Maternity leave...

I am officially on maternity leave until 6 weeks after this little one decides to make his arrival. I was having contractions within 20 minutes of getting on the bus every single day. I'm almost 34 weeks so doc decided to take me off.

It has eased up the contractions, so they were definitely caused by the bus.

This means I'll be reflecting on some old stories for a little while :)

And a funny... so the "orange" that is driving for me while I'm gone... I'm told he called in to the mechanics because he had a flat dual. This is a super full bus with tons of kids and when the bus is not moving, the natives get restless. So they're sitting there waiting for the mechanic to bring out a spare bus so they can get on their way. They're now about 30 minutes behind when the mechanic gets there with the spare and starts loading the kids off my bus and onto the spare. One of the high school kids (the one who told me this story) sees the mechanic walk up to the driver and sees him shake his head, then he over hears the mechanic say, in a sarcastic tone, "you don't have a flat" lol and the mechanic talks loudly and tells the kids to get back on the regular bus. I asked the student telling me the story "didn't the driver get out and check" and he said NO - can you believe that he didn't even get out of the bus to check if he had a flat. Turned out they were at a stop and approached by a clearly drunk man and told they had a flat... and the "orange" just took for granted that the drunk was right!!???!??!!

Way to make a bus load of kids really respect you... freaking oranges.

It's like apples and oranges...

Like I've said, I get all the new drivers with me. We've had our fair share of semi truck drivers converted to school bus drivers, sadly, many don't make it.

I have a ton of times I have to turn around on my route and it tends to scare the new drivers. It always makes me laugh when we get a truck driver turned bus driver who thinks he "knows it all". I try to explain a couple of my turn around's to the new drivers before we attempt them, they're a bit tricky at first... one is on a fairly narrow road and you have to avoid the yard on both sides of the road as well as the grass on both sides of the drive way that you're backing into... one is only tough in the morning because it's dark, you're backing to the passenger side, and you just cannot see, there's no way you can see on this one, you have to feel it... one is on another narrow road, right on a curve, and you're backing to the passenger side, it's a tough one... one is at a corner but it's not a 90 degree corner, you're backing to the odd angle which is also to the passenger side... and those are my 4 tricky ones. Whenever I get a truck driver, they always comment about how they drive a truck so they can turn around anywhere blah blah blah.

So the other day, I get another new driver, two of them actually! We go out on the run with no kids first just so they can see the route and all of the places we turn around. They both had just gotten their licenses so they're both green :) hehehe. Of course, I let the "cocky" truck driver start and we head out on the route. Five minutes later, we reach our first turn around. The road is extremely narrow, it's on a slight curve, and you are not allowed on the grass. The only way to fit my bus into this turn around as well as avoid the grass is to "hug" the grass line, completely straight, on the driver side... pull up until your back tire is just past the driveway line... then begin the turn around, you need to exactly follow the grass line with the driver side back tire by cranking the wheel all the way and just doing it, you will miss the grass on the other side of the road by merely inches, but only if you start out straight, once you're in the drive, straighten her out and you're done. So I explain this to the two drivers. And mister truck driver is in the driver seat and pulls up to attempt his turn around... first thing he does... instead of lining up straight on the grass line, he starts like he's going to line up but swings it out to the right. I say STOP. He's confused and asks what's wrong. I tell him you are NOT lined up like I told you to, you need to back up and straighten out exactly on the grass line... if you attempt to turn around like this, you'll be all up in the yard on the passenger side of the bus, back up, straighten out, and try again.

He says "we always swing it out in the truck"... um... truck - school bus... truck - school bus... last time I checked they were two totally different things...

it's like comparing apples to oranges...

 

Wonder how long this orange will last hahaha