanting to just stay nearby just in case. Patiently waiting can be one of the hardest things to do. Just waiting. Sometimes you can gently nudge and sometimes you just have to wait. And hope. And pray.

- My sparkly happily-6 niece's bday cake? The missing one? Found. BIL went up to the new house to open up for the movers then dug through a box (or 2? or 3? don't know) and found the cake (which was in its own smaller box) down near the bottom of a bigger box of stuff. Unharmed and intact and prettily poodily pink! ;)

- Funny how my noticing drunks goes in spurts. Or maybe it's that there are more of them around right now. Or maybe it's just my frame of mind. Don't know. I do know that when I got on the bus in Kyiv Wednesday- the one that I'd be on for the next 5+ hours- there was an unhappy drunk 3 rows back. He was ticked. Had been waiting entirely too long and When were we EVER going to leave?! No one paid him much mind and he grumbled and complained and we eventually left. Passengers are peaceful calm and still. Nasty movie on- post WWII Russian movie called 'The War After the War'- I seriously don't know how there are enough actors around to furnish one movie with so many living people at the end when so many were stabbed, shot, sliced and otherwise viciously knocked off... and that's just what I saw when the noise overwhelmed my earphones (valiantly trying to pipe stuff into my ears that wouldn't give me nightmares later or leave me trembling inside) and I looked to see What now? Ok- off track there. For the record, though, for the most part, I do not like the movies on the bus. I'd like to choose, Thanks, what I put into the pictures in my mind. I'd like to choose, if I can, what comes back to haunt me at night. I'll have to tell you more about that other time.
Back to the drunk ranch. About 1 1/2 hours down the road, I become aware of muted shuffling and goings on behind me. Turn around. The drunk is up but being attacked (quietly) by a fellow passenger. Another passenger joins in. And another. Whatever the drunk has done, his fellow passengers didn't like it and they were quietly pummeling him. But he was hitting back. The bus driver's helper (conductor) meanders back but decides to stay out. The other passengers seem to be handling it. No blood. No cursing. All just quiet silent pummeling. Another passenger (young man) jumps in and really lets the drunk have it. Not so quiet and a bit rougher. His buddy jumps up and wraps his arm around Young Man's neck and hauls him back out of there. A man about my age from the front of the bus storms back to the ruckus. He's White-Puffy-Coat-With-a-White-Fur-lined-Hood Man. And there is something very mean looking about him. He's big beefy and looks like he gets through life fist-first. He shoves Drunk Man and gives him a short but sobering tongue lashing. Drunk Man sort of subsides. But not for long. The male passengers around him are glaring at him, red-faced. I go back to my book. Suddenly, Drunk Man lurches past us to the front (I was by the window in the 2nd row of seats from the front) and down the steps and tries to get the door open. Conductor Man stops him- we are, after all, still sailing down the snowy highway. heh. Drunk Man lurches forward again and struggles with Conductor Man. They fall onto the driver. Who miraculously keeps his cool, keeps his eyes on the road, the bus pointed straight ahead and we sail on. Someone gets up to help haul Drunk Man back to his seat. He falls onto the girl in the seat right beside me. (This is when I quickly packed up all my toys in case I had to protect (??) myself soon.) Another short scuffle. Drunk Man is mostly silent or incoherent. They park him. About 20 seconds later, he's back. And this time, White-Puffy-Coat-With-a-White-Fur-lined-Hood Man doesn't wait at all. There's someone behind Drunk Man trying to haul him back but White-Puffy-Coat-With-a-White-Fur-lined-Hood Man jumps up, goes right into Drunk Man's face and, without making a single sound or even much movement, drops him, right there, beside our seats. Boom. No fists, no wild moves. Just a tiny movement with one hand. I really don't know what he did but it was vicious and effective. And let me tell you- stay away from White-Puffy-Coat-With-a-White-Fur-lined-Hood Man when he means business. I reckon one could be scared of the likes of White-Puffy-Coat-With-a-White-Fur-lined-Hood Man. I wonder what he does for a living? Anyway, someone hauled Drunk Man back to his seat and we heard not one more peep from him. Awhile later, the bus stopped for a 10 min break, passengers filed off and the driver goes back to Drunk Man. What exactly is it that you're not happy about? he asks. Quietly, nicely. Drunk Man mumbles; I got off (my 10 min, after all, to hunt down facilities and coffee, you know) so missed the rest. When we got to Drunk Man's stop not long after the rest stop, a bunch of passengers got off. Drunk Man did not. He was having a wee snooze. The driver was noticing. He got up, walked back there and roused him. Drunk Man didn't want to get off. The side door of the bus was open and Bus Driver hauled him up, dragged him the short distance to it and shoved him right out. Into the snow. And looked mighty glad to do it. The passengers mostly laughed. It's a funny sad world sometimes. And let me tell you- these bus drivers should be making buckets of money. But likely aren't. They're good guys, though, for the most part.